-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
What is the most southerly point Pacers have operated to?
- Thread starter tom73
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They started life on Westcountry branch lines.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
it is going to be Cornwall. Furthest north is going to be Chathill or Carlisle I expect.
Ash Bridge
Established Member
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, (142049)
If you mean within Great Britain then most likely Penzance.
LOL The Irony
On Moderation
IIRC some have wound up on the joint ScotRail Northern Carlisle - Glasgow Central.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Did they work past Carlisle? not sure they were welcome in Scotland!
LOL The Irony
On Moderation
Apparently it's happened on a few occasions
tom1649
Member
- Joined
- 5 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 963
Class 143s were briefly used on the Bathgate line when new.
fgwrich
Established Member
Easy. If we're talking about Southerly in service then it's Penzance. Both when new with BR when the 142s started out in the West Country and with FGW when occasional workings have happened with 142s and 143s.
FGW's 143 fleet was also refurbished in Eastleigh Works, so they have treaded carefully into the depths of the Southern Region, albeit via Romsey / Chandelors Ford and Eastleigh.
FGW's 143 fleet was also refurbished in Eastleigh Works, so they have treaded carefully into the depths of the Southern Region, albeit via Romsey / Chandelors Ford and Eastleigh.
sprinterguy
Established Member
Penzance.
Furthest north would be Inverness, though not in passenger service. The prototype class 140 can also currently be found at Dufftown on the Keith and Dufftown Railway, which isn't much further south (Keith is actually slightly further north, but the 140 was delivered to Dufftown by road so I don't think that it's ventured to that end of the line). Heaton based class 143s also worked Edinburgh - Bathgate services for a short time in the late eighties.
Last edited:
DarloRich
Veteran Member
I stuck to service trains as i have seen the 140 on the Kieth and Dufftown. I didn't know the 143's worked to Bathgate.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I suspect the more interesting question, and possibly that more envisaged by the OP, would be "what is the closest to London Pacers have operated". Have they ever been down the Buxton line?
BRE-Leyland Railbus prototype on display in London Paddington platform 1, December 1981.
43096
On Moderation
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2015
- Messages
- 15,266
westcoaster
Established Member
Didn't a 142 make it to reading a few years back for depot attention.
DanNCL
Established Member
They've occasionally made it to Dumfries on the early morning services from Carlisle that are worked by Northern crew, but never to Glasgow iirc.
Not supposed to. They're banned from heading to Buxton. Furthest south I've seen one of Northern's was only at Stoke.
ForTheLoveOf
Established Member
- Joined
- 7 Oct 2017
- Messages
- 6,416
I believe Geoff Marshall covered the question of proximity to London in one of his videos a few months/years ago, when he went to or via Retford. He said it was Retford. Not sure if that's right or not, but it seems like it could be true for regularly scheduled diagrams.
anamyd
On Moderation
- Joined
- 17 Aug 2018
- Messages
- 3,011
Some fun going on in here!
anamyd
On Moderation
- Joined
- 17 Aug 2018
- Messages
- 3,011
Pacer = 140/141/142/143/144
There was a thread sometime ago about how close pacers got to London in regular service and I offered up Swindon as Swindon-Cheltenham services were occasionally operated by pacers.
See this (not my photo):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/komadori/3207387021/
grumpyoldman01
Member
A general question on this topic.
Class 143s are frequent visitors to Paignton, but are there any scheduled to operate over the South Devon banks to Plymouth on a regular basis?
With regard to the most northerly point reached by a Pacer, as the 143s were assembled at Kilmarnock did any travel north of there when on test? And which way did they come south after completion - G&SW or Beattock?
Class 143s are frequent visitors to Paignton, but are there any scheduled to operate over the South Devon banks to Plymouth on a regular basis?
With regard to the most northerly point reached by a Pacer, as the 143s were assembled at Kilmarnock did any travel north of there when on test? And which way did they come south after completion - G&SW or Beattock?
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Highlandspring
Established Member
- Joined
- 14 Oct 2017
- Messages
- 2,777
The class 143 bodies were built by W Alexander coachbuilders at Camelon, which is north of both Kilmarnock and Bathgate (it’s actually right on the 56th parallel) but not sure if it counts....
My understanding is that the completed 143s were tested between Kilmarnock and Dumfries, though I’ve read that one appeared at Barassie at least once.
It’s also worth recording that a few Neville Hill 142s went to Haymarket depot for repairs in the early 90s.
iantherev
Member
143618 reached Westbury to restart a Paddington - Paignton Service on 10th January. The original intention was to get it to Newburybut it ran out of time.
Ash Bridge
Established Member
That's exactly what I considered when I posted, I'm sure the Pacer (& Skipper) names only came about when the class 142/143/144 entered service and don't ever recall 140/141s referred to as such before then, alas it seems my opinion is outnumbered on here...
I have just looked at google maps to see if Falmouth was a little farther south than Penzance but Penzance just shades it as the most southerly station. I doubt they`ve ever been through the Eurotunnel. The sound of French laughter would be deafening.
theblackwatch
Established Member
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2006
- Messages
- 10,713
I also considered this and almost posted something. The 'Pacer' name certainly didn't appear until the 142s came along, although ironically, it was the 141s that were in the livery of pacer sweets (which many on here will be too young to remember!).
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
I asked ages ago about where 141s had been (besides Tehran) and someone turned up photos of one in Inverness yard.
- Status