‘Pacers’ preserved and more scrapped
WITHDRAWAL of Class 142 ‘Pacers’ continued throughout December and early January as Northern replaced them with compliant DMUs.
Class 142 No. 142001, the first of the second generation of ‘Pacers’, was delivered to Locomotion Shildon during December , where it now joins the National Collection.
The NRM says No. 142001 will remain in Northern livery, and the long-term aim is to keep the vehicle operational to provide passenger rides along the museum’s rail line.
The ‘Pacer’ joins several other recent additions to the collection such as the InterCity 125 power car No. 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange (now at York) as programmes to replace ageing rolling stock continue. During 2020 it is expected a Class 91 loco will be added to the museum’s fleet.
In addition to the NRM acquiring a ‘Pacer’, several other Class 142s have found new homes, with three units – Nos. 142027/ 029/030 – destined for the Chasewater Railway, the first heritage line to preserve a ‘Pacer’.
Of those sets, Chasewater says No. 142027 was acquired as a source of spare parts for the other two sets, after it had been rejected for preservation by other heritage lines, and would have been scrapped.
The railway has run clearance trials using No. 142029, and has also removed interior panelling to attend to failed roof repairs, the consequences of minor but persistent water ingress.
Meanwhile, No. 142030 was coming to the end of fault-finding and rectification before being made available for crew training in late January.
Adrian Hall, Chasewater Railway Museum projects officer, said:
“We are grateful to Angel Trains, which over the last year has provided technical information and a flexible working relationship which has enabled us to obtain the units we needed from a very fluid withdrawal programme by Northern. Thanks also to staff at Harry Needle Worksop for accommodating our road moves at short notice.”
Set No. 142017 will move to new ground for the class at the East Kent Railway, Shepherdswell, Kent, after Northern withdraws the set, likely to be before May.
Unit 142033 has been acquired as a training vehicle for use by emergency services in South Wales. It has been placed on a short section of track at the former South Wales Police rugby ground at Brewery Field, Bridgend, arriving by low-loader on December 17. Set No. 142003 is understood to have been bought privately, and no owner or location has been disclosed.
Two sets – Nos. 142019/020
– are destined for the Waverley Route Heritage Association at Whitrope, taking the class to another new location.
A further two sets, Nos. 142084/091, have been acquired by the Rushden
Historical Transport Society in Northamptonshire, where they will be used as part of a re-launch of the railway later this year and operate over a half-mile section of the former Higham Ferrers branch.
Although still in traffic, Porterbrook has confirmed
Class 144 ‘Pacer’ No. 144003 will be donated to the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) on withdrawal later this year.
As for the remaining Class 142s withdrawn since the last issue of The RM, the majority of sets are in store at Gascoigne Wood from where they have been dispatched for scrapping, but sets are also in store at Worksop.
By mid-January, the ‘Pacer’ sets sent for scrap at the following locations were:
C F Booth, Rotherham: 142005/044
EMR Kingsbury: 142016/22/25/3 1/37/48/52/53/64/088/93/96
Sims Metals, Newport: 142015/2 1/26/39/40/42/50/57/63/66/67/92
Withdrawal of the remaining sets is fluid with some in warm store at Heaton. The replacement programme hinges around acceptance of new trains by Northern.
Nos. 142012/079/086 have become spares donors for the remaining 15 sets operated by Transport for Wales. TfW has a dispensation to continue using the Class 142 and 143 sets until the end of July.