Pacers on the mainline on Tuesday 18th July

[Clip]

Little video of it stopping at Bramley

 

[Wyrleybart]

Little video of it stopping at Bramley

Bloody hell. That pacer engine roar !!!! Thought it was gone from the mainline for ever.

 

[Class15]

So it ran via the planned route. Wonder what the third rail fuss was about then.

 

[Spartacus]

So it ran via the planned route. Wonder what the third rail fuss was about then.

No idea, they ran regularly to a few places with 3rd rail, Hunts Cross being perhaps the major example, but also Bidston, Southport and Chester. I think people at some point have confused not being cleared with being barred, which are two very different things.

 

[Welly]

The combination of a full to the brim CET and the (in)famous Pacer ride does not sound appealing!

 

[Mollman]

I’d like to see what they’ve done inside the unit. It looks like they’ve at least repainted it as it’s back to cream from light blue.

Of course 003 was one of the Oldham 5 which kept its original layout and got the bare bones Serco refresh. Will be interesting to see if they’ve sourced the original brown/beige/blue seat covers and parcels area internal doors.

Glimpse of the inside in this video (not mine so I can't comment on the 'Last ever' tag):

 

[Class15]

Glimpse of the inside in this video (not mine so I can't comment on the 'Last ever' tag):

Very much doubt it’s the last ever. Looks like clickbait from the publisher of that video.

 

[erk]

Hunts Cross for example was never an issue for 35 years

Hunt's Cross was an issue at least once. Something on a pacer I was on contacted the third rail as we entered the station (from Liverpool), causing much smoke, evacuation of the train and it going out of service.

Clearly not a fundamental problem though; pacers continued in use on that line.

 

[Neptune]

Glimpse of the inside in this video (not mine so I can't comment on the 'Last ever' tag):

Thanks. Good job done on that glimpse.

 

[FileTrekker]

I've noticed a slight problem with the livery of 142 003. They've accidentally used the Transport for Greater Manchester logo, introduced in 2011, rather than the GMPTE logo, so the whole thing looks anachronistic.

 

[Ianigsy]

Probably run a few affordable enthusiast tours in pairs I would imagine, like they do with their Scotrail DBSO set. 2x142 can probably reach a lot of lines that traditional railtour stock can’t.

I can imagine them being very handy for Branch Line Society-type track bashing tours.