The Trouble With Our Trains - The Pacer

[SimulationYT]

A pacer is meant to get you from A to B. What it really does is get you to A and E

[JoeltheSwedishDragon]

"What if... we simply take a bus and make it run on rails ... How hard can it be??" - Top Gear in an alternate timeline

[BusThrash]

"why have you brought me to a bus grave yard then?" Bit offensive considering they were on the premises of the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust group, and using one of their immaculately completed classic bus projects for filming :'D

[rosesmellpoo]

"It's like everything in Britan we were the first and now we're the worst" -map men

[AymanTravelTransport]

Northern should start announcing "We apologize for the fact that your train is a Pacer" everytime one of those show up on a route normally used by the nicer Super Sprinters (155/156/158)

[TheFlyingBusman]

“We deserve what people in the south have got, proper modern transportation”. Yeh, when it turns up 😂

[AndreiTupolev]

This will make Vicki from All the Stations sad.

[mickb]

As a commuter I don't care what the train is as long as it shows up on time and gets me home. If a Pacer turns up, yeah its noisy and bounces a bit but can be fairly sure it will get me where I want go. I can't say that of many newer types which seem to collapse in in heap as soon as computers say no. We should be applauding the fact that these trains have soldiered on for twice their intended design life and are still very reliable workhorses.

[solarsatan]

Late 2019 pacer still around and no where near being removed

[brucewolff]

I rode a Pacer in, of all places, Canada. One pair came over in 1986 as a technology demonstrator. I rode it between New Westminster and Abbotsford, British Columbia on a diesel freight-only "short line" which had, decades earlier, been an electric passenger "interurban" line. Despite my very limited train-riding experience at the time, I distinctly remember how rough the ride was.

[samferguson]

I used to commute on pacers everyday and there was nothing better than hearing the brakes screech into the station at the end of a long day haha. Might’ve been a bit Spartan and a tad bumpy, but these things never missed a beat and, to my own experience, ran like clockwork. There’s a void now because we only have whatever sprinter sets were spared to our line so I really miss these things, they were old but gold :)

[dancedecker]

Look, love them.or hate them, I would suggest that few could argue that they were built as a cheap, easily available stop gap, that has FAR outlasted it's intended life and probably more than any other class, has done more to save more branch lines that would have otherwise have closed if they hadn't come along just then. On welded track they are smooth and only bounce when on jointed track. Drivers love them because of their excellent driving position and they show more the massive underinvestment in the railways back then that is only really being addressed now. I would also argue that they alone probably did more to crystalise the reality of how much underinvestment had been allowed to happen. I think we owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to the Pacer that will only truly be acknowledged once they are gone. I for one will miss them.

[mistofoles]

That old Ribble bus was remarkably well preserved.

[Fedaykin]

The irony is that whilst the Pacer is reviled the Leyland National Bus is generally warmly remembered.

[connorwatson]

Notice how at 3:13 the train at the front was a Class 142 Pacer, but at 3:20 the train at the front magically changes to a Class 150 Sprinter.

[coolcomputertutorials]

I love the Pacers. They're a staple.

[West_Coast_Mainline]

They’re gone now. It feels so empty without em

[nintendofanlp]

"At that very moment, one of these Frankenstein trains creeps up behind them." The fact that they said Frankenstein train!!! HAHA perfect description!!!

[jamesarcher]

As an update their all withdrawn now. I agree they were a 'stopgap', however there also the argument they saved alot of the railway due to their cheap running cost (british railways was really struggling at the time). So dont mock. I would also argue they were far more efficient and less likely to break down than newer one, hence why they lasted so long!. For anyone missing them lots of preserved lines bought them because they at least saw the benefits so their still plenty around. Their not entirely gone forever :-)

[mistofoles]

Dead easy...you just load the passengers on the bus then load the bus onto a train trailer, problem solved.