Northern Rail Class 150 & 142 Refreshment

[P156KWJ]

excuse me Sulzer25-what are you getting at?

I doubt you thought you were at Alton Towers.

To tell you the truth, not from a crank's point, I like pacers. As a TOC, I'd hate them as they are unpopular with passengers and can stop extra revenue coming in. But the question is, does Northern, MerseyRail or FGW ahve the money or approval from the DfT for new build trains? No. Tough titties until then unfortunately

 

[GNERman]

Do you not know what a bit of fun is
That's all very good EXCEPT Merseyrail don't operate any
Arriva Trains Wales do

 

[First class]

I doubt you thought you were at Alton Towers.

To tell you the truth, not from a crank's point, I like pacers. As a TOC, I'd hate them as they are unpopular with passengers and can stop extra revenue coming in. But the question is, does Northern, MerseyRail or FGW ahve the money or approval from the DfT for new build trains? No. Tough titties until then unfortunately

Can I please clear up that in no way shape or form, have Merseyrail, EVER operated pacers of any description. Only class 507 and 508 have been used on the network (in recent times).

The pacers branded Merseyrail have always been in a sponsored livery by the PTE, Merseytravel. FNW, Northern etc run part of the 'City Line', Liverpool-Huyton-Wigan and other local routes, and as such units were painted for these services. They were not operated by Merseyrail, or indeed had any connection to Merseyrail, other than it shared the same PTE in the area as FNW/Northern.

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

Can I please clear up that in no way shape or form, have Merseyrail, EVER operated pacers of any description. Only class 507 and 508 have been used on the network (in recent times).

The pacers branded Merseyrail have always been in a sponsored livery by the PTE, Merseytravel. FNW, Northern etc run part of the 'City Line', Liverpool-Huyton-Wigan and other local routes, and as such units were painted for these services. They were not operated by Merseyrail, or indeed had any connection to Merseyrail, other than it shared the same PTE in the area as FNW/Northern.

I certainly can back you up on this one, I think two locos are in merseyrail yellow and usually run on services linking merseyside and Greater Manchester. There are also a number of class 142 locos in Arriva trains green livery which run in the Greater Manchester/Lancashire area.

By all accounts Northern Rail want to get rid of all of their 142 units by 2012 but with an increase in passenger numbers I would find this extremeley unlikeley. Added to this I actually would prefer to ride a 142 than a 150. The seating plans are simply much better.

 

[1D53]

The last two Mersey Yellow 142's have now been repainted. The last two were 142055 and 142058. The yellow livery is no longer on any unit.

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

This must have been quite recent then...

 

[P156KWJ]

Sorry about that! Thought they were operated by Merseyrail... then again that wouldn't explain why you see em over in the east sometimes and I know they operate with ATW, but that's a different kettle of fish

 

[1D53]

This must have been quite recent then...

055 came out last week so fairly recently

 

[metrocammel]

Metrocamel :-

The seats in the FNW 150s are CHAPMAN seats as per the ex alphaline 158s !

lol yes, do forgive me They are very similar to the 'Richmond' seats as fitted to ATN 156s and Nat Ex Scotrail 158s!

On the subject of 'PTE sponsored' units, in BR days there were funny liveries all over the place thanks to PTEs, one of the most famous was the 'GMPTE Orange' livery (as applied to all buses in Greater Manchester) - as this 504 is wearing at the un-destroyed Man Vic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:British_Rail_Class_504_ManVic_prior_to_Metrolink.jpg, as that was then replaced by a stripy red/ grey / white livery, as this unfortunate 142 is carrying: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/380000/images/_383785_crash_300.jpg

Proably most unusual of the lot was in the West Midlands, where WMPTE 312s carried a EMU livery that was really sickly IMO: http://am12fund.amemua.co.uk/312204yellow.jpg
At a similar time in those strange lands, they painted 1st gen units in a garish blue scheme, with 'WM Midline' branding! http://www.miac.org.uk/images/55033.jpg

And people complain that there are too many liveries around because of privatisation!!

 

[90019]

Proably most unusual of the lot was in the West Midlands, where WMPTE 312s carried a EMU livery that was really sickly IMO: http://am12fund.amemua.co.uk/312204yellow.jpg

That looks similar to the livery of Nederlandse Spoorwegen

 

[P156KWJ]

looks nice actually

 

[jopsuk]

lol yes, do forgive me They are very similar to the 'Richmond' seats as fitted to ATN 156s and Nat Ex Scotrail 158s!

On the subject of 'PTE sponsored' units, in BR days there were funny liveries all over the place thanks to PTEs, one of the most famous was the 'GMPTE Orange' livery (as applied to all buses in Greater Manchester) - as this 504 is wearing at the un-destroyed Man Vic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:British_Rail_Class_504_ManVic_prior_to_Metrolink.jpg, as that was then replaced by a stripy red/ grey / white livery, as this unfortunate 142 is carrying: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/380000/images/_383785_crash_300.jpg

Proably most unusual of the lot was in the West Midlands, where WMPTE 312s carried a EMU livery that was really sickly IMO: http://am12fund.amemua.co.uk/312204yellow.jpg
At a similar time in those strange lands, they painted 1st gen units in a garish blue scheme, with 'WM Midline' branding! http://www.miac.org.uk/images/55033.jpg

And people complain that there are too many liveries around because of privatisation!!

