Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 10:55 28 Mar 2024
- Man suffers life-threatening injuries after train stabbing
* How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
* Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Formal end to carrying coffins by BR (link)

Train RunningCancelled
09:12 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
09:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
09:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
10:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
10:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
10:41 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
11:05 Swindon to Westbury
11:16 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
11:23 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
11:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
11:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
12:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
12:17 Westbury to Swindon
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
13:15 Swindon to Westbury
14:19 Westbury to Swindon
15:14 Swindon to Westbury
Short Run
06:00 London Paddington to Penzance
06:05 Penzance to London Paddington
07:28 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
07:33 Weymouth to Gloucester
09:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury
09:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
10:55 Paignton to London Paddington
11:12 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
12:03 London Paddington to Penzance
Delayed
06:37 Plymouth to London Paddington
07:10 Penzance to London Paddington
07:48 London Paddington to Swansea
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance
08:23 Southampton Central to Bristol Temple Meads
08:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
08:35 Plymouth to London Paddington
08:48 London Paddington to Swansea
09:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
09:30 Weymouth to Gloucester
09:37 London Paddington to Paignton
09:51 Warminster to Gloucester
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
10:23 London Paddington to Oxford
11:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 10:55:56 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[182] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[103] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[70] Return of the BRUTE?
[56] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[44] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
[24] CrossCountry upgrade will see 25% more rail seats
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 33
  Print  
Author Topic: Class 142 Pacers in service on Devon branch lines, 2007 to 2011 - merged topic  (Read 152286 times)
paulsouthwales
Full Member
***
Posts: 59


View Profile
« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2007, 21:48:04 »

Which lines were the "skippers" taken away from back in the eighties? 
Logged
vacman
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2530


View Profile
« Reply #16 on: October 04, 2007, 13:29:26 »

Which lines were the "skippers" taken away from back in the eighties? 
St Ives, Falmouth, Newquay, Looe, Gunnislake, Paignton, Exmouth, Barney........... taken away because they were unsuitable! and now they're coming back!
Logged
Conner
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1041


08436 at Corfe Castle on the Swanage Railway


View Profile WWW
« Reply #17 on: October 06, 2007, 17:48:28 »

http://www.great-western.fotopic.net/p45413890.html
Picture of two Class 142's being stabled at Exeter.
Logged
gaf71
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 305


View Profile
« Reply #18 on: October 07, 2007, 10:47:04 »

http://www.great-western.fotopic.net/p45413890.html
Picture of two Class 142's being stabled at Exeter.
They look great dont they?! Bet you lucky passengers cant wait to get in them. There is a rumour that airplane style sick bags will be issued on board these beauties, for when they are bouncing around the Barny branch!
Logged
Timmer
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6293


View Profile
« Reply #19 on: October 07, 2007, 11:35:23 »

http://www.great-western.fotopic.net/p45413890.html
Picture of two Class 142's being stabled at Exeter.
Excellent for FGW (First Great Western) that they already come in their colour. All they need to do is stick the 'F' on the side and off we go, instant trains, problems solved.
Logged
Conner
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1041


08436 at Corfe Castle on the Swanage Railway


View Profile WWW
« Reply #20 on: October 07, 2007, 13:13:26 »

http://www.great-western.fotopic.net/p45413890.html
Picture of two Class 142's being stabled at Exeter.
Excellent for FGW (First Great Western) that they already come in their colour. All they need to do is stick the 'F' on the side and off we go, instant trains, problems solved.
Stick F on the side. I doubt it. The never put there names on any local stock. The wessex untis still don't say fgw after 1 and 1/2 years.
Logged
Timmer
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6293


View Profile
« Reply #21 on: October 07, 2007, 18:20:31 »

http://www.great-western.fotopic.net/p45413890.html
Picture of two Class 142's being stabled at Exeter.
Excellent for FGW (First Great Western) that they already come in their colour. All they need to do is stick the 'F' on the side and off we go, instant trains, problems solved.
Stick F on the side. I doubt it. The never put there names on any local stock. The wessex untis still don't say fgw after 1 and 1/2 years.
They have on one of their Bristol Based 143s.
Logged
Shazz
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 534


View Profile
« Reply #22 on: October 07, 2007, 19:03:57 »

that's only a temp logo/colour scheme aparently

as that one had a graffiti attack
Logged
Conner
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1041


08436 at Corfe Castle on the Swanage Railway


View Profile WWW
« Reply #23 on: October 08, 2007, 16:31:23 »

Does anybody know what seating layout the 142's have? As although I live in Cornwall one is bound to end up on the Exmouth-Penzance diagram soon enough despite what FGW (First Great Western) say.
http://www.great-western.fotopic.net/p45413890.html
Picture of two Class 142's being stabled at Exeter.
Excellent for FGW that they already come in their colour. All they need to do is stick the 'F' on the side and off we go, instant trains, problems solved.
Stick F on the side. I doubt it. The never put there names on any local stock. The wessex untis still don't say fgw after 1 and 1/2 years.
They have on one of their Bristol Based 143s.
Yeh that was only because it suffered a Graffiti attack and painting it FGW blue was cheaper/easier than cleaning it up. It still has destinations from the old livery on the window though.
Logged
devon_metro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5175



View Profile
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2007, 16:44:23 »

Bus seating.

