‘PACERS': THE PRIVATISATION YEARS

Having reviewed the BR period in the previous issue, concludes his history of the Class 142, 143 and 144 ‘Pacer' fleets, focusing on 1997 onwards, covering their operation as part of the privatised network and including their recent withdrawal from main l

The concluding part of a history of DMU Classes 142-144, covering their operation and development from 1997, including their new lease of life in preservation.

David Russell

PRIVATISATION of Britain's railways brought with it many changes, but for the ‘Pacer' fleets it was very much business as usual when the UK's train operating companies passed into private hands. North Western Trains and Northern Spirit, as the franchises were to become known, took over the Class 142s and 144s based at Newton Heath and Heaton/Neville Hill respectively, while the ‘143' fleet was split between Cardiff Railway Company and Wales & West.

Probably one of the first significant events, which went unnoticed by most, occurred on May 20, 1997, just a few weeks after the North West Regional

Railways franchise passed into private hands, and before the launch of the new brand. On this day,

No. 142004 had the distinction of becoming the first ‘Pacer' to reach one million miles.

Tangible evidence of a ‘new' railway from a Pacer perspective emerged in May 1998, when No. 142065 appeared in Northern Spirit colours of turquoise/ green. On the other side of the Pennines, it would be 2000 before the first set gained North Western Trains livery (blue with gold stars). Coincidentally, the unit concerned was No. 142023, which had been the first ‘Pacer' to be painted into Regional Railways colours back in 1991.

Another development in 1998 was the arrival of the first Class 142s in South Wales, joining the ‘143' fleet which had been operating in the area since

1991. An agreement was reached between Northern Spirit and Cardiff Railway Company for an exchange of rolling stock, with – initially – seven Class 150/2s heading north in the autumn of that year, and the same number of ‘Pacers' moving to Cardiff for use on the Valley Lines. The first ‘142' to arrive at Canton was No. 142085 for evaluation in July, and it was joined by Nos. 142086-91 later in the year. Further examples moved to South Wales over the next few years, although Nos. 142086-91 returned to Neville Hill/ Heaton in 2002.

WRITTEN OFF

Until June 23, 1999 only one ‘Pacer', a ‘142' had come to an untimely end (No. 142059 in BR days – see Part 1). But this day saw a second Class 142 written off, when a pair of ‘Pacers' which had passed a signal at danger and come to a halt on the West Coast

Main Line at Winsford, were hit by No. 87027 Wolf of Badenoch. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but the rear set, No. 142008, was severely damaged with the body separated from its underframe. It was moved to Crewe Works and scrapped the following year. The front set in the formation, No. 142003, was repaired at Doncaster Works and returned to service in 2000.

Other premature withdrawals were two Class 143s, both as a result of fires which occurred during 2004. The first, No. 143615, was involved in a fire near Ystrad Mynach on April 26, while the second incident took place near Nailsea & Blackwell just under six months later and involved No. 143613, a Wessex Trains set (as the South Wales & West franchise had now become). In both cases, one vehicle was seriously damaged and the units were taken to Crewe Works for assessment. However, neither were repaired and they were later moved to Cardiff Canton where they were stripped of reusable components and scrapped on site.

FRANCHISE CHANGES

2001 saw changes to three franchises which operated many ‘Pacers'. Arriva took over Northern Spirit from Prism Rail, rebranding it Arriva Trains Northern. As a consequence, the number of Class 142s to carry Northern Spirit colours was limited to just five sets.

Franchise alterations also took place where the Class 143s were based, with a franchise reorganisation resulting in the creation of Wales & Borders (encompassing most services in Wales and incorporating the Valley Lines, which ran as an arms-length concern) and Wessex Trains, which covered Bristol and the South West. This saw 11 Class 143s (Nos. 143603/11-13/17-23) being taken on by Wessex Trains for use in the Bristol area, and the remainder staying on the Valley Lines. All continued to be maintained at Cardiff.

NEW SEATING

One of the criticisms of the ‘Pacer' fleet was the old-style bus seating fitted to the units. Soon after taking over the Class 144 fleet, Arriva, in conjunction with West Yorkshire PTE, addressed this with a fleet refurbishment involving the fitting of Chapman 2+2 seating. While this did provide better passenger facilities (albeit with somewhat restricted legroom), it also reduced the seating capacity of the units by around one quarter, from 122 to 93 (two-car) and 195 to 151 (three-car).

The refurbishment programme, carried out at Doncaster, also involved the repainting of the units into a new red/grey version of the PTE's colours. One of the quirks of the programme was that, owing to the different ownership, the centre cars – which had been bought by West Yorkshire PTE in 1988 – were dealt

with separately to the outer vehicles. As a result, there were occasions when units would run with a refurbished middle vehicle, and the two driving cars had yet to be touched.

At around the same time, the ‘144s' began to extend their sphere of operation, with the introduction of a regular diagram on the Whitby branch.

Other operators of ‘Pacers' also began embarking on seating upgrades, although many considered the Merseyrail sets, which received new 3+2 seats, to be more inferior than before. Work was a little haphazard, particularly with the ‘142' fleet, and right up to withdrawal, a handful of units (Nos. 142003/ 13/29/30/67) retained the original seating.

Another change to the franchise network occurred in 2004 with the creation of Northern, a merger of most of the First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern operations to create a new firm operating all the local services (and some longer distance ones) in the north of England. The new train operating company, owned by Serco-Abellio, inherited some 102 ‘Pacers', comprising 79 Class 142s and all 23 Class 144s.

While many had hoped the awarding of the new franchise would bring with it a plan to start replacing some of the ‘Pacers', which by now were almost 20 years old, this was not to be. However, there was some good news in 2007 as agreement was reached to lease additional Class 158 sets, enabling 14 ‘Pacers' (Nos. 142001/04/09/28-30/6264/67/68/70/71/95) to be removed from service.

RETURN TO THE WEST COUNTRY

The 14 Class 142s in store at Blackpool and Heaton were not laid up for long. First Great Western, formed in 2006, took on 12 sets for use primarily on routes out of Exeter. The first pair to arrive were Nos. 142001/64 for crew training in September 2007, and they were followed by another 10 units later in the year. Passenger operations began on November 30.

The remaining two stored ‘Pacers', Nos. 142071/95, returned to service with Northern, providing much needed extra capacity following continued growth in passenger numbers. In due course, the 12 examples transferred to First Great Western also returned to Northern, five sets at the end of 2008 and the remainder three years later, enabling further services to be strengthened. This was, however, not the end of ‘Pacer' operation in Devon, as eight former Wessex Trains ‘143s', which were now operated by FGW after the merger of the two franchises, also saw regular service on routes radiating from Exeter, where they were now based. They remained on these duties until their withdrawal in December 2019, having, in 2017, been repainted into GWR green.

During 2011, an agreement between Porterbrook and West Yorkshire PTE saw the ownership of the 10 centre cars from Nos. 144014-23 pass to the leasing company.

‘144 EVOLUTION’

By 2014, thoughts were turning to how the ‘Pacer' fleet could operate beyond January 1, 2020. This was the date by which PRM-TSI (Persons of Reduced Mobility – Technical Specification for Interoperability) regulations required that all rolling stock used on timetabled passenger trains must be accessible to all.

In order to demonstrate that its Class 143 and 144 units could be made accessible, Porterbrook, in conjunction with Ricardo Rail and RVEL, carried out major modification work on No. 144012 at Derby. It arrived from Neville Hill in January 2015 and over the next six months was subjected to a major interior rebuild. This involved not only the fitting of an accessible toilet (in No. 55812, rather than the original DMSL, No. 55835), but also passenger information screens, CCTV, new lighting and seating and a ramp for wheelchairs. Overall seating was reduced by a further 15%, from 93 to 78.

The ‘144 Evolution', or ‘144e' as it was also known, emerged in July 2015 and re-entered service with Northern three months later. However, by then it was already highly unlikely that a ‘Pacer' rebuild project would go ahead – the Invitation to Tender for the Northern franchise, which had been issued in February

that year, stated that if a bidder's rolling stock plans included use of vehicles without bogies after December 31, 2019, it would be eliminated. This ruled out the long-term use of ‘Pacers' on the Northern network. Thus, No. 144012 remained a ‘one off', but continued to see service until 2020.

RUNDOWN PLANS

The new Northern franchise, which was awarded to Arriva and began in April 2016, included a planned run down of its ‘Pacer' fleet based on a cascade of stock from elsewhere and the introduction of new ‘Civity' (Class 195) units from CAF. The Class 144s were all scheduled to be withdrawn between September 2018 and November 2019, with the ‘142s' being stopped between November 2018 and October 2019. Similarly, the Class 142/143 fleets with Transport for Wales and GWR were all due to be removed from traffic before the end of 2019.

In all cases, the dates were not met by any of the TOCs, due to delays in the arrival of replacement rolling stock. Northern began to remove its Class 142s from service in August 2019, the first being No. 142005, but by the end of the year, 24 sets remained in use and were given dispensation by the Department for Transport to operate for a further five months.

The ‘144s', which were all still in traffic, were given a dispensation to operate until August 2020. While Northern was able to remove its Class 144s from service sooner than this, the ‘142s' had to be granted a further extension until the end of 2020. The curtain finally came down for Northern's ‘Pacers' on November 27, when No. 142004 operated the 2J30/16.36 KirkbyManchester Victoria with No. 150225.

GWR was given approval to continue using its eight Class 143s until December 2020, and although it planned to stop using the sets after the timetable change on December 11, two sets saw use beyond this date. The last working took place on December 28.

