British Rail Class 142
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The British Rail Class 142 is a class of "Pacer" diesel multiple units used in the United Kingdom. They were built by BREL (British Rail Engineering) in Derby in 1985. They were a development of the earlier Class 141.
The train body is based on that of the Leyland National bus and many fixtures and fittings of the bus can be found on the trains. The class has a capacity of 106 passengers per two-car set. Initially, the same engines and mechanical transmissions were used as per class 141, as well as the double-folding external doors. The first sets were used initially on suburban commuter services around the Greater Manchester PTE area, MetroTrain services around Leeds, Newcastle local services and Devon and Cornwall branch lines.
The units from Cornwall were eventually moved to Manchester after problems with excessive wheel wear on the sharp curves of the Cornish branches (and complaints from the public due to excruciating squealing noises on curves) and the class 142 has become a common sight especially on services around the North West of England.
The class was upgraded in the early 1990s. This was after a number of problems were experienced with the mechanical transmission and engines (including complete seizures), and now all units carry a more powerful engine - 460bhp per unit - and Voith two stage hydraulic transmission, starting with a torque converter which switches to fluid coupling drive once the unit is up to 45 mph. This has proven very successful, although an incident occurred in 2002 when a North Western Trains unit derailed on the Carlisle to Whitehaven line when its engine fell off the chassis. Another detail modification is the replacing of the unreliable double folding doors with standard rigid folding examples used on classes 143 and 144 pacers. The trains have also had new fire extinguisher equipment fitted, and more importantly, the replacement of the cable worked brakes by Direct Acting brakes.
A number of trains were refurbished for use on the Merseyside PTE City Lines around Liverpool which included dot-matrix route indicators, improved seating and Mersey PTE paintwork. The class moved into the control of First North Western at privatisation and all of the surviving units are still in use.
There have been a number of accidents involving class 142 units since their introduction, the most serious of which happened at Winsford in 1999, when the driver of a First North Western unit running empty from Crewe to Liverpool overran a red signal on the slow line and stopped in the path of the 0615 London Euston to Glasgow Central Virgin Trains express, hauled by a Class 87 electric locomotive. The impact, which wrote the unit off, severed the pacer's body from its frames, causing severe internal damage, raising the question of whether pacers are crashworthy. The ensuing report said they are - but recommended that they be replaced in the near future with heavier more sturdy Sprinters. Therefore the writing is on the wall for the class 142 at least - at the next major stock cascade they are likely to follow the short lived class 141 into withdrawal. Another major incident occurred at Liverpool Lime Street in 1988 when a class 142 was involved in a heavy collision with a Class 156 Super Sprinter. One of the Pacer cars was written off, meaning that since then, there has been a spare car lying around in Newton Heath depot. Originally it was going to be paired with the twin of another crash victim - a car from 141005 (which would have become 141104 at refurbishment) but both spare cars were cannibalised to keep the rest of the fleet running.
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[edit] Current Operations
[edit] Northern
Northern Rail, who took over from First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern, operate a fleet of 80 Class 142's. They are used on local routes across Northern's area.
Of the 80 Northern Class 142's, 17 are in Merseyrail 'revised' Yellow livery as they are sponsored by Merseytravel PTE, 34 are in First North Western blue with gold stars and the majority of the remaining units still in Arriva livery but with logos and company names removed. Northern has yet to release a Class 142 in its own livery.
142009 is named "Newton Heath 125 1876-2001".
It was announced in March 2007 that Northern will lease 30 additional Class 158 units, to be used in both the North West of England and Yorkshire. This will result in around 20 class 142 units being withdrawn from service and placed in storage.
[edit] Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales use their Class 142, 143 and 150 trains on the commuter lines around Cardiff known as the Valley Lines. All of their 142 fleet now bear the turquoise and cream house colours of Arriva.
[edit] Fleet Details
| Operator | No. of units | Unit nos. |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Rail | 79 | 142001/003–005/007/009/011–058/060–068/070–071/078–079/084/086–096 |
| Arriva Trains Wales | 15 | 142002/006/010/069/072-077/080-083/085 |
