Skippers Exeter

[Cowley]

I was recently writing up a trip to Scotland from March 1988 and I remembered that when we left there were still Skippers (chocolate and cream coloured 142 Pacers) around and when we got back five days later St Davids was full of class 108 and Met Camm 101s that had replaced them.
Four questions then:

1 Were did our 142s end up?
2 Where did the replacement DMUs originate from?
3 Does anyone know the week that this happened?
4 Where the Skippers all hooked up together and driven away to wherever they went?

Thanks all. Bouncy bouncy, squeally squeally

Edit - Having talked to Ash Bridge it may be that my dates are slightly mixed up as it says September 1987 when they left.

 

[Bevan Price]

I was recently writing up a trip to Scotland from March 1988 and I remembered that when we left there were still Skippers (chocolate and cream coloured 142 Pacers) around and when we got back five days later St Davids was full of class 108 and Met Camm 101s that had replaced them.
Four questions then:

1 Were did our 142s end up?

Thanks all. Bouncy bouncy, squeally squeally

Initially I think they went to Newton Heath (or maybe Heaton) - unfortunately for the northern passengers.

 

[30907]

Certainly some ended up in the NE - where I lived and worked from summer 87 to 90 - but I can't be more specific.

 

[sprinterguy]

Eleven of the thirteen "Skippers" (142015 - 022/024 - 026) made their way to Heaton depot where they became that depots' first allocation of class 142 units, complementing the existing fleet of class 143 Pacers that were resident there. The other two units, 142023/027, went to Newton Heath. As far as I know the units began to arrive at Heaton during 1988, but some seem to have also spent some time in the interim operating out of Newton Heath depot.

142023 subsequently became one of the first units to receive the then-new Regional Railways livery, while six of the former "Skippers" at Heaton received the lemon chrome Tyne & Wear PTE livery, denoting sponsorship of local rail services in the North East of England, when the original sponsored class 143s were moved away to South Wales. 142025/026 meanwhile hung onto their original brown and cream "Skipper" colours into privatisation, upon which they were painted directly into the livery of Northern Spirit.

Due to a limit on the number of cabs in a formation all thirteen of the units will not have left Exeter in a single lash-up, but they presumably did leave the area, bound for Newton Heath initially I would assume, under their own power in some manner.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Didn't they go to Heaton, replacing the 143s which went mostly to Wales but also to Bristol/Exeter?

 

[Ash Bridge]

Where did the replacement DMUs originate from?

I'm pretty certain that some of the class 108s that were sent down to the far southwest were ex Longsight units displaced from e.g. Manchester-Buxton services by 150s, not certain about the 101s, the 122 bubble cars 55005/6? may have come from Bletchley, previous to that they were based at Longsight around 1984/85 for working Stockport-Stalybridge services.

 

[Cowley]

Good stuff guys thanks for that. I remember getting on one when they were new and the unusual feeling of being on a train that was actually new...
It was strange not being able to see what the driver was doing though.
When the first generation DMUs appeared back at Exeter they were obviously different to the 118s that were everywhere before the Skippers ousted them, for one thing there were a lot less rattles from the windows! Although you could still experience it as there were a few Bubble Cars around.
I certainly gained a new warmth and appreciation for them.

I've got a limited edition Bachmann 108 with Exmouth on one destination blind and Paignton on the other, a bit weathered and looking good. It definitely brings back memories.
Of course some of the older units ended up having black painted around the front windows too which obviously made them look oh so modern

 

[RichmondCommu]

I know this is completely off topic but........

The Railway Modeler magazine ran a competition in the mid 1980's after the Skippers were introduced to scratch build a class 142 and my cousins entry was judged the best one!

I caught up with him six weeks a go and its still running on his layout. Not bad eh?!

 

[Cowley]

I know this is completely off topic but........

The Railway Modeler magazine ran a competition in the mid 1980's after the Skippers were introduced to scratch build a class 142 and my cousins entry was judged the best one!

I caught up with him six weeks a go and its still running on his layout. Not bad eh?!

I don't care that it's off topic because that's excellent!
Would love to see a photo of it. I wonder if it's online anywhere? My Dad always got RM around then so I probably saw it at the time. I remember (this really is off topic) trying to modify a Lima mk1 into a 4TC after cabbing one that unusually had made it to Exeter.
It didn't go too well really. Even if I had a photo I wouldn't share it.

 

[RichmondCommu]

My cousin is a modest little soul but I'll see if I can persuade him to send me a picture. He didn't trust Royal Mail and the two of us drove down from Derbyshire to Devon to deliver it!

 

[sprinterguy]

Didn't they go to Heaton, replacing the 143s which went mostly to Wales but also to Bristol/Exeter?

Not directly. The former Exeter 142s worked alongside the 143s at Heaton for a few years. I think that the cascade of the 143s away from the North East of England was more made possible by the arrival of class 156, and latterly class 153, Sprinter units.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Never heard of Pacers referred to as "Skippers", when it comes to buses "Skippers" makes me think of:

 

[sprinterguy]

Never heard of Pacers referred to as "Skippers",

It was a short-lived term that was only applied to the small batch of class 142s which had a brief tenure in the South West when new. Here's the original promotional leaflet which BR produced:

 

[Waldgrun]

Edit - Having talked to Ash Bridge it may be that my dates are slightly mixed up as it says September 1987 when they left.

