Great Western Coffee Shop

September's Modern Railways confirms that FGW is to take on 12 142s on a short term lease (how short is short one asks?) to provide additional capacity and to cover units away on refurbishment. They will mainly be allocated to the Cornish branches.

I do hope not.

Pacers were occasionally used on the Cornish branch lines in the 80's but this was generally avoided where possible due to problems with wheel wear and the noise on sharp corners.

Cue lots of breakdowns , cancellations and bustitution.

The refurbishement for which they provide cover is scheduled to run through to September 2008, so "at least until then". Trains are in short supply and even these units are in quite some demand as passenger traffic continues to grow; although the build of Ruth Kelly's 1300 new carriages is said to have an agressive schedule, they won't be on line at that point.

Not only did they squeal but with their rigid wheelbase they also got stuck on tight bends, I really cant see them being used on Cornish Branches. Based at Exeter for Paignton/Exmouth work was the rumor I heard, however I think Network Rail may have something to say about either area.....

Yep , heard a similiar rumour before. 7 two - coach Class 143 Pacers were to be moving to Exeter depot in December 2006 to operate the Exmouth , Barnstaple and Paignton services but this was shelved as FGW received more units from Transpennine Express then previously thought. The proposed transfer of these units from Bristol to Exeter was apparently at the request of the DfT , after they forced the leasing companies to supply Pacers at a dramatically reduced rate (so I heard.)

The article does mention the problems with wheelsets wearing out on the tight curves on the Cornish branches when they last ran in the 1980s, but that fleet planners have allocated these 142s to the branchlines. FGW always know's best! Besides why should they care if the knacker them out when they are only on short term lease.

If they came up Bristol way, what change would there be!

Spot on Jim.

Im sure we will see them trundling around the rails around Bath/Bristol from time to time. Something has to take the place of the 158s heading north remember. And before anyone else says again that FGW have too much local fleet stock, try telling that to passengers stuffed into a two car 158 on the Cardiff-Portsmouth line which used to be run with three cars!

IMO, it was GETTING near the need for Wessex to make them 4 car!

I can quite believe that.

143/142's are actually banned from going any further west than Newton Abbot, however, Wessex managed to get a 143 to Penzance on 3 seperate occasions, Network Rail had kittens over it! Look on the bright side though, at least they're 2 car sets! slightly better than a single 153 on the Falmouth branch in the morning peak!

From Insider (link below.)
http://indefenceoffirstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/2007/08/reader-mail-vol-iii-wide-world-of.html

"Lee, tis is not strictly supposed to be in the public domain at present but it seems that Modern Railways have gotten hold of a snippet of information.

Thankfully, they are wrong (and not for the first time). Although there will probably be up to a dozen class 142s making an appearance shortly, and although they will be covering for DMUs away for refurbishment, they will not be working any further west than Paignton, mostly for the reasons you mention."

619 once IIRC

619 and I think 617

143619 was the first to Cornwall on 9th May 2005. 617 made an appearance on June 13th. They are thankfully now offically barred.

Was this the train where a comerative headboard or whatever you call them was made to mark the occasion?

A sticker on 1 outside end saying Cornwall in Cornish

Next week's RAIL reports on the 'Return of the 'Skipper'! 142s set for South West revival'

Couple of interesting quotes from the article that seem to confirm that this is happening:

First Great Western is due to be handed 14 two car trains to replace Class 158s moving to Northern Rail.
That's what grates the most with me is that it is a straight swap between FGW and Northern. High quality DMUs for stock nobody wants.

Another interesting quote from the article, this time from Dft spokesman Warwick Smith, "One thing we try to do is find an alternative when trains leave a franchise, and look for what is available. From our point of view, we want to use every single piece of kit available and if that means Pacers, so be it."

I assume that 142's will take over branchline duties currently covered by 150's/153s so they in turn can cover for the 158s leaving to operate on mainline duties. I know its possible to end up travelling long distance on a 150 from time to time as Lee reports happens on Cardiff-Pompey services but from December we could see this increase once FGW lose the ex-Wessex 158s which are the ones RAIL says are the ones heading North not the ex-TPX sets.

You can't blame FGW for this as I bet the last thing they want is un-popular rolling stock running on their patch and just serves to prove, despite it's denials, that Dft determine who has what rolling stock.

It should be remembered that an FGW head office "insider" has denied this.