Pacers: The End

Reminds me of arriving at Leeds in 1962 when travelling by the "Waverley" from Nottingham to Edinburgh and finding 45543 + 45560 at the front of 10 ex-LMS coaches awaiting departure on a Leeds - Morecambe service. Today the only 2 engines at work sit under the bodies of the regular Pacer units - quite a change !!

 

being one of the owning group of 101's based at the GCR the list of reasons is very long, but the one overriding factor is they were worn out.
They were built in 1956-58, refurbished in the early 70's with the white asbestos used as insulation being removed, new lighting and internal fittings being installed, and they continued in service till the 2000's, the log book from one of our units shows its last run was on new years eve 2003 working around Glasgow. (despite being withdraw from service on returning to the depot, the fitters filled the fuel tanks topped up the oil and even filled the window washers)
so lack of spare parts, from doors to window glass to engines and transmissions made them too expensive to fix and too unreliable in service.
and as for the smiths heaters you could either freeze to death or be gassed.

Colin

 

Deleted.

 

Tuesdays little jaunt threw up a highlight for 'you know who'...........she had her feet up against the wildly vibrating under seat heater............all the way to Morcambe. She was oblivious to the wild ride........................................

 

Why do you keep taking the poor lady to Morecambe, in February?

 

Because it's a tenner.

Actually if you get a nice winter's day, a ride past Ingleborough, a visit to the Midland Hotel and a walk on the prom looking over to Furness and the Coniston Fells is hard to beat.

 

Not sure if the Midland is open, part of the roof blew off in the wind last week?

 

Ah ventilation.

 

I'm reminded of Alan Bennett, who has the same birthday as his brother Gordon (!). It's nine months after the August bank holiday, when his family always went to Morecambe.

 

Cheap tickets. I know how to show a woman a good time.

 

Indeed! The Patriot was a Green Ayre engine but the Jub was a bit out of it's area, being a Crewe North machine!

 

One journey that has stuck in my head was an unseasonably cold, wet and windswept August Bank Holiday where a young woman and myself had changed from a 312 to a 105 at Hitchin, having been told the DMU was going all the way to Peterborough as it was a Bank Holiday.

It didn't, and we were turfed off at Huntingdon.

I found myself trying (and managing) to get the electric heaters in the waiting area on the down platform working, whilst comforting said young woman as her boyfriend had got badly beaten at the Notting Hill Carnival and she was somewhat distressed...

 

Are you sure? The last 101's left Glasgow three years earlier.

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I recall travelling on a BR green 101 in Manchester a few times (must have been around 1999) and last time I went on one of these on the National network. Does anyone know if that one survived and where it is now ?

 

A few people have listed some of the many reasons First Generation vehicles had become undesirable by their time of withdrawal (heaters, asbestos etc) however I believe it's important to also have on record the actual single reason that triggered withdrawal of the final vehicles at any particular time.

You mention 108's and 101's. In 1990, Class 108's were BR's favoured first generation DMU: they had gone through life extension, were lightweight, good for the track and weren't rotten like most other classes as they had alloy bodies. They were the ones BR wanted to keep to the bitter end. So why was it the 117's, bubble cars and 101's that were kept through into the late 90's/early 00's?

The 108's were culled en-masse in the mid 90's because of a particular accident (I can't remember where) where a 108 body fared particularly badly with encroachment into the passenger saloon. Upon inspection a senior member of BR became extremely concerned about the effects that the 40 year old aluminium had potentially had on the outcome of the collision. He personally saw to it that a u turn was made on the life extension project and that only steel bodied vehicles should continue into privatisation. This decision led to the Class 101 and 117/121 taking the place of the 108 into the future. This u turn was puzzling to the enthusiast until a few years ago when a group of DMU owners met the BR man who made the call on this, and he explained all!

Fast forward to 2003, the withdrawal of the 101's was more simple. Their lives had been extended and extended several times, the simple reason for their final withdrawal was the ban on slam door trains without central door locking, which came into force for First North Western on 1st Jan 2004. This is why the final running of the very last 101's was new years eve 2003.

Any first generation workings after this date are subjected to all sorts of modifications and exemptions etc which is another story for another day!

Hopefully that rambling is of minor interest to someone out there....

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It did survive, it's currently in service on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

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The accident was at Hyde North in 1990 - the accident report is available from http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=867.


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That must almost certainly be the one, the timing is perfect when looking at the events that followed. Thanks for the link.

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Twas reported on local TV news last evening that ALL Pacers will be scrapped by December 2019.

Deep joy.

 

I’m not convinced the scrap man will be done by then, if Northern do manage to replace the things in time.


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