Pacers: The End

Well, I can't knock it if it's being put to good use. The wheels won't be turning, platform 1 is tucked away in a corner out of sight so fair play to the folk who have got it.

 

Ref. my post #420..........as you were, they were back on the Wakefield -Doncaster line yesterday The London trains were 91 powered, not an Azuma in sight.

 

This comment seems rather dumb looking back, with 20 odd in line to be preserved.

 

Any idea what the collection of Pacers being amassed at Eastleigh by Arlington is to be used for? Lots of theories around but none make any sense really.

1. Destined for the IOW - But order for D trains has already been placed.
2. For Swanage to Wareham services - But class 117 and bubble car already overhauled for this purpose.
3. For leasing to TOCs - But I thought all TOCs were trying to get rid of them.
4. For stripping for parts - Is there really such a market for Pacer parts that makes it worth doing this? Pacers that still exist are only owned by preserved railways, already in good condition, and not in need of many parts.

 

It’s a social distancing initiative. The Government is worried that even now too many people are still trying to use the train, so they are introducing pacers to the SWML in an effort to further dissuade them from doing do.

Tom

 

From elsewhere:

The 144s have finished. Last run was 144019 HUD-SHF on April 3.

143s apparently still running in South Wales and GWR but some stored

142s have been in use for route learning for Northern for services from York to Scarborough

Patrick

 

For parts recovery I believe.

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8 coach train for the IOW, all coupled with 92134 with air brake equipment...

 

Is there really a market for Pacer parts though? The preserved units are all in working order straight out of service, and will see limited use on heritage lines. I can’t imagine there is much money to be made supplying parts for them. It certainly doesn’t seem worth the effort of transporting 5 units from one end of the country to the other, as well as paying people to strip them.

 

I can't speak directly for the Pacer owners, I am a first generation DMU person myself, but if they're anything like us, then yes there will be a market for Pacer parts. Any railway who thinks that a 35 year old pacer in fully working order is going to stay like that for long is being very naive.

It is quite possible that the Pacers sold to the scrapyards have destruction orders on them, so if you are railway X with your new pacer, you can't do what the first generation owners did and pull a load of spares off vehicles sat in scrapyards. Therefore, if the demand is there, then there "may" be a small market for a few sets to be bought whole, then broken up by a middle man in a predetermined location (I.e. not a scrapyard). This has actually been done before successfully with several first generation vehicles, so the method is proven.

The Chasewater Railway are the only line that I know of that have bought three sets and intend to run two: the third set will give up the bits they will need to run Pacers in the future. The other railways will need to obtain spares, and soon, but I doubt that many of them will. We will be seeing dead 142's in the years to come, just like we have seen the preserved number of 141's halve. The reason only one 141 (out of the original 4 saved) has a running future, is because only one group seriously acquired any suitable spares. You can manufacture the majority of a steam engine, but in the world of DMUs, spares are the KEY to long term survival!

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I might be wrong but didn't the 50 Alliance
1. Have a go through all the operation Collingwood 50's before they went for scrap.
2. Do the same with the Portuguese 50's when they went?
Basically you get as many spares as you can get right now rather than have to make them yourselves later.

 

The 142s and 150s share Voith T211r transmissions, both have Cummins engines (different models). Some parts interchangeability?

Patrick

 

Which is what we have done with spare parts for our tampers.
Get what you can while you can.

 

The Worth Valley Railway has found a way to earn some money during the shutdown.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/her...e-yorkshire-heritage-railway-collapse-2543396

 

A paragraph lifted from the YP report:-
Northern are paying a storage fee to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, who will keep the units on their preserved track near Keighley Station until they can return to mainline service.

Please, please, somebody tell me the damn things are NOT coming back to mainline service.

 

Depends how long lockdown lasts...

 

I wouldn't put money on their windows surviving intact for long!

 

Almost a linear scrapyard.

I wonder if anyone has ever considered trying to see what might work from a CFR Class 60. Considering over 1400 of them were built there should be plenty for spares. I don't know what if anything they share with BR Sulzers.

https://www.derbysulzers.com/cfr2100.html

 

The WLA made full use of the scrapline in the 1970s. Tales abound of the spares that found their way out of Swindon.

Patrick

 

I recall HST power cars being stored on the WSR shortly before being bought by First Group; IIRC they were from the Virgin Trains fleet and were some released by the introduction of Pendelinos and Voyagers. Heritage lines have a lot to offer - especially when many volunteers hold positions of influence within the privatised companies.