A pacer is meant to get you from A to B. What it really does is get you to A and E

"It's like everything in Britan we were the first and now we're the worst" -map men

"why have you brought me to a bus grave yard then?" Bit offensive considering they were on the premises of the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust group, and using one of their immaculately completed classic bus projects for filming :'D

"What if... we simply take a bus and make it run on rails ... How hard can it be??" - Top Gear in an alternate timeline

“We deserve what people in the south have got, proper modern transportation”. Yeh, when it turns up 😂

This will make Vicki from All the Stations sad.

Northern should start announcing "We apologize for the fact that your train is a Pacer" everytime one of those show up on a route normally used by the nicer Super Sprinters (155/156/158)

As a commuter I don't care what the train is as long as it shows up on time and gets me home. If a Pacer turns up, yeah its noisy and bounces a bit but can be fairly sure it will get me where I want go. I can't say that of many newer types which seem to collapse in in heap as soon as computers say no. We should be applauding the fact that these trains have soldiered on for twice their intended design life and are still very reliable workhorses.

Late 2019 pacer still around and no where near being removed

Look, love them.or hate them, I would suggest that few could argue that they were built as a cheap, easily available stop gap, that has FAR outlasted it's intended life and probably more than any other class, has done more to save more branch lines that would have otherwise have closed if they hadn't come along just then. On welded track they are smooth and only bounce when on jointed track. Drivers love them because of their excellent driving position and they show more the massive underinvestment in the railways back then that is only really being addressed now. I would also argue that they alone probably did more to crystalise the reality of how much underinvestment had been allowed to happen. I think we owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to the Pacer that will only truly be acknowledged once they are gone. I for one will miss them.

I rode a Pacer in, of all places, Canada. One pair came over in 1986 as a technology demonstrator. I rode it between New Westminster and Abbotsford, British Columbia on a diesel freight-only "short line" which had, decades earlier, been an electric passenger "interurban" line. Despite my very limited train-riding experience at the time, I distinctly remember how rough the ride was.

I used to commute on pacers everyday and there was nothing better than hearing the brakes screech into the station at the end of a long day haha. Might’ve been a bit Spartan and a tad bumpy, but these things never missed a beat and, to my own experience, ran like clockwork. There’s a void now because we only have whatever sprinter sets were spared to our line so I really miss these things, they were old but gold :)

I love the Pacers. They're a staple.

That old Ribble bus was remarkably well preserved.

As an update their all withdrawn now. I agree they were a 'stopgap', however there also the argument they saved alot of the railway due to their cheap running cost (british railways was really struggling at the time). So dont mock. I would also argue they were far more efficient and less likely to break down than newer one, hence why they lasted so long!. For anyone missing them lots of preserved lines bought them because they at least saw the benefits so their still plenty around. Their not entirely gone forever :-)

What I find startling is that some pacers cover long distances and the Intercity 125 is 40 years old and when you travel on one you wouldn't think it was 40. Yeah fair enough I know the good old 125s are a high speed express train but it does show what decent investment provides. The reviled pacers are literally noisy bouncy castles on wheels, yeah local services up north and in Wales should be just as good as on the Southern network. A bit of equality and investment would be very nice indeed.

I LOVE the Pacer trains! I'm really sad they're gone now.

The irony is that whilst the Pacer is reviled the Leyland National Bus is generally warmly remembered.

Leyland National 2...I never got to drive them! A beast of an engine! 😈👍

firstly, I'm a Yank and have never been to the UK - Only The Netherlands in that neck of the woods... I operated one of these in Train Simulator 2017...it was pretty odd. The first thing I noticed was, wow, this engine sounds odd even for a diesel. It sounded like a car's engine or a truck perhaps. It also accelerated oddly slow, and had a funnily high acceleration between say 50 and 70 miles per hour, which may have been exceeding its maximum operating speed, anyway. Wow.

The old Pacers did the Job in the south Wales valleys for 30 years they gave awesome service on very tough hilly routes they kept the valley lines running for so long just a good old workhorse they are missed in the valleys

As a recent migrant to the North fron dan sarf, I've only recently experienced pacers. I'm no train buff or a regular commuter, just an occasional day tripper but I'll offer my opinion. First impressions were that this was obviously a vehicle that had been in service for a few years as they're somewhat dated in appearance, inside and out. I didn't feel the ride quality was noticeably bumpy and I travelled on virtually empty trains as well as rush hour services. The pa system was virtually useless even though I was sat beside the speaker so I resorted to looking out of the window to keep track of my progress. The only other thing I noticed was when pulling away, the driver had to give it some gas and I got the impression that the gearbox was clutch operated but I doubt that's the case, probably automatics. If they're reasonably reliable and cost effective to operate, I couldn't really pick holes in them.

I love em 😂 the bouncing used to keep me awake on my way home from work for just over a year

Notice how at 3:13 the train at the front was a Class 142 Pacer, but at 3:20 the train at the front magically changes to a Class 150 Sprinter.

