The future of the Pacer - Northern
There are a lot of changes coming up with regards to Arriva Rail North, one of the main ones being the withdrawal of the Pacers. Either you love them or you hate them, they’re still going to be missed (or remembered to put it politely), in and around Yorkshire.
Approaching 34 years old, it’s hard to believe that these trains were only designed to be used as a short term solution to what was a huge problem back in British Rail’s financial problems.
Back in the 1980s, BR were reaching out to a number of manufacturers to provide a lightweight train that’ll temporarily be used to replace the first generation DMUs, whilst the financial problems were going on at the time. Leyland were chosen and the idea was to take the bodyshell a Leyland National bus and put it on a freight wagon chassis. Prototypes can be seen here: www.simplonpc.co.uk/WensleyRly/LEV-1_130406-1892_b.jpg
Upon these prototypes the class 141 was officially introduced and roughly 40 units were used on branch lines operated out of the Neville Hill depot. These only lasted around 15 years having been withdrawn in the early 2000s and some were exported to Iran.
After the class 141 was introduced, work began on the 142 and a total of 96 trainsets entered service. And the sad thing is, as of 2018, only two have been withdrawn owing to write offs. That’s a total of 33 boneshaking years! However, these years are due to come to an end, as Angel Trains have no plans to refurbish these, and with DDA requirements coming up in the next year or so, it has been told that Northern must not use pacers in public service after the end of 2019.
The class 143 was a development of the 142, and both classes were built at roughly the same time. Only 25 class 143 trainsets were built with 23 remaining in service as of 2018. These Pacers may see more life in them, as these are owned and ran by Great Western Railway (around Cardiff and Exeter). There have been proposals to refurbish the class 143/144 however this would reduce the capacity a lot.
The class 144 is largely similar to the 143 and a total of 23 units were built.
The future of the Pacers seems quite certain. Since there is no good use for them after 2019, it’s likely that most of the class 142/143/144 units will be scrapped - with possible preservation candidates. The first Pacers will be withdrawn by Northern in September 2018 with phases of withdrawals going through to March 2019 where all Pacers will be withdrawn from the franchise. Class 170s and a large number of Sprinters have already arrived at Neville Hill for use at Northern, as well as brand new class 195s currently in build and in test. Viva rail is also developing a possible Pacer replacement, the class 230. This is an extensively refurbished former D79 stock and so far only 2 units are developed through this.
142067 rests at Sheffield between duties
The future of the Pacer - Northern
There are a lot of changes coming up with regards to Arriva Rail North, one of the main ones being the withdrawal of the Pacers. Either you love them or you hate them, they’re still going to be missed (or remembered to put it politely), in and around Yorkshire.
Approaching 34 years old, it’s hard to believe that these trains were only designed to be used as a short term solution to what was a huge problem back in British Rail’s financial problems.
Back in the 1980s, BR were reaching out to a number of manufacturers to provide a lightweight train that’ll temporarily be used to replace the first generation DMUs, whilst the financial problems were going on at the time. Leyland were chosen and the idea was to take the bodyshell a Leyland National bus and put it on a freight wagon chassis. Prototypes can be seen here: www.simplonpc.co.uk/WensleyRly/LEV-1_130406-1892_b.jpg
Upon these prototypes the class 141 was officially introduced and roughly 40 units were used on branch lines operated out of the Neville Hill depot. These only lasted around 15 years having been withdrawn in the early 2000s and some were exported to Iran.
After the class 141 was introduced, work began on the 142 and a total of 96 trainsets entered service. And the sad thing is, as of 2018, only two have been withdrawn owing to write offs. That’s a total of 33 boneshaking years! However, these years are due to come to an end, as Angel Trains have no plans to refurbish these, and with DDA requirements coming up in the next year or so, it has been told that Northern must not use pacers in public service after the end of 2019.
The class 143 was a development of the 142, and both classes were built at roughly the same time. Only 25 class 143 trainsets were built with 23 remaining in service as of 2018. These Pacers may see more life in them, as these are owned and ran by Great Western Railway (around Cardiff and Exeter). There have been proposals to refurbish the class 143/144 however this would reduce the capacity a lot.
The class 144 is largely similar to the 143 and a total of 23 units were built.
The future of the Pacers seems quite certain. Since there is no good use for them after 2019, it’s likely that most of the class 142/143/144 units will be scrapped - with possible preservation candidates. The first Pacers will be withdrawn by Northern in September 2018 with phases of withdrawals going through to March 2019 where all Pacers will be withdrawn from the franchise. Class 170s and a large number of Sprinters have already arrived at Neville Hill for use at Northern, as well as brand new class 195s currently in build and in test. Viva rail is also developing a possible Pacer replacement, the class 230. This is an extensively refurbished former D79 stock and so far only 2 units are developed through this.
142067 rests at Sheffield between duties