The 'Daddy' of them all...., 140 001 at Dufftown.
Roundly disliked by the public and rail enthusiasts alike for many years the British Rail "Pacer Railbus" concept was realised when this prototype took to the rails in December 1980. Purists may argue LEV1 which also identified as R1 or RDB975874 the experimental single car railbus built two years earlier by BR Derby Research Centre and Leyland Bus Ltd at Workington was the 'Granddaddy' of them all as it entered service in 1978. I would argue it was only ever conceived as an experiment vehicle and never carried passenger stock numbers.
With BR opting for a 2-car railbus as replacement for the aging DMU fleet R2 the first 2-car was built as a public service prototype. It was out shopped with passenger stock numbers 55500+55501 formed as set 140 001. The unit saw public service over the entire UK from May 1981 as BR demonstrated the railbus concept to passengers and interested local authorities alike. Heralded as the new future of branch line travel sadly poor ride quality and bus seating were just no replacement for the older more comfortable DMU's they sort to replace. With Government transport policy at the time set against the railways it was very much a case of; Road Building = Investment and anything Railway = Subsidy. There was no going back for BR Pacers were to be a stop gap to what would otherwise have been line closures and reduced services as older DMUs were removed from service.
140 001's passenger career was largely over by 1984 as by 1983 the production version of the new train the class 141's had entered service in West Yorkshire. 140 001 spent long periods stored from 1985 onward ending up at Leeds Holbeck Depot in December 1986 where it remained until BR formerly withdrew it on 23/10/1990. A further two years open storage at Holbeck then followed before it got moved to more secure storage at Leeds Neville Hill Depot from where it was sold to Banffshire Rolling Stock Ltd in February 1995 for the sum of £2,000. This company formed by Keith & Dufftown Railway Association members were seeking to restored passenger services over the closed freight branch from Keith to Dufftown. It made the long journey to Scotland by road in February 1995 and on inspection proved too costly to make a rapid return to service so instead ended up as a static information centre at Dufftown station until enough funds were available to restore it. Work started in 2016 to make it operational but to date this remains a work in progress. Ironically in preservation it has remained stored while the older DMU's it replaced on BR operate services on the KDR.
The 'Daddy' of them all...., 140 001 at Dufftown.
Roundly disliked by the public and rail enthusiasts alike for many years the British Rail "Pacer Railbus" concept was realised when this prototype took to the rails in December 1980. Purists may argue LEV1 which also identified as R1 or RDB975874 the experimental single car railbus built two years earlier by BR Derby Research Centre and Leyland Bus Ltd at Workington was the 'Granddaddy' of them all as it entered service in 1978. I would argue it was only ever conceived as an experiment vehicle and never carried passenger stock numbers.
With BR opting for a 2-car railbus as replacement for the aging DMU fleet R2 the first 2-car was built as a public service prototype. It was out shopped with passenger stock numbers 55500+55501 formed as set 140 001. The unit saw public service over the entire UK from May 1981 as BR demonstrated the railbus concept to passengers and interested local authorities alike. Heralded as the new future of branch line travel sadly poor ride quality and bus seating were just no replacement for the older more comfortable DMU's they sort to replace. With Government transport policy at the time set against the railways it was very much a case of; Road Building = Investment and anything Railway = Subsidy. There was no going back for BR Pacers were to be a stop gap to what would otherwise have been line closures and reduced services as older DMUs were removed from service.
140 001's passenger career was largely over by 1984 as by 1983 the production version of the new train the class 141's had entered service in West Yorkshire. 140 001 spent long periods stored from 1985 onward ending up at Leeds Holbeck Depot in December 1986 where it remained until BR formerly withdrew it on 23/10/1990. A further two years open storage at Holbeck then followed before it got moved to more secure storage at Leeds Neville Hill Depot from where it was sold to Banffshire Rolling Stock Ltd in February 1995 for the sum of £2,000. This company formed by Keith & Dufftown Railway Association members were seeking to restored passenger services over the closed freight branch from Keith to Dufftown. It made the long journey to Scotland by road in February 1995 and on inspection proved too costly to make a rapid return to service so instead ended up as a static information centre at Dufftown station until enough funds were available to restore it. Work started in 2016 to make it operational but to date this remains a work in progress. Ironically in preservation it has remained stored while the older DMU's it replaced on BR operate services on the KDR.