142s and 143s........a question

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

Some passengers were forced to move to the rear three carriages to stay safe.

Am I missing something obvious here...?! Because my understanding was that a Class 143 only had 2 carriages...!

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Some passengers were forced to move to the rear three carriages to stay safe.

Am I missing something obvious here...?! Because my understanding was that a Class 143 only had 2 carriages...!

quote from a passenger with brown pants shortly after the incident?

[Chris from Nailsea]

To be fair, various points in that particular BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news item were criticised, on another forum, at the time: see http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=35103

[JayMac]

the pacer is a leyland bus body rubber mounted to modified wagon chassis.

142s are Leyland bus bodies. 143s are Walter Alexander.

[The SprinterMeister]

personally i believe that that bristol to penzance on a 150 is wrong and that happens but then again its a train, i take it pacers are banned from the gunnislake branch ... sitting on a near empty 150 on that line seems strange to me

Pacers are indeed banned from the Gunnislake line as well as the other Cornish branch lines. I think only Truro - Falmouth is considered as remotely suitable.

This is because back in the day when BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) tried to run the original 'Turners Tours' liveried sets on the Gunnislake line there were endless problems with wheel noise, rail wear (the gauge corners used to come off in shards) and massive flange wear. The wheels had to be turned at 2000 miles in order to restore the flange profile to normal which involved turning about half of the useable depth off the wheel. When they came in 2000 miles later up it went on the jacks for new wheelsets, old wheels in scrap condition after 4000 miles as there wasn't enough metal left on the flange to restore the profile.

Fairly sure at least one phyically jammed itself in the track on the tight curve after Okeltor Crossing. Wouldnt go either way and had to be rescued using a 37 and three piece coupling.

That is why Pacers do not and never will run on the Gunnislake line.   

[The SprinterMeister]

the pacer is a leyland bus body rubber mounted to modified wagon chassis.

142s are Leyland bus bodies. 143s are Walter Alexander.

The underframes are of different origin too. The 142 uses a BREL^▸ (British Rail Engineering Ltd) built underframe the 143 uses a Andrew Barclay underframe. The later 144 used the Walter Alexander body on the BREL underframe.

Reinforcing the bus theme originally they were all powered by Leyland TL11H engines (best described as a Leyland 680 with the reliability engineered out of it) coupled to a SCG R500 epicyclic gearbox (of which the less said the better). The final drive on the inner axle is also an SCG item (RF420) and although somewhat modified is still in use today.

[devon_metro]

How refreshing to see the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news website without that awful new design 

I agree completely - the new design is horrible. I always get "taken aback" by a new design, but normally I find it better/ I get used to it. This new design is tacky, and once again the News section of the BBC website doesn't match the rest of the site, only weeks after they'd finally re-done the rest of the site to get it match the News site! It also adds no new functionality to the site.

Oh well, let's hope that if the licence fee is cut, they make "efficiencies" by getting rid of the tea that keep changing the website!

Agreed, the lack of consistency is silly, particularly when they were recently shouting about the 'new' top bar that was consistent across the whole BBC site. Whenever I stumble across part of the BBC news website with the previous version (that dissapeared last week) I wonder why I ever moaned!

Back to pacers... 

[welshman]

They have been known to do the Cardiff Central to Fishguard Harbour service I'm told.  I don't think a Pacer's yet done Manchester to Milford Haven.

Wasn't there a Pacer substitute for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) that went all the way to Paddington or is that an urban myth?

They regularly run in 2 pairs on Valley Lines.  The flange screech between Cardiff Central and Queen Street has to be heard to be believed.  The best spot to feel the noise is just outside Cardiff International Arena.

It's 12 trains an hour each way for most of the day and about half of them are Pacers.

Aaargh.

[inspector_blakey]

I can confirm that a Pacer has indeed done Fishguard Harbour to Cardiff Central. I was sitting on the wretched thing (it was a 143, bendy-bus fans) all the way from Whitland to Cardiff. I've also travelled on a Milford Haven service that was Pacer-tuted (a 142 this time), although I think that was a service that was "only" booked to start at Gloucester when such a service ran a few years back, so not quite as bad as MAN-MFH.

[thetrout]

Wasn't there a Pacer substitute for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) that went all the way to Paddington or is that an urban myth?

I don't know if that is true... But i've known a 2 Car Class 158 to run BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)... Certainly a few interesting looks up and down the platform when that thing turned up at Bath Spa...! Needless to say I ordered more coffee and waiting 30 mins for a HST

[The SprinterMeister]

Wasn't there a Pacer substitute for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) that went all the way to Paddington or is that an urban myth?

Urban myth. I believe the furthest East a 142 has run in passenger service is Swindon. Although they go to Reading from time to time for engine / transmission changes if 'Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh' has got a lot of work on.

We do have 34 drivers that sign Penzance - Paddington (by any reasonable route) and 142's / 143's should the need arise though.
  

[inspector_blakey]

But i've known a 2 Car Class 158 to run BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)... Certainly a few interesting looks up and down the platform when that thing turned up at Bath Spa...!

Are you sure it went all the way to PAD? I doubt it would be allowed past Swindon given that it would lose time hand over fist from there onwards. I would guess it was terminated there and passengers either transferred into a waiting HST^▸ (High Speed Train) set or decanted onto other services.

[thetrout]

Pretty sure yes... Although it was a good couple of years back!

I remember turning up at Bath Spa and it being advertised on the departure screens as "Local Sprinter Service Today" I say good marks for at least making a effort to run the service as 2 car as opposed to cancelling it!

[The SprinterMeister]

Pretty sure yes... Although it was a good couple of years back!

I remember turning up at Bath Spa and it being advertised on the departure screens as "Local Sprinter Service Today" I say good marks for at least making a effort to run the service as 2 car as opposed to cancelling it!

Funny you should mention that, I'm fairly sure I have a mobile phone shot of the departure screen somewhere....
 

[Mookiemoo]

am I the only person who would rather the train cancelled than a bristol to pad pacer/sprinter

this is why sometimes I wish they would put booked traction on the timetable.

example, if the 0530 from bristol tomorrow is replaced with a pacer, even though I have tickets, I won't get on it.  I'll get the next train.  however it would mean that I could get an extra hour in bed!

I remember back in 2006/7 when the chaos happened, the 1922 was always advertised as adelante but turbo stuted.  I would rather they (1) cancel it as soon as they know or (2) as soon as they know let people know what is running - I could have left earlier to get the 1822/25/27 whatever it was back then

I learned within two weeks the time table lied. 

On anything over 30 minutes, the type of train I'm travelling on matters since I usually have some flexibility