sprinterguy
Veteran Member
I had a thought the other day, as I sometimes do, and wondered whether what I had in mind might be a novel (and, admittedly, far fetched) idea to improve the ride quality of the much maligned Pacer railbus:
What I was thinking was what if one were to remove the current passenger gangway connection between the two (or three, in the case of some of the 144s) vehicles that make up a Pacer unit, and replace it with a wider, more substantial semi-flexible arrangement on a pivot, much like many light rail vehicles. Beneath this central connection would be mounted a two axle bogie, which would replace the present single axle that supports each vehicle at the inner end.
At the outer (driving) end, the current single axle arrangement would be retained, which would continue to "steer"/guide the unit into curves. I reckon that this idea, having a Pacer with a central bogie supporting the inner ends of each carriage, has potential to possibly improve the ride quality of a Pacer: The middle carriage of a three-car 144 would in fact be suspended on an articulated bogie at each end!
Axle weight, often cited as an issue with using articulated bogies shared between vehicles, wouldn't be a problem, as the unit would still be mounted on the same number of axles as it had been originally, and I don't think that there would be many issues with end and centre throw making the carriages out of gauge, as the carriages of a Pacer are already so much shorter than any other passenger carrying heavy rail vehicle on the network (Except the PPMs).
Now, I can't think of any practical applications for this arrangement, and it would be unrealistic to expect this to be carried out when the Pacers only have a short lifespan left ahead of them. But, in theory, could this work?
So, please feel free to tear this concept apart in telling me the many reasons why it would be unfeasible, but please bear in mind that this post is intended to be fairly light hearted!
What I was thinking was what if one were to remove the current passenger gangway connection between the two (or three, in the case of some of the 144s) vehicles that make up a Pacer unit, and replace it with a wider, more substantial semi-flexible arrangement on a pivot, much like many light rail vehicles. Beneath this central connection would be mounted a two axle bogie, which would replace the present single axle that supports each vehicle at the inner end.
At the outer (driving) end, the current single axle arrangement would be retained, which would continue to "steer"/guide the unit into curves. I reckon that this idea, having a Pacer with a central bogie supporting the inner ends of each carriage, has potential to possibly improve the ride quality of a Pacer: The middle carriage of a three-car 144 would in fact be suspended on an articulated bogie at each end!
Axle weight, often cited as an issue with using articulated bogies shared between vehicles, wouldn't be a problem, as the unit would still be mounted on the same number of axles as it had been originally, and I don't think that there would be many issues with end and centre throw making the carriages out of gauge, as the carriages of a Pacer are already so much shorter than any other passenger carrying heavy rail vehicle on the network (Except the PPMs).
Now, I can't think of any practical applications for this arrangement, and it would be unrealistic to expect this to be carried out when the Pacers only have a short lifespan left ahead of them. But, in theory, could this work?
So, please feel free to tear this concept apart in telling me the many reasons why it would be unfeasible, but please bear in mind that this post is intended to be fairly light hearted!