"At that very moment, one of these Frankenstein trains creeps up behind them." The fact that they said Frankenstein train!!! HAHA perfect description!!!

Pacers, you either love 'em or hate 'em with a passion. Personally I like 'em, not exactly a looker, by neither was the Apollo LEM, both got the job done at the end of the day.

Dead easy...you just load the passengers on the bus then load the bus onto a train trailer, problem solved.

What I find funny is how much they were hated but yet so many have been preserved including 142001 which is part of the national collection

i've gotten quite sentimental about pacers, i agree they are horrid things but back in the day in winter when it was freezing me and me mam went to the metro centre and i always fell asleep on the way back listening to the struggling engines and breathing in the exhaust fumes which was the only thing which helped keep the coaches warm then on to a sprinter or a 37 back along the coast yam

My first time I went on one today and it's better than a Pendolino any day! Also more secure as you can see everything that happens

I actually like the Pacers and older rolling stock. They have character and charm.

I used to love riding on these trains on the Colne to Blackpool South line. Good times.

I think that around 2030ish there will be wave of nostalgia for pacer trains and railway preservation societies will rescue a couple from the scrapheaps and restore them and run tours on them like they do with the old steam era trains and carriages.

I love his scarfe, posh people always wear scarves, even in 30C temps.

I'm from the future in 2022...The queen has died,strikes are an everyday occurrence,And the pacers are gone

That Leyland bus is an absolute design classic. Remind me of my childhood.

I have to admit the Pacer trains are better than the trains all the trains in USA

Its 2023 and i still take a Pacer to work. Government promisses, goverment not delivers- what a shocker

Finally somebody explains the ‘bus on rails’ concept to others. Now I can tell them to stop asking me and watch this video

Save the donkeys! (Nodding Donkey) a nickname for Pacers.

HEY.............. Leave the pacer alone. Im a pacer driver and i can tell all of you begrudgers that the pacer is one of the best trains ever to grace the railways of this country. Honest, reliable, and good old fashioned british engernering and still going 30 years on. None of ye pureists or train spotters have a clue what ye are talking about. DOPES

PACERS ARE LIFE, BEST TRAINS TO EXIST.

I thought I had achieved my moment of fame being on BBC2. Now it seems I have reached the even greater heights of KZfaq! Can you spot the BluTack?

iv`e never had a problem with these trains you get a better view when traveling on them

the problem I have is no one recognises the south west still has these trains and since no one mentions them I guaranteee once they are all "gone", Devon will still have them

Nothing beats the pacers I love them

“Britain’s most vile trains”. Has she (the narrator) ever heard of a bubble car or an IET? Those are the most vile trains in Britain.

For all their supposed faults, Pacer's have bags of room and nice big windows letting in loads of light. I get the feeling their replacement will have neither.

Got to admit the Pacer is cute lol

They’re gone now. It feels so empty without em

Is it wrong that i absolutely adore the Pacer?

These trains are passed there sell by date

Where I live, we have to get on the class 142 pacer to go somewhere 😂😂😂

And now they're finally gone.

got to say this was pretty good, coming from dorset it was good knowing more about the north

2020 2 months away and they’re still very much in use,

The majority of my daily commutes are basically me being stuck on a Pacer for nearly an hour AND THEY ARE THE WORST

The Pacer is an outer-suburban tram.

Why didn't these people look at the class 141, which was actually a Leyland national on a wagon chassis and the forerunner of the design ? Plenty of archive footage exists..... The 142's were significantly different

Arriva Wales, Wrexham to Bidston. Top Quality journey.

Good old arriva pacers

I can remember the pacer trains on the oldham line about 10 years ago, relieved is an understatement when the trams took their place!!

One thing that I don't quite understand. If the UK health and safety act began in 1974 and the Pacers were built in the 1980s then why the hell don't they meet the current health and safety standards. Why do they shake a lot from inside?

"DfT promise the end by 2020" in this documentary apparently from 2017. Finally achieved 2022. Not bad for a stop-gap railbus train.

Let’s admit it, we all have a soft spot for the pacer

With being a frequent rail user to Morecambe and to Leeds along the Bentham line. I don't have a problem with the pacer. Yeh they're rickety things that trundle along regional lines. I think it gives them a sort of character to them.

Saw the Pacer rolling past Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in Cumbria

They've still got the pacer, and the people around here say YES!

I remember the Leyland Nationals and Titans. They were slow when moving off. I used them when travelling to school.

Interesting twist is that the Leyland National was a firm favourite and very fondly remembered!

Don’t worry it’s only temporary….. 30 years later

I swear when they get withdrawn they are gonna miss it

I like pacers

Love this video of race DMU with classic bus!! 👏👍

The term 'rolling stock companies' is a bit simplistic and confusing. Rolling stock companies are actually lease finance corporations, who buy fleets of trains or coaches from manufacturers like Bombardier, Alstom, Hitachi etc, and then lease them to train operating companies.

