Are there any Pacers still with bus seats?

[Samuel88]

The last time I had to take a trip on a Pacer between Sheffield and Manchester it was literally a bus on rails right down to the seats. Are there any of these unrefurbished Pacers still about?

 

[superalbs]

Oh yes. Absolutely heaps of them. I'm sure someone will be along with the numbers, but they sure exist still.

 

[yorkie]

I wonder if @158757 could be that 'someone'?

I believe he may be able to advise on oddities such as if a particular unit has a door handle as a toilet flush

 

[bramling]

The last time I had to take a trip on a Pacer between Sheffield and Manchester it was literally a bus on rails right down to the seats. Are there any of these unrefurbished Pacers still about?

I think it’s the ex FNW 142s, including those which spent time with FGW.

Northern Spirit reseated theirs, and there are the notorious Merseyrail versions. I believe the Welsh 142s were also reseated. All 143s and 144s are reseated.

Personally I don’t mind the bus seats at all. The seats on the Northern Spirit units I find comfortable, albeit that the interior layout is strange and the seating capacity rather low. Anything is better than the Merseyrail seats, they’re simply awful in every respect.

 

[Cowley]

I wonder if @158757 could be that 'someone'?

I believe he may be able to advise on oddities such as if a particular unit has a door handle as a toilet flush

Ah but now I’m really hoping that there’s one somewhere with toilet flush levers instead of door handles...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ah but now I’m really hoping that there’s one somewhere with toilet flush levers instead of door handles...

What would be funny would be one with an alarm handle as a bog flush, and ideally a bog handle as an alarm handle...

 

[Cowley]

What would be funny would be one with an alarm handle as a bog flush, and ideally a bog handle as an alarm handle...

With a “Warning. Ejector Seat” sign next to the toilet/alarm handle that you only notice as you press it?

 

[JonathanH]

The Merseyrail 142s have bus seats - it is just they aren't tubular frame ones.

Bus bench seats 142001/3-5/7/9/11-4/23/7-40/60-64/6-8/70
Individual bus seats 142041-9/51-8
NE reseated 142015-22/24-6/50/65/71/8/9/84/6-96
Chapman seats 142002/6/10/69/72-7/80-3/5

 

[simon7929]

Welsh unit 142085 received the Northern Spirit refurb back around 1999. It was transferred to Cardiff in exchange for an equal amount of 150s with various other refurbished pacers. A swap took place a few years later with Northern Spirit's remaining bench seat pacers. The original ones being sent back North except 142085. This one stayed in Wales and got refurbished again to match the bench seat ones that had arrived from the North, them themselves getting treated to a spruce up. Something that I'm curious to know! Did 142085 retain its floor mounted heating it was fitted with on its first refurbishment?

 

[xotGD]

Individual bus seats 142041-9/51-8

I will never understand why money was spent to replace reasonable bus seats with these seats of Satan. The have to be the worst train seat of all time - and I include bare wooden planks in that list!

 

[JonathanH]

I will never understand why money was spent to replace reasonable bus seats with these seats of Satan. The have to be the worst train seat of all time - and I include bare wooden planks in that list!

Presumably the same reason that those seats were being fitted to new build buses at the same time. Isn't it the lack of leg room that is a problem with those units and not the seat design?

 

[gsnedders]

Presumably the same reason that those seats were being fitted to new build buses at the same time. Isn't it the lack of leg room that is a problem with those units and not the seat design?

Yeah, the legroom was always the biggest problem with them.

 

[158757]

I wonder if @158757 could be that 'someone'?

I believe he may be able to advise on oddities such as if a particular unit has a door handle as a toilet flush

That's on a 156 (or was) - 444, now gone with the PRM refurb!