How close do Pacers get to London?

[phil281]

What is the closest a Pacer gets to London on a regualar diagram? My best guess is Lincoln?

There are actually a few lines down this way where they'd be more suited to other lines up north. Thinking Greenford Branch, Sudbury Branch, Marlow Branch etc.

 

[Gareth Marston]

What is the closest a Pacer gets to London on a regualar diagram? My best guess is Lincoln?

There are actually a few lines down this way where they'd be more suited to other lines up north. Thinking Greenford Branch, Sudbury Branch, Marlow Branch etc.

Yate north east of Bristol would be my shout.

 

[Tomnick]

Do they have any booked work to Swindon (77 miles) nowadays? Failing that, how about Westbury (96 miles)?

 

[edwin_m]

They should put one on a plinth at Canary Wharf so people can see how the other half lives!

 

[Minilad]

They should put one on a plinth at Canary Wharf so people can see how the other half lives!

My guess is most of the people who frequent Canary Wharf couldn't give a damn about how the other half lives. And thats part of the reason this country is going down the toilet

 

[Strathclyder]

Do they have any booked work to Swindon (77 miles) nowadays? Failing that, how about Westbury (96 miles)?

I don't think they do. Not sure if the 143s are cleared for regular service to those stations. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

 

[Emyr]

My guess is most of the people who frequent Canary Wharf couldn't give a damn about how the other half lives. And thats part of the reason this country is going down the toilet

Easy now, we've already got a thread for this dispute...

 

[JonathanH]

I don't think they do. Not sure if the 143s are cleared for regular service to those stations. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

When they mainly worked out of Bristol, they had regular duties as far as Swindon and Warminster. As they work out of Exeter now, they tend not to venture as far.

 

[D2022]

There aren't any Pacer workings to Swindon anymore, nor Westbury. My best guess would be Temple Meads or Cheltenham.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Yate north east of Bristol would be my shout.

Yate does not have any Pacer workings. It is served by 150s, 153s and 158s.

I would say Cheltenham is the nearest place, about 100 miles away from London.

Temple Meads has no booked workings, and Exeter is too far south.

 

[jopsuk]

Historically, roughly the edge of British Rail's "Network South East" (NSE) area- though more so to the west than the east. This is because at the time Pacers were ordered by Regional Railways NSE had pretty much full autonomy over rolling stock procurement. During the NSE period I think the only diesel stock they bought were the 159s for the South West and Turbos for Thames Valley and Chilterns. Other diesel NSE routes (of which there weren't many) used older (much older!) units until well into privatisation. Regional Railways through the Midlands and East Anglia went for Sprinters- I reckon though that the branches out of Norwich and Ipswich that ended up with 153s would otherwise have been prime candidates for 14xs.

 

[ac6000cw]

I reckon though that the branches out of Norwich and Ipswich that ended up with 153s would otherwise have been prime candidates for 14xs.

I agree - Norwich-Yarmouth/Lowestoft and the Felixstowe/Sudbury branches are obvious candidates (short journeys, and now that the longer distance workings are mostly 170s probably largely self-contained diagrams too).

 

[jopsuk]

I guess it was interworking with the longer services which meant that 14xs weren't used?

 

[ac6000cw]

I guess it was interworking with the longer services which meant that 14xs weren't used?

I suspect that too, plus maybe the sharp curves on either side of Reedham swing bridge were considered a problem for Pacers. At some point (late BR/early privatisation I think) a few 156s were swapped for 153s to use on the Felixstowe/Sudbury branches and Ipswich-Cambridge services.

 

[PHILIPE]

About 1999 a 143 reached Paddington. There was a Wales and West operated 21 25 Cardiff to Paddington and 00 45 return diagrammed for a 158
One night, however, a 143 worked it. By the way, it kept time !!!.

 

[TheEdge]

I agree - Norwich-Yarmouth/Lowestoft and the Felixstowe/Sudbury branches are obvious candidates (short journeys, and now that the longer distance workings are mostly 170s probably largely self-contained diagrams too).

Excluding the various full and standing 156 and 170 operated services on said Norfolk/Suffolk branches...

07.35 Lowestoft - Norwich with anything other than a 3 car 170 is a terrifying prospect!

 

[ac6000cw]

Excluding the various full and standing 156 and 170 operated services on said Norfolk/Suffolk branches...

07.35 Lowestoft - Norwich with anything other than a 3 car 170 is a terrifying prospect!

Pacers can be coupled together

 

[shaun]

About 1999 a 143 reached Paddington. There was a Wales and West operated 21 25 Cardiff to Paddington and 00 45 return diagrammed for a 158
One night, however, a 143 worked it. By the way, it kept time !!!.

Yes i remember this! Poor passengers. What was the reason for Wales & West going into Paddington seeing as it isn't even their territory? Couldn't Great Western Trains (not sure if they were FGW that early) have just run an HST at that time?

 

[muddythefish]

What is the closest a Pacer gets to London on a regualar diagram? My best guess is Lincoln?

In answer to your question, not close enough. If they has got close to London and the south east they would have been condemned as not fit for purpose. As it is, they are allowed to trundle around in the "provinces" because the peasants who live there are not worthy of anything better.

 

[Parallel]

I believe a pacer did manage to get to Swindon a couple of years ago. I also believe there is a 143 diagrammed for a late evening service from Exeter to Bristol?? (Not sure if that's right but I thought I read it somewhere)

 

[TheWalrus]

I've definitely seen one at Swindon before on a Westbury service.

 

[PHILIPE]

I've definitely seen one at Swindon before on a Westbury service.

Was booked at the end of the 1990s and also on Cheltenham to Swindons until approx. 2006

 

[PeterY]

I've still haven't tried the delights of a pacer.....yet

 

[starrymarkb]

I believe a pacer did manage to get to Swindon a couple of years ago. I also believe there is a 143 diagrammed for a late evening service from Exeter to Bristol?? (Not sure if that's right but I thought I read it somewhere)

The one that reached Swindon was substituting an HST from Paignton/Plymouth! (TBF most London Passengers had been transfered to the following via Westbury HST, the Pacer was just mopping up any passengers on the Great Way Round) - IIRC the crew were up for taking into Paddington, Control were less keen on a 75mph unit causing chaos on the 90/125 lines into London

 

[route:oxford]

Don't they occasionally turn up at Reading depot?

 

[unlevel42]

Last week a very young child was helped by its mother to pee in the stairwell of a pacer. The high regard that the passengers have for these trains was shown by the fact nobody paused, tutted or batted an eyelid. The liquid drained away through the 2" gap between the door and the floor

Mind you I don't think the child will do this again as the passing HST frightened the life out of him as did the voyager a few minutes later.

 

[4SRKT]

Last week a very young child was helped by its mother to pee in the stairwell of a pacer. The high regard that the passengers have for these trains was shown by the fact nobody paused, tutted or batted an eyelid. The liquid drained away through the 2" gap between the door and the floor

Mind you I don't think the child will do this again as the passing HST frightened the life out of him as did the voyager a few minutes later.

Voyagers frighten the life out of anyone, especially those condemned to ride in a 220 out of Birmingham in the evening peak......

 

[HSTfan!!!]

Sectional Appendix confirms they are most certainly cleared right in to Paddington. Pay to see it happen now!

 

[PHILIPE]

Sectional Appendix confirms they are most certainly cleared right in to Paddington. Pay to see it happen now!

And, as I posted earlier, a 143 reached there.

 

[Strathclyder]

A bit off-topic, but how close do Pacers get to Glasgow in revenue-earning service? I'm guessing Carlisle?