The GMPTE Orange one is pretty similar to old SPT livery (carried by trains, buses and the underground)- a lack of imagination at the time? Who copied who?

(Also, I like that "WM Midline" blue!)

 

[KaiserBurton]

I like anything which has the DKS in the outside of the cab. Makes it a lot easier when carrying out revenue duties!

 

[Stonesourscotty]

Thank God Merseyrail Vile Livery is banished to the World of Fotopic. Good to hear the Units are repainted now can you sort the lack of Legroom in the Ex Mersey 142's? Wishful thinking...

 

[KaiserBurton]

I think it is! They've only just refurbished the interior of a 150/2. I forget the number but there's no forgetting the job they've done inside. All them sickly lilacs and purples. But at least it's clean!

 

[adamp]

When your on a pacer atleast once a day, you get used to it, and actually gain a weird love/hate relationship for them. As busish as they are, there unique Possibly the most hated train in the country.

-Adam

 

[John_158]

I was actually on 150274 on Christmas Eve On 1H49 13.13 To Manchester Airport and i was rather impressed by the refresh but i don't like the sparkly floor covering as it gets dirty very quickly and does not last like the Old Brown floor covering.

 

[KaiserBurton]

150/274 that was the one!

 

[John_158]

Yup thats the one !

I notice in comparison with 150270 that it has lost five seats to accomadate cycles ie..

By Removing the five seats in front of the Bench Seat which has been shortend to now only seat two persons, Removal of the 2nd bench seat and put two sets of two seats in it place.

I would have thoght they may have put jump seats in the space to but they havent they have just put up a grab rail accross the edge of the over head rack.

 

[P156KWJ]

if there's more bike room those units should be dedicated to Hope Valley services, loads of people take bikes on trains, and if you get a 142 they have a good amount of storage space too

 

[John_158]

The bike room has been made the same as the FNW refurbished 150s with the exeption that is no luggauge rack.

 

[P156KWJ]

Didn't think that they had luggage racks in the FNW ones - thought in one end they had normal seating, and the other end there was a bench seat and just a bike rack?

 

[Mojo]

I like anything which has the DKS in the outside of the cab. Makes it a lot easier when carrying out revenue duties!

FGW staff often leave them switched on whilst in between stations and selling tickets.

 

[Pumbaa]

DKS?

 

[KaiserBurton]

There are problems associated with leaving the Door Key Switch on, for example, if a door open in traffic was to occur, the first thing they would check on the download would be the DKS and if it was found to be on, it would almost certainly result in the Guards dismissal. Also, if your on a 156 where the DKS is inside the cab, you cannot enter the driving cab. Therefore the only available one is in the rear cab and if your at the front of a busy train, you need to get all the way back to the rear before you can operate the doors. So it makes the job a little bit easier when it's on the outside.

 

[LilLoaf]

Wonder when the ex ATN 142's will see the referbishment on them.

 

[John_158]

There are problems associated with leaving the Door Key Switch on, for example, if a door open in traffic was to occur, the first thing they would check on the download would be the DKS and if it was found to be on, it would almost certainly result in the Guards dismissal. Also, if your on a 156 where the DKS is inside the cab, you cannot enter the driving cab. Therefore the only available one is in the rear cab and if your at the front of a busy train, you need to get all the way back to the rear before you can operate the doors. So it makes the job a little bit easier when it's on the outside.

Yeah that's the thing with EMTs 156s they have all had the DKS moved to the opposite side of the cab wall ie Vestibule.

Plus all Northerns 150s seem to have had the same treatment along with all 142s with the exception of the ATN ones but not to sure about the ones which have come back from FGW.

I would like to see one of the ex NWE 156s refreshed as alogh I'm not a big fan of 156s i don't mind them on fast services which they where built for and prefer the NWE ones rather than the ATN ones.

 

[devon_metro]

Ex FGW 142s all had DKS on the outside of the cab.

 

[KaiserBurton]

Yeah it would be nice to see the fleet fully refurbished. It's just a pity that Northern would rather spend its money on sponsoring rugby instead of improving its rolling stock.

 

[John_158]

Iagree they should have pushed the boat out and contracted it out to someone like wabtec though not saying the fitters don't do a good job just you can see that they are penny pinching.

142007 had an engine failure at Newton Le Willows the other night and all it needed was some oil and because of that they now put a 156 on that diagram.

Really can not understand Northern yesterday they had 156s out on most LMR stopping services but 150s on Liverpool-Blackpool for which most of the services in this area yesterday where practically empty.

They say 142s are un reliable which is not exactly the case as they are pushed to the limit with them being used for Long Distance and overcrowded services then 156s running around empty.
.