I don't think you can complain about Cornwall journeys when People could be spending surplus of 90 minutes on these in summer wedged into the trains just between Paignton - exmouth.
Logged
Conner
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1041


08436 at Corfe Castle on the Swanage Railway


View Profile WWW
« Reply #25 on: October 08, 2007, 16:55:58 »

I wasn't complaining about journeys in Cornwall although i'm hoping we won't have to use them they're better than no train at all or an overcrowded train with less cariages.
Logged
gaf71
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 305


View Profile
« Reply #26 on: October 08, 2007, 17:43:35 »

Does anybody know what seating layout the 142's have? As although I live in Cornwall one is bound to end up on the Exmouth-Penzance diagram soon enough despite what FGW (First Great Western) say.
I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but apparently the seating capacity of a 142 is a lot less than a 158, or a 150, and not a great deal more than a single 153. Anybody know the exact seating capacities?
Logged
devon_metro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5175



View Profile
« Reply #27 on: October 08, 2007, 17:46:52 »

Depends on the layout. I believe these units are in 2+3 Bus seating mode so presumably not much different to a luxurious (!!!) 150
Logged
TerminalJunkie
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 919



View Profile
« Reply #28 on: October 08, 2007, 18:50:29 »

Quote from: gaf71
I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but apparently the seating capacity of a 142 is a lot less than a 158, or a 150, and not a great deal more than a single 153. Anybody know the exact seating capacities?

According to Wikipedia (yes, I know...), they vary between 102 and 120 per two-car set.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_142
Logged

Daily Mail and Daily Express readers please click here.
TJ
Full Member
***
Posts: 92



View Profile
« Reply #29 on: October 09, 2007, 00:33:08 »

In the meeting that the Avocet (Branch line from Exeter to Exmouth) Line Rail Users Group (ALRUG) had with Julian Crow (FGW (First Great Western) General Manager for the West of England) he stated that exactly how the Pacers would be used was still being worked out. Doubling them up is certainly an option but as the units have no corridor connection this poses staffing problems. There are also problems with platforms lengths, particularly at St James's Park.

Correct me if I am wrong but a 150 plus a 153 has 208 seats, two 142s have 212 so I could only ever envisage two 142s being used where there is currently a 150+153 combination but as someone has already said, the chances of getting two 142s to work together reliably and regularly may at best be wishful thinking.

Looking at the reliability figures which were published in January this year the Northern 142s have only 60% of that of a 150 but it was noticeable that the figure was on a downward trend, which is understandable as when a TOC (Train Operating Company) is getting rid of stock it doesn't lavish too much care on them. The Arriva Wales 142s are only a third as reliable as a 150, the difference being accounted for by the harsher terrain in South Wales. Again there was a downward trend. I suspect that the Northern 142s may not take kindly to the climb from St Davids to Central, amongst other Devon banks.

Don^t expect any sudden increase in reliability or comfort from the transfer to FGW as Julian Crow stated quite clearly that ^they would tidy them up a bit^ but that^s all, as they only have them for two years.

Looking back in magazines of the eighties I noticed that 142s were banned from being coupled to 155s except for line clearance purposes (rescue) and even then only if subject to a 30mph restriction. No reason was quoted but as 155s became 153s is there a potential problem here if ever the need arose for a 142/153 coupling?

I agree with another poster that the four 153s off lease should be brought back in place of 4 of the Pacers.  153s (dog boxes) are far from perfect for the Exmouth Branch as they are so slow in loading and unloading but at least FGW will be spared the need to dispense 142 anti-nausea tablets.

One good piece of news. We were told that Exeter depot is to have a carriage washing machine. About time is all that I can say as for years our local trains have resembled well used agricultural equipment, particularly after foul weather, and being able to see out of the windows can at best be difficult ^ a bit like FGWs refurbished HST (High Speed Train) coaches but that^s a posting for another place.

To conclude, the message from ALRUG to FGW is quite simple, Pacers, no thanks, we don^t want them.

TJ

 

Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 33
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page