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The 142 pacer from hell

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AJP

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I was on the 14:27 Lincoln to Retford yesterday. I was going to go back to Doncaster on it till I saw 142019 arrive. I decided I was going to change at Retford though I would have to wait an hour. Anyway I hopped on the pacer got a seat. We eventually left at about 14:45 because of brake faults.

On the Move

We were on the move at last untill about ten minutes later when I thought we hit a car or something, but it was the emergancy breaks and everyone went flying. About ten minutes later we moved and arrived into Saxilby were the same problem happened. We kept on braking down, but I eventually made it to Retford. The bouncing 142 should of left Lincoln at 14:27 and I arrived at Retford at 15:55! Running about 50 minutes late which isnt fun on a pacer. I just made my connection on the high level at 16:06.


I say Scrap Pacers <(
 
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Tomnick

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AJP said:
I say Scrap Pacers <(
Joking aside...if you didn't have a pacer working this service, then what would work it? Probably nothing, since there'd be no spare units!
 

heart-of-wessex

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grr why does everyone say scrap the pacers :@

oh right a pacer had a brake fault, scrap the pacers!

so that means then cos my 180 slammed to a stop at slough due to brake problems and was delayed by somewhat 30mins leaving slough, i can say scrap the 180s then??

oh of course some HST powercars break down as well dont they, well lets all say scrap the HSTs then...
:roll:


why always the pacers that get picked on for something small? bloody hate people taking the p i $$ cos i like 142s or 143s, and if they keep on about it, i dont really want to know them!
 

evil_hippo

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AJP said:
I arrived at Retford at 15:55! Running about 50 minutes late which isnt fun on a pacer. I just made my connection on the high level at 16:06.

I would have thought that a good thing! You had been on a train when you could have been waiting on Retford station. (No doubt had you missed your connection some lies and a certain rail rover would have got you a taxi to Preston to make the sleeper... ;) )
 

evil_hippo

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I am going to yet again point out that it is sometimes possible to travel on a 142 for about 4 hours from Kirkby stephen to Middlesborough...
 

heart-of-wessex

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sounds good anough to me, 144s are better seats wise, been on a valleys 143? youll know why a 144 would be better!
 

Gareth Hale

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AJP said:
I say Scrap Pacers <(

Its not the Pacers fault, these things happen with every train, Ive road on hundreds of pacers and only ever broke down once at Accrington (the doors wouldnt close, the all sprung back open) :roll: But every now and again, there are faults. Sometimes, they cannot be helped.
 
T

Tom

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lol Gareth, you would say that!

Pacers are efficient as people movers but they are not efficient when it actually comes to it.
 

Techniquest

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Too right. Leave them alone.

I might not like Pacers, with small exception for 144s, but then still for <60 minutes if possible, but I'm not permanently saying 'Let's scrap Pacers'. I might have been joking about it on Sunday, but that is all it was, a bit of fun.

Everything breaks down now and again (too often it seems though between Newport and London). The doors on the 142 I took from Cardiff to Cwmbach once wouldn't shut by me, so I did the counductor a favour and got up to close them manually. Hardly difficult or time-consuming, and she did thank me on departure of the service, but it's common courtesy. That is something I have to say most <21s (OK, let's not discriminate. The whole population.) does not have any more.

Let's start saying something else though. Heart-of-wessex, Gareth, I assume you're with me on this:

Long live Pacers.
 

AJP

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Good things about pacers:
They get you from A-B

Bad Things:
They bounce like bouncy castle,
They are very loud and the brakes are squeeky,
They are buses on railway,
plus loads more :roll:
 

Gareth Hale

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FGWFan said:
Let's start saying something else though. Heart-of-wessex, Gareth, I assume you're with me on this:

Long live Pacers.


I am well with you there!!

Long Live the Pacers!!!
 

heart-of-wessex

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AJP said:
Good things about pacers:
They get you from A-B

Bad Things:
They bounce like bouncy castle,
They are very loud and the brakes are squeeky,
They are buses on railway,
plus loads more :roll:

they bounce, well yes not that bad really, i think you'll find that the rough track will make it bounce, ever been on a 143 from Trowbridge - Cardiff, hardly rocks about! 144s you dont even notice if it bounces or not

loud? well a HST is louder, complaining?

