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Northern Pacer Withdrawals - Info?

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Neptune

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43096 said:
It's all very well saying they're for use at quiet times, but a Pacer is not something that your average heritage railway visitor is going to want to pay to travel on. A 142 with bus seats and no tables is frankly not going to cut it, and will likely put visitors off from wanting to come again.
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A 101 has bus seats and no tables too. Bear in mind the 144’s and some of the 142’s preserved don’t have bus seats fitted. I often visit heritage railways at quieter times (I can’t stand galas) and have yet to hear someone moan when they’ve been on the DMU service including families.
 
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Mat17

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43096 said:
It's all very well saying they're for use at quiet times, but a Pacer is not something that your average heritage railway visitor is going to want to pay to travel on. A 142 with bus seats and no tables is frankly not going to cut it, and will likely put visitors off from wanting to come again.
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I have to agree. I think the problem with pacers at the moment (and this goes to any recently withdrawn stock) is that they are still too fresh out of service. Heritage railways attract some visitors (I stress 'some') so people can sample stock from several generations ago (the history buffs), or because of nostalgic memories from their youth. I'm sorry to say that even for myself (someone who likes pacers and see the future historic value in preserving them, same with HSTs etc.) would be equally disappointed if a 142 was running all the services, or the loco hauled stock was all air con MK2/3s. It just all so modern and like something I could have travelled on only last year.

Once we are 20 or 30 years into the future, the appreciation of them will be much greater and their place in history will be much more obvious. Future generations will be glad we saved them. The old saying, familiarity breeds contempt. How many people felt the same way about class 47s or class 50s in the 1970s? Or all those great Victorian/Georgian public buildings that were cleared to make way for the progressive 1950s/60s concrete office blocks?

As a side note, I really don't get the obsession amongst the railway buffs for tables on trains. The last thing I want on public transport is spending the journey sat in the aisle seat opposite some complete stranger wondering where I should look? I avoid the bay seating or table seating where possible. I Much prefer airline seating. This is probably why I'm disliking the 195s so much, the airline seats are so few and so hard to get. I'm missing pacers already.
 
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Neptune said:
A 101 has bus seats and no tables too. Bear in mind the 144’s and some of the 142’s preserved don’t have bus seats fitted. I often visit heritage railways at quieter times (I can’t stand galas) and have yet to hear someone moan when they’ve been on the DMU service including families.
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If you are travelling into Keighley from Haworth on a Saturday morning to do your shopping I don't think you will be bothered what sort of DMU it is as long as it turns up on time.
Not all travellers are enthusiasts!
 
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Swimbar said:
If you are travelling into Keighley from Haworth on a Saturday morning to do your shopping I don't think you will be bothered what sort of DMU it is as long as it turns up on time.
Not all travellers are enthusiasts!
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Exactly, and it's funny because the 1st gen DMUs are utilised on heritage lines just in the same way they were intended to be used to save branch lines in the 1950s. They are practical, useful and easy to start up, put into service and operate (comparative to steam locos and hauled stock). The Pacers will fit the bill in exactly the same way that the older units do but have the advantaged (it is hoped) of being newer and thus perhaps more reliable/cheaper to maintain.
 
Phil Scott

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A posting on wnxx.com seems to suggest 142003 is the sixth Pacer that’s due to move to Eastleigh. Is this actually correct? If so, it could suggest that it hasn’t been sold for preservation after all.
 
303032

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A single class 142 passed the Chesterfield Railcam at 10.19 on 5Z42 Gascoigne Wood - Eastleigh ECS move running around 90 mins late. Unfortunately I can't make out the unit number, however the number on the side of the rear vehicle looks like it ends with a 4.
 
91108

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Spotted on Twitter

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HiPa on Twitter

“Today’s once-a-day exercise yielded Derby-built British Rail #Class142 142003, running as 5Z42 0727 Gascoigne Wood Sidings > Eastleigh Works, passing through the Derby suburb of Sunnyhill having passed Litchurch Lane Works minutes earlier #Pacer 13/04/20”
twitter.com twitter.com
 
NorthernSpirit

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Which class 142 units have since moved to Eastleigh? As these can then be highlighted yellow on the list unless they're getting preserved, where a note will be added.


Plymdan said:
According to Wikipedia 142023 is now showing as location at Plym Valley Railway. Not sure if this is correct and it has moved. Anyone shed some light on this?
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From what I gather Plym Valley Railway did aquire one class 142 upon its confirmation of the unit number earlier on in the thread. "The list" was then updated to reflect this but I have no idea if 142023 has moved or not. Whoever's updated the Wikipedia entry will have, more than likely, taken my list as gospel and not as an ongoing rolling update (which may have errors in as I'm going off what has been posted in the various Pacer withdrawl threads) until each and every single Pacer unit has been withdrawn from mainline passenger service.

"The list" is updated on a regular basis to show what has changed, its fairly large and its best to view on a PC rather than a phone. Latest updates are shown in spolier tags.
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/pacer-withdrawls-the-list-reference
 
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142089 142032 142014 on Tuesday the 31st March. 2020. 142007 142056 on Monday the 6th April 2020. 142003 on 13th April 2020 x6 in total to eastleigh.
 
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I suppose with moves being suspended to private railways, then no news of 14023's arrival at Plymouth means its still being stored and has not arrived at the railway I keep an eye on their Facebook page but see no news.
 
adh144004

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skyhigh said:
I've been told that the 144s at Keighley are now stored prior to going off-lease and won't be going back into service. Those at Heaton are warm-stored in case they're required for a while.
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There was an article on last night's Look North (16/04/2020) featuring the boost KWVR are getting from storing these units in these difficult times.
It mentioned they were destined for scrap and unlikely to work in service again.
Though it also said there were 34 stored there, so not sure how reliable the facts......
 
43096

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Neptune said:
13 x 2 car and 10 x 3 car. Probably 34 vehicles from the mix of 2 & 3 cars that are there.
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There's 1 x 2-car and 4 x 3-car at Heaton AIUI, the rest at KWVR. That gives 14 cars at Heaton and 42 at KWVR by my reckoning.
 
3973EXL

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trainmania100 said:
5Q86 running Heaton to Eastleigh today, could be a 142?

Train 5Q86 Heaton T&R.S.M.D. to Eastleigh Arlington (Zg) | Rail Record

Live train times and live updates for Train 5Q86 Heaton T&R.S.M.D. to Eastleigh Arlington (Zg) | Rail Record
live.rail-record.co.uk live.rail-record.co.uk
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Northern Unit Refurbishments

It'll be exactly that - they're run by a FOC (that isn't GBRF) under their safety license etc, so they input and load the path meaning the headcode is obfuscated on the datafeeds (and until activated will just show as FRGT). It will be pathed and ran as an ECS on the actual systems
www.railforums.co.uk
 
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