British Rail Class 142

The British Rail Class 142 is a class of Pacer diesel multiple units used in the United Kingdom. 96 units were built by BREL in Derby between 1985 and 1987. They were a development of the earlier Class 141 which were introduced in 1984.

They were initially built for use on rural branch lines. However, as of September 2011 they are mainly used on busy commuter routes in the major cities in the north of England, with some also in use on local services around Cardiff and on Devon branch lines.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, all public transport will need to be accessible by 2019. Pacers do not meet this requirement and so may have to be withdrawn by the end of 2019.

Description
The train body is based on that of the original designs of Thomas Kenneth Cullum and the Leyland National bus, and many fixtures and fittings of the bus can be found on the trains. Each train has a seating capacity of any number between 102 and 121 passengers per twin-car set. In theory there should be 106 or 121 seats per unit. However, many units have had seats removed to provide additional space for wheelchair access. The same engines and mechanical transmissions were used as on Class 141, as well as the double-folding external doors.

Rail squeal
Excessive flange squeal on tight curves has been a problem on many routes operated by 142s, caused by the long wheelbase and lack of bogies. The rough ride which can result has led to the units being nicknamed (along with the related ) Nodding Donkeys. In Scarborough train crews referred to them as "Spam Tins". The 142s were officially known as "Skippers" when they were briefly allocated to Cornwall in the mid-1980s. They were transferred elsewhere when they proved to be unsuitable for the sharply curved branch lines there.

Upgrades and refurbishments
The class was upgraded in the early 1990s. This was after a number of problems were experienced with the mechanical transmission and engines (including complete seizures), and now all units carry a more powerful engine - 230 bhp per car, which equals 460 bhp (340 kW) per twin-car unit - and Voith two-stage hydraulic transmission, starting with a torque converter which switches to fluid coupling drive once the unit is up to 45 mi/h. This has proven successful, although incidents have occurred, such as when a Northern Rail unit derailed en route from Blackpool to Liverpool in June 2009.

Other modifications included replacing the unreliable double folding doors with standard rigid folding doors as used on Class 143 and 144 Pacers. The trains have also had new fire extinguisher equipment fitted, and the cable-worked brakes replaced by direct-acting brakes. Fifteen Valley Lines Pacers have been refurbished. This included an external relivery into the Valley Lines colours of red, white lime green and green. The doors were painted in lime green following the requirements of the 1998 Disability Discrimination Act.

The interior refurbishment included the following:


 * Installation of non-slip vinyl flooring
 * Replacement of the existing 2+3 bench-style bus seats with Chapman bespoke high-backed seats to the 2+2 layout
 * Repainted dado side panels and wall ends
 * Installation of DPTAC 'easy to see, easy to press' yellow tactile LED Passenger Door Control buttons on a raised rubber surface surround.

142/0 – The first fifty
The first batch of Class 142 units were numbered 142001-142014 and were delivered in Greater Manchester PTE orange and brown livery in Spring 1985. This livery would be retained by these units until the mid-1990s. These Pacers worked a range of services from their home at Newton Heath depot, from short-distance commuter routes like the Oldham Loop (which passed along one side of Newton Heath's depot) to cross-country services such as Holyhead-Scarborough.

The second batch, numbered 142015-142027, was delivered in a chocolate and cream livery for use in the West Country. These units, named "Skippers", went straight to Plymouth Laira depot for use on branch-line services in Devon and Cornwall, although their success on these duties was hindered by their lack of bogies. Their long wheelbase caused heavy flange wear when they were negotiating the tight curves of the West Country branch lines, as well as producing loud screeching sounds. Adhesion problems were also encountered by the lightweight 'Skippers' when tackling the gradients of the Gunnislake, St Ives and Looe branches. For a time, consideration was given to fitting sanding equipment and lubricators to the 'Skippers' but this was rejected in favour of transferring the class north to Neville Hill (Leeds) and Newton Heath (Manchester) depots in 1988/89.

The third batch, 142028 to 142050, was delivered in Provincial Services two-tone blue livery for use on suburban and regional services in the North West and North East of England. Of these, only two were late entering service. 142049 was sent to Canada (see below) while 142050 was fitted with a Voith hydraulic transmission to test the equipment. Overall the first fifty units were designated Class 142/0.