I was staying in Cornwall late September to early October in 1987, and I recall skippers in use on the Falmouth branch also the line to Newquay on the Falmouth line they were O.K. but on the Newquay line the noise was awful! I recall the dates because the wife and myself where on Honeymoon!

 

[Tempest3K]

Never heard of Pacers referred to as "Skippers", when it comes to buses "Skippers" makes me think of:

Same! They were ruddy awful like Pacers tho, so the name fits both

 

[Cowley]

I was staying in Cornwall late September to early October in 1987, and I recall skippers in use on the Falmouth branch also the line to Newquay on the Falmouth line they were O.K. but on the Newquay line the noise was awful! I recall the dates because the wife and myself where on Honeymoon!

That's interesting. Were they still there when you left?

 

[randyrippley]

Until they were repainted they were fairly regular performers at Lancaster, both on trains from the South and Morecambe/Leeds. At one point they seemed to be in a common user fleet with Pacers appearing in six different liveries:
Yorkshire red/white (the 143s)
GWR chocolate/cream
Merseyrail yellow
Manchester Orange
Both versions of Regional Rail blue.

Made a total nonsense of any kind of regional fleet identity. Confused the heck out of tourists when they saw a Merseyrail unit heading to Barrow, or a GWR unit heading to Leeds or a Yorkshire unit heading to Preston.

 

[sprinterguy]

Yorkshire red/white (the 143s)

It was the aesthetically similar class 144s that carried West Yorkshire PTE livery, not the 143s.

 

[randyrippley]

It was the aesthetically similar class 144s that carried West Yorkshire PTE livery, not the 143s.

Corrrect - my mistake

Also, was there actually any chronological overlap between the Manchester orange and Merseyrail yellow liveries carried by the 142s? The Merseyrail PTE livery came quite late to the party, some time after the rebrand of Provincial to Regional Railways, by which time I thought that the original orange Manchester PTE livery had been superceded by the later, Regional Railways derived, grey/red/white Manchester scheme.

Yes, there was overlap between the yellow and orange liveries, though I can't remember how long. I can remember one train at Preston heading for Liverpool (or Southport?) which consisted of one yellow Merseyrail set and one orange Manchester one.
Its fair to say that yellow sets at Lancaster were rarer than the other liveries

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Until they were repainted they were fairly regular performers at Lancaster, both on trains from the South and Morecambe/Leeds. At one point they seemed to be in a common user fleet with Pacers appearing in six different liveries:
Yorkshire red/white (the 143s)
GWR chocolate/cream
Merseyrail yellow
Manchester Orange
Both versions of Regional Rail blue.

Made a total nonsense of any kind of regional fleet identity. Confused the heck out of tourists when they saw a Merseyrail unit heading to Barrow, or a GWR unit heading to Leeds or a Yorkshire unit heading to Preston.

You've missed the Tyne & Wear PTE livery out: that was carried by some Heaton 142s (and maybe some 143s too) and was fairly similar to the Merseytravel livery. At least one of Northern's ex-Northern Spirit 142s still has TWPTE/Nexus logos on the interior bulkhead windows.

 

[randyrippley]

You've missed the Tyne & Wear PTE livery out: that was carried by some Heaton 142s (and maybe some 143s too) and was fairly similar to the Merseytravel livery. At least one of Northern's ex-Northern Spirit 142s still has TWPTE/Nexus logos on the interior bulkhead windows.

Never saw one of those work across to Lancaster, which is why I didn't mention it. However its by no means impossible that one got there!

 

[sprinterguy]

Yes, there was overlap between the yellow and orange liveries, though I can't remember how long. I can remember one train at Preston heading for Liverpool (or Southport?) which consisted of one yellow Merseyrail set and one orange Manchester one.

Yes I've checked and you're quite right - apologies for doubting you. It turns out that the GMPTE grey/red/white scheme was applied to the 142s even later than the Merseyrail scheme.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

You've missed the Tyne & Wear PTE livery out: that was carried by some Heaton 142s (and maybe some 143s too) and was fairly similar to the Merseytravel livery.

Six 143s (143020 - 025) carried a Provincial derived version of the Tyne and Wear PTE livery (the shade of yellow also seemed darker) which was subsequently superseded by the variant carried by six class 142s (142017 - 022), that followed the standard layout of the Regional Railways scheme, when the 143s moved away to South Wales. I think I recall seeing pictures of a TWPTE 143 on the Windermere branch and a TWPTE 142 at Morecambe so I suppose that both might have been seen at Lancaster at some point, though I'm more familiar with the old Regional Railways North East operation than the North West side.

 

[Cowley]

Hello all.
Sorry to bump this one back up but I was wondering if anyone was around Exeter some time in about 1986/87 and remembered one of the 142s overrunning the headshunt from the shed and heading down the river bank towards the Exe which fortunately it didn't reach (some might say unfortunately).
I can't find any photos of the incident online and was hoping someone on here may have one.
Thanks.