Brakes are also squeaky on a 150, 142s/143s arent that bad on brakes, does the same as a 150

loads more? what then?
 

Met Driver

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heart-of-wessex said:
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.

_383785_crash_300.jpg


That's what happened at Winsford a few years back. The 87 set was only travelling at 30-40mph, yet it still managed to turn half of the rearmost pacer coach into a wire brush.

I also think there's something to be said about the fact that they have (rigid) trucks instead of bogies. This causes far too much flange squeal, especially on tight curves (Barry Island springs to mind). Obviously the amount of squeal depends on the condition of the track, but you sure as hell wouldn't get the same amount of noise out of other second generation DMUs which have bogies.

I have nothing against pacers as such, but they have their fair share of disadvantages and are by no means flawless.
 

David

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Seth said:
I also think there's something to be said about the fact that they have (rigid) trucks instead of bogies. This causes far too much flange squeal, especially on tight curves (Barry Island springs to mind). Obviously the amount of squeal depends on the condition of the track, but you sure as hell wouldn't get the same amount of noise out of other second generation DMUs which have bogies.
Ever heard them between Meadowhall and Rotherham? :shock: That is flange squeal. A 15x makes nowhere near as much noice as a pacer.

heart-of-wessex said:
they bounce, well yes not that bad really, i think you'll find that the rough track will make it bounce, ever been on a 143 from Trowbridge - Cardiff, hardly rocks about!
:shock: :shock: Try taking a pacer from Scunthorpe - Doncaster, then make the same journey in a 15x. At times the pacer is that bad, I have seen some people with a greenish tinge on their faces. Yet there is hardly any movement on a 15x
 

Jordy

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FGWFan said:
Long live Pacers.

I suppose thats kind of a good point, although I really don't like pacers - they can't just be disposed of if we want to keep local lines open, unless we have sufficient replacements, which at this time - we don't

Jordy
 

Jim

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Seth said:
heart-of-wessex said:
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.

_383785_crash_300.jpg


That's what happened at Winsford a few years back. The 87 set was only travelling at 30-40mph, yet it still managed to turn half of the rearmost pacer coach into a wire brush.

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

yorkie

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Heart of Wessex said:
AJP said:
......
They are very loud and the brakes are squeeky,...

loud? well a HST is louder, complaining?
But it's a different sort of "loud".

To the passenger, an HST is not loud, but a pacer is.

I think AJP is referring to the ambience in the train, rather than the noise heard outside the train.
 

Julian G

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AJP said:
Good things about pacers:
They get you from A-B

Bad Things:
They bounce like bouncy castle,
They are very loud and the brakes are squeeky,
They are buses on railway,
plus loads more :roll:
probably the Bakerloo line is worse between Queen's Park to Harrow & Wealdstone ;)
It kept jumping up and down
 

Met Driver

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1288gaje said:
probably the Bakerloo line is worse between Queen's Park to Harrow & Wealdstone ;)
It kept jumping up and down

That is due to the condition of the track and has nothing to do with the rolling stock used (in this case 72MkII stock/508s).
 

Beaker

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Jim said:
Seth said:
heart-of-wessex said:
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.

_383785_crash_300.jpg


That's what happened at Winsford a few years back. The 87 set was only travelling at 30-40mph, yet it still managed to turn half of the rearmost pacer coach into a wire brush.

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.
 

Tomnick

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Beaker said:
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.
The driver was as shocked as everyone else to find a train in front of him - he'd received a proceed aspect at the signal 'protecting' the train at a stand, so was not breaking or otherwise misunderstanding any rules.
 

yorkie

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Beaker said:
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.
Oh dear, you are very confused. I am not sure what with though!

See Tomnick's reply above. It was caused by a 'wrong side' signal failure, a very rare event, which was caused by sloppy work done on the signal. Steps were taken to ensure that the failure in question does not occur again. The driver was in no way to blame.
 
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