Merseyrail class 142 auto announcements??

[IamTrainsYT]

hi, about 8 years ago i was travelling on an ex merseyrail class 142 between Manchester Piccadilly and rose hill (i was quite young at the time so not all the details might be correct) but as i was on the journey the train piped up with auto announcements. as i was at Fairfield (i think) the train said "this train is now arriving into Liverpool lime street where this journey terminates, thank you for travelling with merseyrail." does anybody know if this is actually correct and if it is does this still happen (as i haven't rode an ex merseyrail for a while) and does anybody have any recordings of this? thanks

 

[387star]

They had a primitive PIS system after their refurb many years ago

 

[Geeves]

Yes they did/still do have an automatic announcer but so far as I know was programmed with only the Chat Moss, Warrington BQ and Wigan NL Lines from Lime Street. The drivers were in charge of making it work I believe.

 

[Llama]

Correct. It uses to pipe up with a chime and then an announcement at very occasional random intervals (as a driver you might hear one or two per year) and the announcement was usually that the train was arriving at Liverpool Lime Street where it terminates, irrespective of location.

It is/was possible to get them to announce a whole host of other locations on the old FNW network, other than those on stations out of Lime Street, but whether they'd still have that capability is another question - they are very old kit and were reprogrammed a few years ago with the same destination codes as the TrainFX system fitted to most other stock uses.

 

[IamTrainsYT]

is there any way at all these announcements could still be played?

 

[Geeves]

I don't think there is any reason why not but so far as I know no Mersey rail sets have been preserved and none are left in service, I could be wrong there though so it looks like the automatic announcements will be in our memories only.

 

[Neptune]

I don't think there is any reason why not but so far as I know no Mersey rail sets have been preserved and none are left in service, I could be wrong there though so it looks like the automatic announcements will be in our memories only.

142041 is preserved at the Wensleydale Railway and 142055 is preserved at the Foxfield Railway.

 

[RHolmes]

More often than not they would just display the end destination such as “Stalybridge” and not play any announcements whatsoever, regardless of what the next station actually was.

 

[Bletchleyite]

More often than not they would just display the end destination such as “Stalybridge” and not play any announcements whatsoever, regardless of what the next station actually was.

Don't think I ever heard an announcement on them, and I used a fair few.

 

[RHolmes]

Don't think I ever heard an announcement on them, and I used a fair few.

Usually just a less than audible “aghshsyjebd” from the guard over the bad PA prior to station arrival

 

[Neptune]

I heard the Lime Street announcement on the odd occasion when they were working out of Leeds. The first time I heard it was at Sandal & Agbrigg!

 

[Geeves]

Thanks for the correction Neptune, someone needs to update the list haha, just kidding I am grateful to have as much information as we do! I am happy to learn the pacer fans of the future will get to enjoy those lovely seats! Same here for the announcements one time at Mirfield, "The next station will be Liverpool Lime St!"

 

[IamTrainsYT]

Great, will give it a go when I find myself in the cab of one.

I’d assume the route codes mentioned are for the electronic destination display? If so, anyone know which code is likely to throw out an announcement?

 

[158757]

As above they were all programmed years ago to match trainfx destination only codes, I'm not sure if this overwrote the original announcements or what the original codes were, but I too have heard it. It also had to be done by the driver as the blind controller only worked at the end where the driver was keyed in, except a couple that let you set it at both ends, 046 and 049 did.

I'm not sure who would still have a copy of the old codes and how to set them up, for the newer codes you just pressed Line/Route, 9, the code for your destination and enter, but there were a whole host of other buttons on the controller.

 

[IamTrainsYT]

I'm not sure who would still have a copy of the old codes and how to set them up.

I assume none of these are any good?

 

[IamTrainsYT]

tried to get these to work on 142055 today. It wouldn’t accept any of the old codes (like the most recent one, do you also need to press: line of route, *number* and then a code?) however, I did notice an “announcements on/off” and “announcement repeat” button on the controller. I assume this is responsible for making them work? Anyway, pressing this with one of the trainfx destination only codes set did absolutely nothing. Would anyone be able to help any further? I have a strong feeling these should still be able to be played somehow. When I tripped the switch for the system the interior screens said “Next stop” and then a couple of seconds later “End Of Route”. I assume this “next stop” thing was something that worked back when they were with merseyrail?

A couple of photos as references to what I was saying

 

[IamTrainsYT]

Just as i’d given up hope and was making plans to overwrite 055/058’s PIS’s…

I found this!

looks like special codes are required, not the ones that are displayed on either of the lists displayed in the cab. Does anyone have any of these “3 figures route codes”