The Horror of Pacers

[pitdiver]

Being a Southerner ie being local to GTR and their wonderful class 700s. I have never had the "pleasure" of travelling on a Pacer.
However this all changed last week. I had the need to get from Bedford to Worksop. So Leicester, Sheffield then the final leg Sheffield To Worksop on a PACER. Ye Gods no wonder they are talked about on here in such a way. I have never experienced such an awful train journey.

I have sympathy for all you members who have to suffer the Pacer on a regular basis

 

[Iskra]

Being a Southerner ie being local to GTR and their wonderful class 700s. I have never had the "pleasure" of travelling on a Pacer.
However this all changed last week. I had the need to get from Bedford to Worksop. So Leicester, Sheffield then the final leg Sheffield To Worksop on a PACER. Ye Gods no wonder they are talked about on here in such a way. I have never experienced such an awful train journey.

I have sympathy for all you members who have to suffer the Pacer on a regular basis

If that's what you think now, come back up and try a bus-seated one in deepest winter.

144's are alright though.

 

[yorksrob]

I rather missed having the three carriage 144 on the Little North Western this Saturday. Must be getting soft.

 

[irish_rail]

Give me a pacer over an 700 any day of the week!

 

[a_c_skinner]

I have never experienced such an awful train journey.

You had a seat? Pacers are not that good, but I'd sooner sit on a Pacer than stand on a (what is the best train?) Mk4. Or whatever. None of my epically bad trips have been on Pacers.

 

[Darandio]

I have sympathy for all you members who have to suffer the Pacer on a regular basis

You get used to them. A Pacer is better than no train at all, or in my case the alternative is a bus journey that takes four times longer.

 

[a_c_skinner]

The thing about seats is the number of them.

 

[supervc-10]

I'd certainly take a 700 over a Pacer any day of the week. It's the ride quality (or lack thereof) that's the worst thing.

 

[YorksDMU]

I recall when the Pacers were first introduced on the Hull to Scarborough line in mid May, 1987. I got on a new 142 - sadly I cannot recall which one - at Beverley for a journey to Hull.
It seemed very new, shiny, and quite modern. But I recall being a bit disappointed with it only having bus seats. Low backed and they made my bum ache!
However, it was when it started moving. That was the huge disappointment. It squealed, banged and crashed it’s way through to Hull. I kept feeling the need to stop the Pacer and get off it, it felt so unsafe with all that terrible riding. But, of course, over time, I became accustomed to their quirks etc, and now just grin and bare them.

 

[ed1971]

I recall when the Pacers were first introduced on the Hull to Scarborough line in mid May, 1987. I got on a new 142 - sadly I cannot recall which one - at Beverley for a journey to Hull.
It seemed very new, shiny, and quite modern. But I recall being a bit disappointed with it only having bus seats. Low backed and they made my bum ache!
However, it was when it started moving. That was the huge disappointment. It squealed, banged and crashed it’s way through to Hull. I kept feeling the need to stop the Pacer and get off it, it felt so unsafe with all that terrible riding. But, of course, over time, I became accustomed to their quirks etc, and now just grin and bare them.

When Pacers were first introduced, there were lots of bad quality jointed track about which caused a poor ride. One of the prime examples was the Atherton line. My first trip on a 142 was between Wigan NW and Preston in December 1986 and the ride did not seem bad at all along the WCML.

Older readers may recall that the Park Royal Class 103 DMUs had similar bus bench seats to the 142s.

 

[Kingspanner]

Two winters ago, before dawn on the platform at Dinsdale. It has been a cold night. The platform is slick with ice* as the Middlesbrough train pulls in. It's a Pacer with bench seats and the stupid roof mounted heater which isn't working. The carriages are doing a good impression of a chest freezer.
Dunkirk spirit and all that, off we bounce into the blackness buoyed by the thought that its only 20 minutes. Until we pull up at the last signal before MBR.
We wait. And we wait. And we wait.
Some of us mentally compose last messages for loved ones in the manner of Scott of the Antarctic.
The cold is really seeping into the bones as first light gathers over Teesside, when suddenly there is a commotion at the back of the carriage.
Lo! The sun is rising between two buildings and illuminating a 2ft wide strip of the train. The other passengers are gathered in the shaft of warm light! One has removed a hat! We are saved, we are saved!

And the thing is, that's nowhere near the worst trip I've had on a sodding Pacer.

*Because there is a defective drain on the ramp leading to the platform that just pours rainwater down past the shelter and rinses away any salt. Just another tiny frustration for the Northern traveller.

 

[Alanko]

When I traveled down to London by train recently, my partner was amused by how terrible the Pacers look up close. They looked like a bad joke at somebody's expense; presumably the passengers.

 

[Mrs. Fortescue]

Vile things.

 

[Darandio]

Vile things.

You really are the reincarnation of Mrs Fortescue, it's exactly what she would say!

 

[Kurolus Rex]

Being a Southerner ie being local to GTR and their wonderful class 700s. I have never had the "pleasure" of travelling on a Pacer.
However this all changed last week. I had the need to get from Bedford to Worksop. So Leicester, Sheffield then the final leg Sheffield To Worksop on a PACER. Ye Gods no wonder they are talked about on here in such a way. I have never experienced such an awful train journey.

