anamyd
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You could embed them in hillsides with the fronts on stilts so that the cab is a kind of panoramic lounge
323 Class
Member
Alternatively, they could be used as cattle trucks if you take the windows out and put grills on them.
I think there’s laws against that kind of thing...
323 Class
Member
Not for us Northern folk, there isn't
A few weeks ago whilst waiting of a train in Yorkshire, I got talking to a retired gentleman who used to work on the railway as a guard. He remembered working on the Class 141s and had nothing but praise for them. He said that it was a pity that the Pacers had not been introduced sooner to stop some of the Beeching closures. In that respect the pacers were not a mistake and other European countries have or have had them.
More information about other countries that use them here: http://www.theinfolist.com/php/SummaryGet.php?FindGo=Railbus
If a 1st gen DMU wasn't going to stop a Beeching cut, I doubt a pacer would have.
Jozhua
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I was mostly joking with my post. I actually agree with you, they served a purpose and certainly saved a lot of branch lines! However, now passenger numbers are at an all time high, reducing costs to such extremes is no longer necessary and the pacers have proved to be slightly too short and too unreliable.
The fact they have stuck around for so long when, even being realistic, they should have been replaced 5-10 years ago is the gripe most people have with them I think!
Hopefully we'll see them gone by the end of the decade, although I'm not holding out much hope.
Entertexthere
Member
I think someone should form a "Pacer Preservation Society" and get 1 or 2 and hire them out to heritage lines for galas. I would be more than happy to join one of these!
There was a genuine Pacer Preservation Society but I think it closed a few years ago. Their old website address gives a 404 now, but it is archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20141223104507/http://www.pacerpreservationsociety.co.uk/
There is also the Peak Pacer Preservation Society (so named because they are based in Matlock). Their website is still online at https://pppsociety.wixsite.com/peakpacerps/about but I'm not sure how active they actually are - their Twitter page is locked and their Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2018.
Not that preservation necessarily means the units are saved for posterity. I think some of the "preserved" class 141s have been scrapped now, haven't they?
sprinterguy
Established Member
Yeah, the two units at the Weardale Railway, 141103 and 141110 (The latter purchased as a source of spares) as noted in this post:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...-from-the-rest-why.182121/page-2#post-4035232
A Class 104 certainly wouldn't have! With dingy tungsten lighting, dark wooden stained interiors and diesel fumes coming inside they were the pitts!
I don't know about a 104, but the thumpers down South (with tungsten lighting and stained wood) certainly improved passenger numbers on many lines, over very old steam stock.
But that was never going to make a difference against the ideological imperative to cut route miles.
hooverboy
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ok so what about a police mobile paddy wagon then!!..or maybe a st johns ambulance mobile medical centre.
if the intention is to use as a holding facility to transport/incarcerate neer-do-wells the concept has a bit of mileage!
for use at football do's/races etc etc
Apologies if this is not relevant to the current topic of conversation, but here's my thoughts on the use of Pacers after withdrawal:
I don't understand why people (and by people I really mean the normal media e.g. BBC not rail enthusiast magazines) are getting so interested in the withdrawal of these units. The people t'up north (apologies) don't really like these trains because of the ride quality. They are old buses on old flatbed trucks and they are nowhere near as modern and up-to-date as the 800s (which I'm not a fan of really).
I like the idea of something like the NRM buying a Pacer but apart from that I really don't see why people want to convert them into village halls! It would be far easier for a village to build a new hall rather than buy an old railway unit, convert it for modern accessibility standards so everyone can use it like a normal village hall, find some track to put it on (if they keep the chassis and don't take the bodyshell off and don't just use that), find where to put the track, get the unit into the village, and get it on to the tracks. Also, even a 2-car 142 wouldn't really provide much space for any village hall-y things.
My main point really is that I don't see why people are thinking of converting old Pacers but not something like a Mk3 carriage, which has much more space and provides a more comfortable ride?
