Pacers: The End

I had one Newcastle to Carlisle. Brought on a tonic clonic seizure Horrible things

 

For additional capacity (catering, presentations, displays etc.) needed at occasional events at outlying stations, something along those lines is actually not a half bad idea.

Gotta be better than a PortaCabin ..... Though some will undoubtedly disagree!

 

The plot thickens .....

 

Strip out the seating and it would be a very flexible event space with, as already noted, excellent views. Particularly if it were kept mobile.

Toilets would need work though.

On another note, I tweeted Northern Rail to find out when the last Pacer out of Manchester (a no less iconic occurrence than the last chopper out of Saigon, I feel) would be and they said they don't have firm plans but it would be announced.

 

Wow, that's a surprise. I was under the impression that all their twitching operators did all day was apologise for the current services they are offering at the moment.

Also I like that they are confident enough to think they will still hold a franchise when the last pacer runs!!!

 

I did phrase it in the way of "do you fancy a change from being shouted at? I have a question..."

Given how quickly they replied, I get the impression it was welcome.

 

I personally don’t think Pacers are as bad as people make out. I used to travel on them odd times in the mornings on the Alderley/Crewe to Manchester line, between Handforth and Stockport, admittedly only two stops, but the ride on that stretch wasn’t bad and you can at least get a view. The ones with bus seats were slightly less cramped than the later upgraded seating.

They have been a part of the railway now for the same length of time that the Jubilees were, and longer now than the Duchesses and A4s did.

I do think a couple should be kept in working order, possibly useful for low season use, although I don’t think the general public will be massively keen on travelling on one rather than, say, a rake of GWR or LNER coaches hauled by 6880 or Tornado!

 

I would agree - I got used to them when new on the North Wales Coast line when they regularly ran Bangor - Chester. On good track they weren't too bad. On one service I was on from Bangor to Chester we had a 142 coupled to a 150 - half of the train was continuing to Hull. Guess which half!

And I agree about the views - is it so difficult to design a train these days that you can see out of?

I've also experienced them on the Wrexham - Bidston line when they weren't in quite the same flush of youth. The much poorer trackwork, and loose trim panels made them "interesting"... But they didn't get stuck on the hills in leaf-fall season as much as the 153s did.

Steve B

 

For those interested in the vehicles I have created an E-book that might be of interest :

https://www.bonusprint.co.uk/view-o...fb1-4654-af2a-954879660ca5#albelli-bonusprint

Pen & Sword publishers has recently released their version of this draft work; link at

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Pacer-Family-Hardback/p/14833

 

That looks pretty cool! I'll look forwards to reading it over the weekend

 

Oh dear...................oh dear oh dear oh dear,.............folk are becoming teary eyed over the end of the damn things,..................BURN 'EM

 

Take care Victor; people begin to appreciate the things (and people) who live longer than expected hence even you might become an object of affection - in time !

 

They must be deranged.

 

My favourite 143 stories, involved coming home from Newcastle matches on a Saturday Evening.

1. As nobody had paid for ages, and as the train got that full, the guard never left his cabin, the bright sparks, decided to use a pacer, instead of a pair of 153's. We got the right away at Newcastle, the guard pressed the buttons above the door to close them, he then, ahem, fell out, and off we went, without a guard!! Got all the way to Tyne Yard outskirts, before the red light, driver walked all the way back through the train, and went back to Newcastle wrong line. The offender who tipped the guard overboard, was arrested, and we got back to Chester le Street 40 mins late.

2. Again, first game of season, managed to barge the ticket line, this was a game to dozens of us, and again, a Pacer, with around 300 on platform.
No chance of getting on, poor platform attendant, got it big style from a group of us, to which a set of taxi's appeared at the entrance to take us home.
I didn't even have a ticket for the train!!!!

My record for Ticket evasion, both ways, Chester le Street - Newcastle and back was 72, other lads were up to 300, when I stopped going to matches!!!

 

Any other crimes you'd like to boast about?

 

The 1pm train into Newcastle, and the 5.15pm return, were renamed the Sir John Hall Express by all of its users!!!!

Great Times, great football, every Saturday was a game of chess, avoiding payment, Northern, or whoever then, knew our game, if they tried to ticket us before the platform, we just rushed at the end, even tried ticket inspectors at arriving stations, forgot about bridge at Chester le Street etc.., the game of out witting them I could write a book about!!!

That's not to mention the same ticket passed around the carriage, usually out of date, when the inspectors got close.

 

Ever hear about Robin Friday who played for Reading and Cardiff in the 70s? He used to fare dodge by knocking on a locked toilet door, pretending to be a ticket inspector, and would ask the person using the toilet to pass the ticket under the door to him, he would then take the ticket and pass it off as his own when the real TTI appeared!

 

That story has been told about many people so I suspect it’s an urban myth.