You gotta say that they lasted well

I think the Pacer doesn't deserve all the bad press. At the end of the day each unit has racked up an average of 6 million miles. Not bad for a 'cheap' solution and stopgap. They've transported millions of people to and from work, on days out etc. Yes, they might be antiquated now and yes they do need to be replaced by more modern units. But put it this way, if you bought a really cheap car and got 30+ years and 6 million miles out of it you'd be quite happy. Oh and by the way, I have travelled on em many many times.

I agree. If Pacers were in the South, Tory MPs would be on their hind legs in the Commons. But it's not just the Pacers. Those in the London Commuter regions would not tolerate the state of the bleak and down at heel stations that is the daily lot for the commuter in the north.

The government just announced that they will nationalise Northern Rail... You you're crap when the Torries want to nationalise your company.

I think the bumpyniss is due to the old wooden sleepers rotting away under the train tracks on old branch lines

You watch a few episodes of WTYP pod and suddenly your recommendations are full of stuff like this.

It is funny how these cattle wagons were never used in the south east into London! Also they were to be used on branch and rural lines only - however due to the squealing and nodding they were transferred to metropolitan areas. Transport for Wales has just withdrawn their last units. I would love to get a Challenger main battle tank and blow them all up. Why does DfT think donating them to heritage locations helps to make them more acceptable? Even Iran withdrew their Pacers after a few years!

Like I learned over the past 20 . There is nothing that lasts as long as a stopgap

My local train service used to be Pacers - running from Huddersfield to Manchester and on to Wigan. They weren't very comfortable even if you did get a seat, and during rush hour that was nigh on impossible. And it didn't help that there wasn't much in the way of grab handles. And on a cold day, even a very full one would still be freezing cold inside - except on the odd occasion the heating was working, in which case the inside was boiling hot and the windows covered in condensation. We don't have them any more, which was a cause for celebration until we discovered the replacement: The Transpennine Express, three coaches of luxury, but only if you're lucky. During the rush hour, these things are jammed full when they leave Leeds and by the time they get to my station they're so packed that your only chance of getting on is to turn yourself into a sardine. Please, Metrolink, get us some trams up here! They might not be luxurious or especially fast, but a relatively reliable 15 minute service would be a massive improvement over cramped hourly trains and irregular buses.

Saw LEV1 at Ipswich in about 77, as a teenager I was gobsmacked that someone had put a Leyland National body on a train!

I reckon a lot of passengers in the North will be glad to see the back of these trains. Least they will be getting new trains to replace these clapped out old trains by the end of 2019. They are not fit for service for the 21st Century. These trains have past their sell by date. The Pacer train is over 30 years old its about time they had some new trains. They were built in the 1980s for what was a cheap and nasty stopgap.

Transport for Wales and GWR are the remaining operators running paces now. There not fully gone yet! Loads of them have been preserved on heritage railways around the UK.

Made as a stopgap for BR and still going strong 😀 Manchester first fleet of trams that replaced these on some routes have now been scrapped after 10 years 🤔 Italian trams against a British stopgap trains 😳

Nearly 2022 and pacers are still going strong! Horrid things

I actually like the old things. They were very clever thinking. I also have fond memories of those buses.

Only the British would think to combine the top of a bus and the bottom of a freight wagon and come up with the Pacer lol

South west is still full of pacer trains the only newer trains you see are HST's going long distances but the rest of devon has to deal with pacers

“We deserve what the people in the southeast have got” Me: what plastic ironing board seats, late trains and incompetent management teams. You can have it if you want.

Wow never seen this before being a southerner, but they say they are out dated but have basic same design most buses do in the UK, so are we saying buses are out of date too?

I went on one last weekend and it was really quiet. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Love em... bashed a few Pacers now.. several on the Wensleydale.....

2 days ago on the 27th Novemeber 2020 the pacer went out of service, 1985 to 2020. And it was correct that it would go in 2020.

those models they used are actually so detailed

GM tried this with the "Aero Train".

I used to be a regular traveler between Greenfield and Manchester Victoria where Class 142s were the 'workhorse' or in many cases the 'worsthorse' when people were asked at Stalybridge or Ashton under Lyne to voluntarily detrain because the Class 142s were too heavy or overcrowded. The other solution being to crawl from A-u-L to Manny Vic at 15 MPH turning a ten minute journey into almost 25 at times! But at all times you suffered THAT intolerable screech on the bend at Miles Platting though I believe Oldham Werneth that was (RIP) was even worse! With this mentioning of 2020 does that apply to all types of Pacer as the Class 143 and Class 144 didn't receive any sort of feature in this despite also being 'Pacers' designed on the same principle. But built by Metro-Cammell IIRC not Leyland. BTW Who is going to be the first person to want to preserve one??! MHR or Muggins Heritage Railway which runs between Boldham Mumps and Madchester Picklepot no doubt!!!