Known for their bouncy ride quality, brakes that squeal and being a design that started as a bus body Class 142 units 032 and 056 join the Rail Tags fleet two years after being scrapped.
BREL (Derby)/Leyland Class 142 “Pacer” 2-car DMU No.142 028 of BR Regional Railways.Manchester PTE in PTE-branded BR Provincial Sector livery at Manchester Piccadilly on a Marple service, 10/92.Scanned from one of my photographs taken on a Canon ES-1 Programme. The unit is a rare example of the short-lived Network NorthWest brand launched by Regional Railways in 1989. (CC BY 2.0 – Hugh Llewelyn)
Part One: Pre History and Production
In the early 1980s British Rail was operating a fleet of first generation DMUs across the network which were starting to feel outmoded by modern standards which lead to more competition from the automotive and aviation industries. Investigations took place in considering what the best options were with their fleet. One solution was the refurbishment of these trains which were deemed unfeasible due to high costs involved in any programme which contained the removal of asbestos. Another solution was to replace the aging units with a new generation of multiple units.
Two plans were brought forward, one being a lightweight and cheap to maintain and procure railbus. While a more robust and longer lasting DMU with better performance and more capable of longer distance operations which lead to the development of the Class 151 prototype and later the wider sprinter family.
Coming back to the railbus plan, BR recognised that the cheaper alternative would be best suited to rural branch lines that didn’t require a high performing unit design.
As per previous practical prototype testing this lead to the formation of the Class 140 which looked very identical cosmetically to the later Class 313, 314 and 315 designs. This prototype was deemed a success which advanced to the evolutionary design of the Class 141.
Prototype Pacer Unit Class 140 001 stabled at Landore MPD in 1982 CC BY-SA 2.0 – Phil Richards
Unfortunately for the Class 140 initial testing uncovered a series of issues with the stock type including the track circuits failing to identify the type of rolling stock due to the brake blocks being crafted with a composite which was later altered to iron brake blocks. Other issues includes the high levels of noise generated by the units which was the most notable on jointed rails. This was a general issue seen with the Pacers due to the relationship between the suspension, undercarriage and how the body reacted to the impact forces. Strengthening the class added significant costs to production which made the cost effectiveness of the unit redundant.
In 1984 this lead to the production of the Class 141 prototypes by British Leyland. Unfortunately again for the 141 several problems emerged such as ride quality and transmission performance. British Rail undertook several modifications to attempt to address some of these shortcomings, however a decision was made to not pull ahead with the Class 141 but to utilise what they had learnt with the previous prototypes and instead manufacture an evolved design among separate manufacturers. This lead to what we now know today as the Class 142 and Class 143 Pacers.
New Class 142 ‘Pacer’ DMU leaving Bodorgan for Llandudno, 1986 CC BY-SA 2.0 – Ben Brooksbank
The first Class 142 entered service in 1985 with the Regional Railways sector. The inspiration from the 141s can be seen with the 142 and 143 classes but with a few key differences such as a wider body to allow for higher capacity with 3+2 seating and a maximum passenger count of 121 passengers per two car unit.
The bodyshells and underframes were designed with interchangeability in mind to allow for cheaper maintenance and to allow for an easy swap bodies during a midlife refurb. To save costs British Leyland made use of bus equipment in several areas of the units unlike the Class 141 which used automotive standard wiring for the traction equipment which had been a factor in poor performance from the units.
Railway standard wiring was required for the production pacers which lead to higher reliability for the production units.
When first built the Class 142s featured the Leyland TL11 engine with a self changing gearbox which was also taken from the Leyland National bus. Also in contrast to the Class 141 the 142s featured a microprocessor for transmission to allow for previous issues on the 140 and 141 to be avoided.
Auto couplers and connectors allowed the 142s to be used in tandem with the wider Class 15x series of sprinter units which was commonly seen operating well into their life and up to retirement.
Northern Rail class 142 (142005) passing through Standish, Wigan. The rear two coaches comprising of a Class 150 unit. CC BY -SA 3.0 Dean SJ Ball
Part Two: Refurbishment and Later Years
In the early 1990s, the Class 142s saw a midlife refurbishment which saw the original Leyland TL11 and gearboxes displaced due to increasing faults and aging of the equipment. The 142s were retractioned with Cummins L10-engines and Voith T211 hydrokinetic transmission. All units received upgraded transmission by 1991 with all 142s being upgraded with the new Cummins engines by 1996.
This retractioning project was hailed widely as a success bringing the 142s into the twenty first century, despite a Northern Pacer derailing in June 2009 thanks to a Cardan Shaft failure.
Class 142s saw services with Northern Rail, Merseyrail, First Great Western and Arriva Trains Wales, later TfW.
Plans were long drawn out for the retirement of the Class 142 and 143 fleet due to their lack of popularity among train operators and passengers for their bouncy ride quality, ear piercing flange and brake squeals and generally not being up to standard with other units.
Things finally started moving in the late 2010s towards 2010 with all 94 Class 142s being withdrawn in 2020 due to not complying with the Persons of Restricted Mobility Technical Specification for Interoperability act.
The Northern Class 142s were superseded by the CAF Class 195 with the first scrapping of a unit taking place at CF Booth Rotherham in 2019 with 142005.
The final Class 142 pacers operated up to late 2020 with Northern and TfW with severeal units successfully making it into preservation thanks to wide campaigns by the industry to preserve the units for the role they helped play from the late 1980s into the late 2010s.
Northern Class 142 units 032 + 056 were withdrawn in early 2020 and placed into storage at Gascoigne Woods before being sent to Arlington Fleet Services in Eastleigh, South-West England for disposal. They would stay in storage for over a year before being scrapped.
Here are some photos of the two units in Eastleigh prior to disposal:
55573 (142032) Eastleigh Works 27th January 2022
55573 (142032) Eastleigh Works 3rd February 2022
142056 Eastleigh Works 8th June 2022
Cab of 55706 (142056) Eastleigh Works 14th June 2022
We were lucky enough to secure three panels, two from 032 and one from 056 for Rail Tags thanks to the requests of people asking for us to do a Pacer. To those people, thank you for the suggestion and I hope you enjoy these little vital pieces of our railway history.
The interior of a Class 142 Northern Pacer unit.
The Driving Side Cab of a Class 142 Unit.
With the story of the Class 142 Pacer wrapped up, we are excited to welcome such a divisive yet equally important multiple unit to the Rail Tags fleet. After 36 years of bouncy service we are proud to offer a home to 142 032 and 056.
It hopefully won’t be too long before we are back for Edition Seven, we are in the process of choosing which one to do next. For now, it’s time to dispatch these girls to their forever home.