I have sympathy for all you members who have to suffer the Pacer on a regular basis

I travelled from Hull-York this July on a Pacer. A 142 if i remember correctly with bench seating.

The biggest problem with pacers IMO isn't the ride quality at all. Sure, it's a little bumpier than normal trains but it's not uncomfortable from my experience and didn't cause me any travel sickness of any kind. The horizontal sway was far more noticeable, not sure if that's just how the route is though since I've never been on it in any other stock.


The biggest problem with Pacers are their bench seats (yes, i know not all of them have these). They're fine for short hops no longer than 45-60 mins but anything more than that and the journey really starts to get uncomfortable. There's barely enough room between your knees and the seat in front of you which means your knees are slowly crushed (strong word, but you get the idea) by hard plastic and there's no room at all to stretch your legs. This becomes even more apparent when you're 6,2 like me. I was very relieved to arrive at York.

If all Pacers had more legroom, proper seats (like some of them do have) and weren't so often overcrowded (not unique to Pacers) then i don't believe they would of had the same infamous reputation that they do now. They might not have the smoothest ride in the world, but their seats are what really let them down.

 

[NoMorePacers]

To be honest even the supposedly-more-comfortable Northern Spirit seats aren't that comfortable. Granted the back support wasn't bad, but my rear was in pain about halfway through a Hull-York journey.

 

[Non Multi]

Would you really want to be lamenting the closure of your local railway line 30-35 years ago instead?

For cash strapped BR, it was cheap railbuses or the prospect of far fewer passenger trains in the mid 1980's. They kept quite a few lines viable in difficult times. They should be gone by next year at the very latest.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Ok, what can be really worse...bus seats on a Pacer or minimal cushioning on hard plastic on a Class 376?

I rest my case

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Would you really want to be lamenting the closure of your local railway line 30-35 years ago instead?

For cash strapped BR, it was cheap railbuses or the prospect of far fewer passenger trains in the mid 1980's. They kept quite a few lines viable in difficult times. They should be gone by next year at the very latest.

This is often said, but I'm not sure how true it is. Closures would have been politically unacceptable even in the 1980s, with the alternative to Pacers being life-extention work on the 1950s DMUs they replaced.

They brought costs down, so may have helped with service improvements and reopenings in PTE areas, but I'm not convinced they actually saved any routes from closure.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Ok, what can be really worse...bus seats on a Pacer or minimal cushioning on hard plastic on a Class 376?

I rest my case

The 376 is by far the worse experience.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

The 376 is by far the worse experience.

Quite

 

[507 001]

Would you really want to be lamenting the closure of your local railway line 30-35 years ago instead?

For cash strapped BR, it was cheap railbuses or the prospect of far fewer passenger trains in the mid 1980's. They kept quite a few lines viable in difficult times. They should be gone by next year at the very latest.

It’s a widely accepted view on this forum that they saved precisely nothing.

They weren’t even particularly cheap to build when you take into account the new engines and gearboxes they received.

 

[simple simon]

Anyone recall the story about the Pacer train that could not get past some curved track at Newcastle Upon Tyne so had to reverse back and try again?

 

[Railperf]

Mind you...they do seem to accelerate rather well out of the platforms at Doncaster. They make even an Azuma look slow to 30mph!! But having never recorded the performance of one, i don't have the figures to back that up yet!

 

[themiller]

Anyone recall the story about the Pacer train that could not get past some curved track at Newcastle Upon Tyne so had to reverse back and try again?

It happened at Carlisle on the tight curve between the west coast mainline and Currock when heading into Carlisle.

 

[Pete_uk]

They were alright on my 20 minute trips I used to take.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I have traveled on them from Saltburn to Bishop Auckland, 2 carriages on a busy summer weekend. I also was surprised that they went all the way from Leeds to Lancaster. I was able to the seats in the middle that face each other so a bit more space. I don't mind them though. They have certainly lasted well.

 

[a_c_skinner]

Pacers have, beyond doubt, had their day. They were never nice trains but were OK, still are actually on decent track. I do Carnforth to Leeds from time to time. For me the things I've seen on Pacers that put me off is that they are allowed to become and remain filthy and the interiors are poorly maintained. The fora focus on seats, me on having enough of them, others on the design. Either way in service with broken or ripped ones isn't OK.

 

[sprinterguy]

Anyone recall the story about the Pacer train that could not get past some curved track at Newcastle Upon Tyne so had to reverse back and try again?

That happens from time to time and it's on the tight curve approaching Gateshead east. I've been on one of those trains that did that, a heavily loaded Pacer that got stuck on the curve, and the resigned tone of voice of the guard and the skilful way that the driver subsequently fettled his ailing steed round the curve at walking pace suggests it wasn't the first time.

 

[OffThePacer18]

You really are the reincarnation of Mrs Fortescue, it's exactly what she would say!

She needs to batter beyond repair the Pacers with that walking stick of hers!