Good riddance I say to the trains designed by a dwarf. Let's hope the similar rust bucket 155's prove uneconomic to refresh.
I can't see the economics of spending much money on any 30+ year old trains let alone these.
The Leyland national bus body which the 142, 153 and 155 was based had a design life of 15-18 years.
K
The lifespan of a bus is generally regarded as 14 - 15 years. However, during the Post Deregulation era of the early to mid 1990s when operators were cash strapped, there was a lot of ingenuity in refurbishing older vehicles.
With all of the pressures created by Deregulation, some operators began refurbishing their Nationals for extended service, often fitting DAF or Volvo engines. The riveted body parts were easily replaced. In some cases a vehicle could be repaired and returned to service on the same day.
Since the Leyland National had an advanced integral structure which generally remained sound, East Lancs Coachbuilders rebuilt a lot of Nationals as ' National Greenways'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Lancs_Greenway .
In the mid 1990s London and Country re-engined with a much less expensive "Urban Bus" refit, that retained the original National look but with updated design concepts and a Cummins B series engine coupled to an Allison auto gearbox (as fitted to the Dennis Dart).
These refurbishments ensured many Leyland Nationals stayed in service well past 18 years of age.
From what others have written, the National based bodies on the Class 142s are in very poor condition after 30+ years of service, yet the aluminium bodies on the Class 143s and 144s (that were built by Wally Alexander Coachbuilders), are in much better condition. Had there been a life extension of the Class 142s, then the National Greenway refurbishment concept could have probably been applied to them.
An opportunity missed on the railways was a Pacer based on the National's successor, the Lynx and the Metro Cammell Class 151 Sprinter.