Class 142/1 – The second fifty
Despite all the overseas marketing, the second order of Class 142 units was from the UK. In October 1985, BR ordered 46 units and these were designated Class 142/1 to distinguish them from the earlier fifty. The Class 142/1 units were numbered 142051-142096 and were almost identical in their external design and interior arrangement to the Class 142/0 units. The only obvious difference between the two is the number of strengthening ribs in the roof. Class 142/0 units have ten ribs running almost the entire length of each vehicle, whereas Class 142/1 units have a much simpler roof with just three ribs. All of the Class 142/1 units were delivered in Provincial services two-tone blue livery and were allocated to both Newton Heath and Neville Hill depots.

From new, some units were painted according to the region they operated in. For example, the first 14 Greater Manchester PTE-sponsored units (142001-014) received GMPTE Orange, then the next 13 WestCountry-based units (142015-027) were painted in a GWR-inspired chocolate and cream livery and marketed as 'Skippers'. The remaining 69 units (142028-096), initially working across Lancashire / Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Yorkshire, received Provincial railbus two-tone blue livery.

142049's visit to Canada
BREL/Leyland was keen to fill its order book for the Class 142 design and so 142049 was sent to the Expo 86 exhibition in Vancouver, Canada in order to generate some publicity for the class. It operated a shuttle service along the BC Hydro Railway from Abbotsford to Vancouver throughout the course of the international exhibition. As the Canadian stations had much lower platforms than those for which142049 was designed, special temporary boarding platforms had to be constructed. The unit certainly got its moment in the media spotlight, as the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is known to have taken a short ride on board. 142049 was also used to assess the viability of the class 142 units as a replacement for ageing RDC railcars then in operation in Canada, but little seems to have come from it. After Expo 86 finished, 142049 returned quietly back to the UK where it re-entered service around the North of England; its days in the spotlight now over. Source - Pacer Group Website.

Unit 142050 was the first Pacer to be fitted with Voith hydraulic transmission - initially on an experimental basis - to see if this configuration would be more reliable than the SCG mechanical gearboxes had been. In early Summer 1988, it was sent to Heaton depot (Newcastle) to work alongside the similarly troubled Class 143s, on what were considered arduous routes. The trial was considered enough of a success for all Pacers to be so converted in due course.

Owing to problems with excessive wheel wear on the sharp curves of the Cornish branches, the units from the West Country (142015-027) were moved north from late Summer 1988 - seven to Heaton depot (Newcastle) and six to Newton Heath depot (Manchester), to help alleviate DMU shortages in those regions. By the mid-1990s, the six former West Country units which had initially gone to Newton Heath were also transferred to Heaton, most / all still wearing their original chocolate and cream livery.

In 1989, Heaton depot implemented a planned Pacer renumbering scheme - which was to cover all Classes 142-144 - in which Class 142s would be renumbered 1422XX (SCG mechanical gearboxes) and 1425XX (Voith hydraulic transmission), thus, their units carried numbers 142516, 142518, 142519, 142520, 142521, 142522 and 142525, and all of their Class 143s were renumbered. However, the other two depots with Pacers, Newton Heath and Neville Hill (Leeds), never implemented this scheme. 142050 was not renumbered 142550, even though it remained allocated to Heaton throughout this time, probably because it was (still) considered to be 'on loan' from one of the other depots for the purpose of the trial. Subsequently, most of the Heaton units received a modified version of Tyne & Wear PTE yellow+white livery from 1992 (after the class 143s originally carrying this livery had transferred to Cardiff), and the opportunity was taken to renumber all back to 1420XX, in line with the rest of the class at the other depots.

Towards the end of the British Rail period, apart from T&WPTE livery mentioned above, other units began to be out-shopped in a revised GMPTE scheme, MerseyRail yellow+white, or standard Regional Railways livery.

Northern England
Upon the privatisation of British Rail, the Class 142 Fleet was divided between North Western Trains in the North West and Northern Spirit in the North East.

Northern Spirit started its operations in 1997 and continued until 2000. At this point, Parent company MTL ran into difficulties and the company was sold to Arriva, who renamed it as Arriva Trains Northern.

In the early 2000s ATN swapped 15 Class 142s for Class 150/2 units from Valley Lines.

In 2004 First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern were merged into the Northern Rail franchise, which inherited the combined fleet of 68 Class 142s.

