New uses for pacers

[whole diary]

[mjones]

Get a few old pacers down to Bristol City Centre next week. Ask the XR^▸ (Crossrail) protestors to demonstrate how many can fit into a carriage standing..lock the doors and wait for the protests...and wait for them to pass out through lack of oxygen.

Is this supposed to be a joke?

[chuffed]

Agree it would be funny, if it wasn't already so true. For XR^▸ (Crossrail) protestors read passengers, sorry customers. My last journey on a 142 from Leeds to York via Harrogate and Knaresbororugh was just like that.

[eXPassenger]

Could they be arranged in Whitehall as new accommodation for the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)?  I am sure they would find them luxurious.

Any overflow could be placed in an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) with a non existent trolley service.

[grahame]

And yet ...  what are people looking for?   Frequency, route capacity, reliability; more comfort and higher speeds but only as the journey length increases.  If you offered the people of my home town of Melksham a choice between the service proposed for 2020, and a regular service of these converted old buses from Swindon every 30 minutes, alternating services carrying on beyond Westbury to Southampton Airport and to Yeovil Junction, I suspect many would go for the latter. 

Looks like I'm not alone in those thoughts ... from "up north" ...

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) they can keep the pacers on my line I use if it means they actually send a number of carriages that fit us all on.

I would understand keeping some as backups as new trains come on, I'd even be okay if they added more trains per hour.

Yes please.   Won't happen, of course, because it's not "policy"  .   "They" would far rather provide a nice train every 2 and a half hours than a bus on rails every 30 minutes.   

But just watch if a bus on rails was provided 4 times in 2.5 hours and then a "nice" train for the current service.   I doubt many people would let the bus on rails leave and say "no, I'll wait for the nice train in 30 minutes".

[johnneyw]

It would be interesting if the August Meet the Manager hour brushed on this subject.

[grahame]

From Rail Advent

Angel Trains has announced that it has plans to offer Class 142 pacer trains to heritage railways and the emergency services following their withdrawal from service with Northern.

The proceeds from sales to heritage railways and the emergency services will all go to charity.

The Class 142 Pacer DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) were built between 1985 and 1987. Since then, they have been refurbished and upgraded to offer a low-cost solution to train operators and routes where otherwise they might not have a train service at all.

The Pacers are due off-lease from Northern imminently. Angel Trains has said that it recognises the need for modernisation of Britain’s railways and has said it does not have any plans to re-lease any Pacers to any other operators.

The leasing company has 83 x 2-car Class 142 Pacer units in operation and is offering a small number of vehicles to the below organisations

Emergency services – all proceeds will be donated to a charity of the organisation’s choice
Heritage Railways – all proceeds will be donated to Angel Trains’ charity of choice, Railway Children
Additionally, the National Railway Museum at York is to receive one Class 142, allowing future enthusiasts to look back on the importance of the Pacer.

All remaining trains that are not set aside for further use by emergency services, heritage railways or community railways will be scrapped.

What happened to the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s competition, or do all winners count as being in these three categories?

And the proceeds of selling the rest (all but a small number of vehicles) for scrap will be ploughed back into Angel Train's business / balance sheet? 

[CyclingSid]

Another DFQ, what would the emergency services want a pacer for?

[IndustryInsider]

Training on things like emergency evacuation I would imagine.

[broadgage]

The film industry might buy a few, for blowing up or otherwise wrecking in the making of adventure movies.

[broadgage]

Perhaps "top gear" might buy a pacer at scrap price, fit rubber tyres and try and drive it on a road ? No dafter than their famous "caravan train" episode which certainly made me laugh.
Steering would be an interesting challenge, but something could no doubt be improvised, perhaps involving separate brakes for the left hand and right hand wheels.

[stuving]

Perhaps "top gear" might buy a pacer at scrap price, fit rubber tyres and try and drive it on a road ? No dafter than their famous "caravan train" episode which certainly made me laugh.
Steering would be an interesting challenge, but something could no doubt be improvised, perhaps involving separate brakes for the left hand and right hand wheels.

Is it not possible to take the superstructure of a railway coach and fit it to the chassis of a bus? Or has someone thought of that before...

[Umberleigh]

Some great comments

I remember when growing up that many of the old wooden bodied freight wagons (box cars?) had been removed from their undercarriage and found a new life as garden sheds. Many of these ended up in gardens miles from the nearest station.

Sadly no-one want want their garden shed roof to leak like a Pacer, so that’s a no-no...

[Bmblbzzz]

I know some people who run a glamping site near Evesham, with yurts and similar. One of their accommodation options is a converted box car. Southern Railway, IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly). It looks rather nice inside.

[grahame]

I know some people who run a glamping site near Evesham, with yurts and similar. One of their accommodation options is a converted box car. Southern Railway, IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly). It looks rather nice inside.

Someone have a chat with Lizzie and I'm sure she could do something amazing. One of these years we'll make it to St Germans or Hayle. Hopefully before they have class 803 (IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) sleeper) carriages retired there!

[grahame]

From CitiUK

Community groups and charities across the north are in the running to win a decommissioned Pacer train as the government run Transform a Pacer competition comes to a close.

Entrants range from radio stations to local hospitals and the winners will be chosen based on the benefits they can bring to the wider community. Ideas have included converting the carriage into a wildlife classroom to teach the wider community about the local environment, turning the carriage into a local heritage centre that will tell the story of the history of the railways in the region and a library’s fantasy grotto for children.

The competition is part of the long-awaited nationwide withdrawal of Pacer trains from the rail network after over 30 years of service.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "The winners of this competition will give a handful of Pacers a future serving local communities in a new and exciting way.

"The Pacers have served communities in the north for 3 decades. But in that time they have divided opinions and they have become a symbol of underinvestment in the north.

"As we level up the economy in the north we are phasing Pacers out completely, with the last trains off the network this year. Their modern replacements will improve journeys and create space for 40,000 more passengers."

Three retired pacer train carriages will be shared between community projects in communities across the north.

The vehicles will be repurposed into a range of projects and assets to improve lives locally.

The winners will be decided by the following judging panel:
Pete Waterman (head judge)
Tim Dunn (railway enthusiast, historian, broadcaster and presenter of Trainspotting Live)
Mary Grant (the CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) of railways rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook)
Jools Townsend (Chief Executive of The Association of Community Rail Partnerships - ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships))