Class 142 DMUS at Liverpool on March 27, 2017

The ‘Pacer’ units have to be the absolute mother of all ‘Marmite’ DMUS.

Whatever your take on them is, I felt they had character, and back in the 1980s when I first saw them on the branch lines around Cornwall, they were the oddest thing I’d ever seen on rails.

In their final few years of operation, I made several attempts to travel on them and catalogue some images to look back on in the years to come.

This shot in Liverpool stands out as my favourite; the moody sunlight cutting into the exhaust fumes as they head out into the tunnels adds a lot to the photo for me.