Of the 68 Class 142s, most have been repainted in Northern Rail's dark blue and purple livery, with a small number retaining the Arriva Trains Northern livery. 142009 is named "Newton Heath 125 1876–2001".

Due to rising passenger numbers in the north of England (by about 10% per annum and even by over 25% per annum at some stations where 142s are in operation) some have been replaced by Sprinter trains and there are plans to replace more 142s.

Five 142s in service with First Great Western were returned to Northern Rail in December 2008, the rest returned to Northern by November 2011, much later than originally planned.

Despite being built for branch line stopping services, Class 142s are mainly used urban commuter services in and out of cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle and can be seen on longer distance services of up to three hours including the 1632 Middlesbrough-Carlisle service (nearly 110 miles) and had been used on services between Blackpool North to Chester via Stockport, which ceased to operate in December 2008.

Class 142s have operated the following routes:
 * Bishop Auckland to Saltburn
 * Blackpool South to Colne
 * Carlisle to Newcastle Central
 * Carlisle to Lancaster, via Barrow-in-Furness
 * Hexham to Middlesbrough
 * Heysham Port to Lancaster
 * Huddersfield to Manchester Victoria
 * Huddersfield to Sheffield
 * Huddersfield to Liverpool Lime Street
 * Hull to York via Selby
 * Leeds to Huddersfield
 * Leeds to Sheffield via Barnsley (stopping service)
 * Leeds to Sheffield via Wakefield Westgate (stopping service)
 * Leeds to York via Harrogate
 * Lincoln Central to Sheffield
 * Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Oxford Road via Warrington Central
 * Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Victoria, Stalybridge and Huddersfield
 * Liverpool Lime Street to Warrington Bank Quay
 * Manchester Piccadilly to Marple, Rose Hill Marple, New Mills Central
 * Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield (the Hope Valley line)
 * Manchester Piccadilly to Chester via Stockport and Knutsford
 * Manchester Victoria to Kirkby and Southport
 * Manchester Victoria to Leeds via Brighouse
 * Manchester Victoria to Leeds via Halifax
 * Manchester Victoria to Rochdale
 * MetroCentre and Newcastle to Morpeth
 * Middlesbrough to Whitby
 * Sheffield to Scunthorpe
 * Stockport to Stalybridge (NB: One train a week in one direction only)
 * Wakefield to Selby via Huddersfield and Bradford
 * Wrexham Central to Bidston (No longer used due route being transferred to the Wales franchise)

Northern had wished to dispense with Pacers altogether by 2011. However, it now looks unlikely that they will be dispensed of before the end of the Northern franchise in 2016.

Merseyside
A number of trains were refurbished for use on the Merseyside PTE City Line on Merseyrail around the Liverpool region which included dot-matrix route indicators, a new design of seating and Merseyrail paintwork. All these sets are now with Northern Rail and are in their livery.

Wales
Valley Lines acquired its Class 142s by swapping Class 150/2 units with Arriva Trains Northern. The Class 142s were initially painted in Valley Lines livery.

Arriva Trains Wales uses its Class 142 Pacer trains on the commuter lines around Cardiff known as the Valley Lines. All of its Class 142 Pacer fleet now bear the turquoise and cream house colours of Arriva Trains Wales.

Class 142s are frequently used for the Cardiff to Penarth service calling at Grangetown, Dingle Road and Penarth.

Class 142 units are primarily used on South Wales Valley line routes and routes through the Vale of Glamorgan. The Wales and Borders franchise does not specify the introduction of new rolling stock, and Class 142s are likely to be in service until at least 2018. On Valley and Vale of Glamorgan services, Class 142s are often coupled together with Class 143 or Class 150 units to cope with demand on the busy Valley Lines network. The Class 142s have received a minor refurbishment with retrimmed seats in new moquette and the installation of ceiling-mounted CCTV cameras.

South West England
Twelve Class 142 Pacers were received by First Great Western in 2007, and started operations in December 2007. These were loaned from Northern (where they had been stored), in part to cover for refurbishment of FGW's Sprinter fleets but also to allow the Class 158s to be reformed as three-coach sets.

The 142s were based at Exeter TMD, working alongside the similar on services in Devon and Cornwall, including the Avocet Line, Riviera Line and Tarka Line.

Five 142s were returned to Northern Rail in the Autumn of 2008, following the completion of the refresh of Class 150 Sprinter units. The remaining seven units were returned to Northern Rail in November 2011 as they have been replaced by class 150 units cascaded from London Overground and London Midland.