The Transport for Wales fleet received an initial dispensation for its ‘Pacers' to remain in use until July 2020, but with the ‘Flex' fleet having not entered service by this date, a further extension was given until the end of the year. While the Class 142s were stood down a week before the deadline, the ‘143s' were given another five months of operation, primarily to provide strengthening and aid social distancing while the introduction of Class 769s continued. The final public timetabled working took place on

May 29 this year, and the final sets in use were quickly moved to Landore pending disposal.

DISPOSALS & PRESERVATION

Many of the ‘Pacers' were disposed of quickly, with some sets moving under their own power to either Sims at Newport Docks or EMR's Kingsbury site. CF Booth at Rotherham and Wye Valley Metals at Hereford dealt with smaller numbers.

The pioneer Class 142, No. 142001, joined the National Collection and arrived at Locomotion (Shildon) in December 2019. This is one of many ‘Pacers' which have entered preservation in the past two years, with many preserved railways taking the opportunity to acquire fully operational units which are cheap to operate. Locations range from the Keith & Dufftown Railway, north of Aberdeen, to the Plym Valley Railway in Devon – and many in between.

Several individual cars and sets have found other uses, too. Three cars have been given away to worthy causes as part of a Department for Transport/ Porterbrook competition. Others have been acquired as training vehicles by the emergency services.

While the ‘Pacers' may have been unpopular in some quarters, and probably remained in service for longer than they should, it is fair to say that, once the initial problems had been sorted, they served the railway well. Will there ever be the chance to ride on one on the main line again? Followers of ‘Pacers' will be pleased to know the answer is most certainly going to be ‘yes', as Vintage Trains, the Tyseley-based charter operator, has acquired three Class 144s which it plans to use on special trains. Look out for more details in the next few months.

A landmark ‘Pacer’: No. 142004 was the first to run over one million miles in passenger service, reaching that record on May 20, 1997. Over 12 years later it is seen resting between turns at the stops at Manchester Piccadilly on July 8, 2009.

One of the first Privatisation-era liveries worn by ‘Pacers’ was Northern Spirit’s turquoise and green, here modelled by No. 142066 as it calls at Haydon Bridge with a Newcastle-Carlisle service on July 13, 2003.

The blue with gold star livery first applied by North Western Trains and carried by a ‘Pacer’ in 2000 was a photographer’s favourite. No. 142005, by this time operated by Northern, leaves Manchester Piccadilly bound for Sheffield on August 22, 2004.

Two ‘143s’, Nos. 143613/15, succumbed to fire damage in 2004. The scorch marks are clearly evident on No. 143615 as it sits at Crewe on September 10, 2005 awaiting a decision on its future. Both ‘Pacers’ were eventually scrapped.

The bus-style seating of the ‘Pacers’ was a frequent source of passenger complaints. To address the issue WYPTE and Arriva fitted Chapman seats to the Class 144 fleet, even though capacity was reduced by almost one quarter. The DMSL of No. 144015 has been raised on the jacks for visitors to Neville Hill depot’s open day on September 13, 2009.

Franchise changes in 2001 led to 11 Cardiff-based ‘143s’ moving to Wessex Trains for operation around Bristol and the South West. One of that number was No. 143611, seen here on May 23, 2009 receiving attention at Eastleigh.

Some Northern ‘Pacers' received Merseyrail's house yellow and white livery. No. 142052 sits some distance from Merseyside at Huddersfield on June 2, 2006.

Class 144 were the only ‘Pacers' to run as three car units. The centre cars were originally purchased by WYPTE to alleviate overcrowding, but were transferred to leasing company Porterbrook in 2011. Here No. 144015 approaches Hammerton with a York-Leeds via Harrogate working on September 3, 2012.

West Country ‘Pacers’ have carried a variety of liveries since privatisation. No.143603, in one of First Great Western’s many livery variations, leads a ‘142’ about to leave Exeter St Davids with a stopping service to Paignton on October 29, 2011.

Creative Commons/Matt Buck (CC BY-SA 2.0) In 2015 Porterbrook speculatively refitted the interior of No. 144012, branding the resulting train ‘144 evolution’. However, the project was not rolled out across the fleet, so No. 144012 remained one of a kind. On September 6, 2019 DMSL No. 55835 is pictured at Sheffield.

–FelixM–/Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) Towards the end of their lives some ‘143s’ received GWR’s smart green livery. No. 143620 leads fellow class mate No. 143611 at Exeter St Davids on September 21, 2019.

The original production ‘Pacer’ No. 142001 was presented to the National Collection by leasing company Angel Trains. It arrived under its own power and in Northern livery for display at Shildon on December 18, 2019.

70023venus2009/Creative Commons (CC BY-ND 2.0) Along with No. 142028, No. 142060 has been preserved at the Wensleydale Railway and a fund has been launched to make good the units for future use. While still in mainline service No. 142060 waits at platform 3C at Preston with the 14.36 to Ormskirk on May 2, 2019.

70023venus2009/ Creative Commons (CC BY-ND 2.0) Fitted with arguably the best seat in the unit, the cab interior of No. 142060 awaits its driver at Preston on May 2, 2019.