British Rail Class 144

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Class 144, no. 144017 at York station on 3rd June 2004. This unit is one of ten 3-car units. It is painted in the latest West Yorkshire Metro livery.

The British Rail Class 144 "Pacer" diesel multiple units (DMUs) were built by BREL Derby from 1986-1987. A total of 23 units were built, replacing many of the earlier First-generation "Heritage" DMUs.

[edit] Description

At the beginning of the 1980s, British Rail (BR) had a large fleet of ageing "Heritage" DMUs built to many different designs in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some of the more reliable types were retained and refurbished. However, BR decided to replaced many of the non-standard or unreliable types with new 2nd generation units, built to modern standards. Two different types were pursued; low-cost "Pacers" built using bus parts and used on short-distance services; and "Sprinters" built for longer-distance services.

Twenty-three Class 144 units were built. The units have a maximum speed of 75 mph and are externally similar to the earlier Class 143 units, built in 1985-1986. The first thirteen of the class, nos. 144001-013 were built at 2-car units. The remaining ten, nos. 144014-023 were built at 3-car units. These ten units are the only "Pacers" to contain intermediate vehicles.

Units are formed of two driving motors, one of which contains a toilet. The 3-car units have an additional intermediate motor. All vehicles have second-class seating only. The technical description of the formation is DMS+(MS)+DMSL. Individual vehicles are numbered as follows.

• 55801-55823 - DMS
• 55850-55859 - MS (units 144014-023 only)
• 55824-55846 - DMSL

[edit] Current operations

The class were built specifically for local services sponsored by West Yorkshire PTE (since rebranded as Metro). As such, the fleet was painted in the crimson/cream West Yorkshire Metro livery, although three units (nos. 144011-013) were later repainted into Regional Railways livery. Units were used on services such as York-Harrogate-Leeds, Leeds-Huddersfield, Leeds-Barnsley-Sheffield, Wakefield-Pontefract and Leeds/York-Selby/Hull. They can also be found operating the Leeds-Morecambe services. Prior to 1994, they were also used on Leeds/Bradford-Ilkley and Leeds/Bradford-Skipton services. These lines were electrified in 1994, and passenger services were operated by Class 308 electrical multiple units.

Since privatisation, the fleet has been operated by several franchises. The first operator was Northern Spirit, which was later taken over by Arriva Trains Northern (ATN). ATN refurbished the fleet between 2003-2004, with units emerging in a new grey and red Metro livery. In December 2004, the fleet was transferred to the new Northern Rail franchise. Aside from removal of Arriva branding, little has changed to the fleet.

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