-Peter
I don't understand why people (and by people I really mean the normal media e.g. BBC not rail enthusiast magazines) are getting so interested in the withdrawal of these units. The people t'up north (apologies
) don't really like these trains because of the ride quality. They are old buses on old flatbed trucks and they are nowhere near as modern and up-to-date as the 800s (which I'm not a fan of really).I like the idea of something like the NRM buying a Pacer but apart from that I really don't see why people want to convert them into village halls! It would be far easier for a village to build a new hall rather than buy an old railway unit, convert it for modern accessibility standards so everyone can use it like a normal village hall, find some track to put it on (if they keep the chassis and don't take the bodyshell off and don't just use that), find where to put the track, get the unit into the village, and get it on to the tracks. Also, even a 2-car 142 wouldn't really provide much space for any village hall-y things.
My main point really is that I don't see why people are thinking of converting old Pacers but not something like a Mk3 carriage, which has much more space and provides a more comfortable ride?
-Peter
I believe that Chris Eden-Green, who made the "Steam Locos in Profile" series on YouTube, gave a good example of one of these societies in one of his more comical videos - the:
Pacer
Railway
Apprectiation
Trust
Or something similar.
-Peter
43096
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For those that don’t like them, maybe there needs to be an All Railbus Scrapping Enthusiasts group?
Oh dear....
-Peter
EDIT:
Fourwheeled
Useless
Carriage
(Horrible &
Stupid)
Involvement
Alliance.
They buy Pacers and paint them a light shade of pink-y purple.
route:oxford
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Just as a parallel thought, there are a total of 10 Class 144 centre cars. What is the maximum number of centre cars that can be inserted into a single unit?
NorthernSpirit
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Speaking of using them as a mobile medical centre - some villages don't even have access to health centres, dentists, post offices, pubs or libraries. Perhaps some of the more knackered examples could be converted to these type of facilities.
Couple of steel girders held together with eight threaded rods used to act as rails and you've got a stand for the Pacer to 'sit on'.
Mad idea - if I was the Mid-Hants Line, I'd try and get one to run a few daily commuter services to connect to SWR at Alton. You'd probably be able to decently fill a 2 car Pacer if the fare is right. Won't be up to Hampshire's standards I must admit
would that not require them to meet modern disability access standards ?
The thing I don't understand with the thought that we can use Pacers for these purposes is that it would surely be easier to quickly put up a few PortaCabins before finding funds to build a proper building, instead of bodging it with a Pacer? They're only buses on a flatbed chassis. Not what I would want for a health centre.
-Peter
Seeing it's a Heritage Railway I would've thought not. They'd be stuffed if they'd had to make all their coaches meet the standards. There is that 144 that was done up if it were the case.
sprinterguy
Established Member
The competition is now open to submit your plans for the retiring Pacer trains, so place your bids, folks.
http://www.railtechnologymagazine.c...to-convert-retiring-pacer-trains-in-the-north
http://www.railtechnologymagazine.c...to-convert-retiring-pacer-trains-in-the-north
I note from the article that the rail minster's initial discussions have been with the pupils of a primary school in Bolton: If the DfT frequently receive input and guidance from primary school children it might go a long way towards explaining many of their policy decisions.
anamyd
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The competition is now open to submit your plans for the retiring Pacer trains, so place your bids, folks
yay!
I note from the article that the rail minster's initial discussions have been with the pupils of a primary school in Bolton: If the DfT frequently receive input and guidance from primary school children it might go a long way towards explaining many of their policy decisions.
Journeyman
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Oh, don't start with that nonsense again.
There was no conspiracy to close lines. Beeching went in with no axe to grind - he just reported on what he found, which was pretty horrific.
Journeyman
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I don't think there's actually a limit - all cars are independent in terms of traction, air supply etc.
anamyd
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that means that 2 7-car Pacers could be formed! or a single 12-car Pacer, but that would be 180m long rather than 105
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