Future
All 94 class 142s are due to be withdrawn by 2020, as their owner, Angel Trains, does not plan to modify them to comply with the Persons of Reduced Mobility Technical Specification for Interoperability (PRM-TSI).

Fleet details
Vehicle Number - when built ran like this:
 * 1st order 142001-142050 55542-55591 55592-55642
 * 2nd order 142051-142096 55701-55746 55747-55792

Accidents
There have been a number of accidents involving Class 142 Pacer trains since their introduction, the most serious of which happened at Winsford in 1999. The driver of a First North Western unit running empty from Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street overran a red signal on the slow line and stopped in the path of the 06:15 London Euston to Glasgow Central Virgin Trains express, hauled by a Class 87 electric locomotive. The impact, which wrote the unit off, severed the Pacer's body from its frames, causing severe internal damage, raising the question of whether Pacers are crashworthy.

On 11 June 2009, a Class 142 (Class 142042) operated by Northern Rail derailed while en route from Blackpool to Liverpool. All 40 passengers on board escaped serious injury, but one person was taken to hospital with minor injuries. An initial investigation was carried out by the UK Rail Accident Investigation Branch which determined that the engine mounted under the second (rear) coach became detached and fell onto the track at a recorded speed of 57 mph, derailing the rear axle. The detachment of the engine caused extensive damage to underfloor equipment, severing control wires and damaging the braking system resulting in an automatic emergency brake application.

The engine became detached following the failure of its attachment to the flywheel housing. Two of the three engine mounting points are on the flywheel housing which remained attached to the vehicle.

Engine parts were recovered and taken to the engine overhauler’s workshops for supervised examination and dismantling. The bearings and other internal engine parts were found to be in order with no signs of overheating or seizure. The engine crankshaft had broken between the big end bearing of the 6th cylinder and the main bearing in the engine casing at the flywheel end. This break exhibited marks characteristic of a fatigue failure. The torque load on the crankshaft of an engine on full power is at its maximum between the last cylinder and the flywheel, the location of the fracture.

A piece of main bearing and its fixing bolt were the first items found in the debris trail towards the derailed train at 453m back from where the train stopped. The engine block was 205m back from the stopped train. The track was damaged over a distance of 330m.

The engine had been overhauled, and was fitted to 142042 in March 2008. The crankshaft had been used in two other engines prior to being fitted to this engine. It had been reground and subjected to magnetic particle inspection (MPI) to check for flaws before it was fitted to this engine. The unit had covered 114,577 miles since returning to service. The rebuilt engines were given an interval of 400,000 miles between overhauls. Subsequently newer more sensitive MPI equipment was introduced by the engine overhaulers.

Problems with engines on 142s have been experienced before.

142008 and 142059 have been withdrawn, both through accident damage. 142059 was withdrawn in 1990 after colliding with a buffer stop at Liverpool Lime Street. The train had run away down the hill from Edge Hill whilst returning with brake problems. The train was running without passengers at the time and the driver and guard both survived the accident without serious lasting injury. The platforms were evacuated in time before the train struck the buffers.

John Pugh, the Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, has described the 142 trains as "unsafe". However the UK Government's Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon denied this claim saying, "I would not accept that any of that rolling stock is unsafe", and that they constantly upgrade them. MP John Pugh added that these trains were exacerbating the overcrowding situation due to the lack of seating and space on board them. He is continuing to work to try to get the trains replaced, especially as passenger numbers are expected to increase in the next few years.

A cardan shaft failure led to an incident at Durham on 10 April 2011, injuring a member of the public with a piece of ballast kicked up by the detached shaft.

On 27 April 2012 142091 was working the 1125 Lincoln - Adwick service when it hit a landslide after exiting Clarborough Tunnel near Retford causing major frontal damage to the unit. Two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries, one of these being the driver. The landslide was blamed on heavy rain and poor drainage. The unit has since returned to service.

On 8 August 2009, Arriva Trains Wales unit 142069 derailed during an empty stock movement at Rhymney station, South Wales. The unit was preparing to work a morning service with 143625 when it derailed on a set of points and hit the platform edge. 142069 was later removed by road to Cardiff Canton depot and fears were raised that the frame might have been damaged beyond repair. These fears proved unfounded and the unit has since returned to service with Arriva Trains Wales.