The 142 pacer from hell

[Sprog]

This is a topic on pacers..not the Clapham crash... :roll:

When i say long live pacers, i say that, because i concur with Jordy. They are perfectly suitable for branches etc. and no replacement s really needed for them yet. Bristol to Cardiff or Gloucester to Weston SM over longer distances, on mainlines is in-appropriate for them, and thats why people think they are so cr*p.

 

[Jim]

loads more? what then?

There's one thing in particular about pacers which I dislike, and that's the crash worthiness, or rather lack of it.

Thank god slammers have gone then, they weren't to safe :roll:

Slammers are safe.

Only major crash was clapham and the fault of that was the driver not understanding the rule book.

If everybodu does what they are supposed to do no crashes the slammers are perfectly safe.

Same with Winsford :roll:

 

[Jim]

After seeing other post's, the slammer point may not be as good, but the thumper at Cowden was. They were obliviousaly not safe either

 

[Met Driver]

After seeing other post's, the slammer point may not be as good, but the thumper at Cowden was. They were obliviousaly not safe either

I don't see how MkI multiple units have anything to do with this. As for that "same with Winsford" comment, Clapham and Winsford were very different events. As has been said already, the Clapham crash was caused by faulty wiring, which caused the driver to be shown a proceed aspect when he should have been shown a red. This resulted in a multiple collision, which is what made the event so disastrous.

Winsford happened because the driver of the pacer SPADed the danger signal protecting the 87 and stopped in its path on the mainline, causing the 87 to collide with the (by now stationary) pacer's rear coach.

Both events were completely different.

 

[Techniquest]

This is a topic on pacers..not the Clapham crash... :roll:

Well said. It's unfortunate that every thread is subject to topic diversion like this.

When i say long live pacers, i say that, because i concur with Jordy. They are perfectly suitable for branches etc. and no replacement s really needed for them yet. Bristol to Cardiff or Gloucester to Weston SM over longer distances, on mainlines is in-appropriate for them, and thats why people think they are so cr*p.

Interesting point. Worst I've seen is 143604 on the 1605 off Swansea yesterday to Pembroke Dock. Not so bad due to lower speed limits that way, but if it came all the way from Cardiff... hock:

I've done 143601 from Gloucester to Cardiff once, but only because my 170 was terminated at Gloucester (this was back in the special timetable used earlier this year). Surprisingly, and I'll say this once, it wasn't that bad. I've had a 143 on Newport to Severn Tunnel Junction, a relatively high-speed line, not a bad journey at all. Also did in 2004 a 143 from BTM to Taunton via Weston SM, due to nothing better being available and being too tired to wait another 90 minutes for a Voyager. A good trip, I must say. Although I was envious when the HST passed us on the mainline before we diverged off onto the WSM loop. Oh, and one other trip on a Pacer was Swansea to Carmarthen, again in 2004, in the summer on a fast service to Fishguard. Enjoyable it was!

There's more trips, but to detail them all would be pointless.

I've only done two 144s so far, both on short journeys. I've done tons of 142s in the Valleys, with some rough rides, but not all.

Anyway, before I go forever, I will say that most of my Pacer journeys have been satisfactory. Hardly brilliant, but I still enjoyed it. I will agree that most passengers would prefer a 150/2, 153 or 158, but at the end of the day, it's not as if passengers refuse to board a Severn Beach service because it's a 143. Most passengers would rather get where they're going there and then, not wait and hope for better rolling stock. I'm informed there's not much but 142s on Barnsley to Huddersfield, but I'm not going to say I won't do it as a result. Indeed, I want to see just how 'bad' the Northerners all say they are. I need to cover that line too, so 142 or not, I'll be there!

 

[Tomnick]

I've only been over Barnsley - Huddersfield once, and we had the pleasure of a 144 for that trip (very rough in places, though that depends a lot on loading, as well as the unit itself). I think most services over the line are usually worked by 144s (not so sure how often 142s appear), but on my trip, we passed two 156s, so it's fair to say that there's a bit of variety on offer. Returning through Huddersfield later in the day (via the 'Head of Steam' 8) ), there was a different 156 in the Penistone bay - not sure whether the diagrams result in units swapping at some point in the day, or whether the booked unit had failed - but certainly proves that it's not all 14x units!