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NorthernDave

Never used Über Member
Much kerfuffle about the first Pacer being withdrawn by Northern:
RailAdvent - Railway News: First Pacer train WITHDRAWN from Northern service.
https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2019/08/first-pacer-train-withdrawn-from-northern-service.html

(although withdrawn appears to be a flexible term, as apparently it might reappear if there are "exceptional circumstances")

While I agree that they're past their sell by date, I'd rather have traveled on one of them with their opening windows over the last few weeks rather than yet another hermetically sealed Northern 158 sweatbox with failed air-conditioning.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
They withdrew them before, and sent them to South Wales. This time Scotland get the withdrawn units.
 

AuroraSaab

Veteran
I'm on holiday in Mayrhofen, Austria this week. They have a little steam train that alternates pulling the passenger train along the narrow gauge track down the valley to Jenbach.
20190811_143050.jpg


Loads of bikes for hire here (around €12 a day for a standard bike), though most of them seem to be electric.
 
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robjh

Legendary Member
I rode today past the former Bottisham and Lode station, on the Cambridge-Mildenhall line that closed in 1964.
20190815 Fenland ride (30) Bottisham and Lode station.jpg
20190815 Fenland ride (31) Bottisham and Lode station.jpg

it even still has a shelter on the opposite platform.

This quiet branch line was once planned as a new main line to Norwich, until the Great Eastern engineers worked out a way of protecting the route across the Fens from Ely from washing away.
 

robjh

Legendary Member
Much kerfuffle about the first Pacer being withdrawn by Northern:
RailAdvent - Railway News: First Pacer train WITHDRAWN from Northern service.
https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2019/08/first-pacer-train-withdrawn-from-northern-service.html

(although withdrawn appears to be a flexible term, as apparently it might reappear if there are "exceptional circumstances")

While I agree that they're past their sell by date, I'd rather have traveled on one of them with their opening windows over the last few weeks rather than yet another hermetically sealed Northern 158 sweatbox with failed air-conditioning.
I was very pleased to get a chance to travel on one of these horrors as it jumped, thudded, growled and squealed its way from Lancaster to Leeds this year. I've never had to rely on them for regular transport, but they've always held a macabre fascination for me. We'll miss them when they're gone :smile:
20190517 (28) Lancaster class 142.JPG
 

classic33

Leg End Member
I was very pleased to get a chance to travel on one of these horrors as it jumped, thudded, growled and squealed its way from Lancaster to Leeds this year. I've never had to rely on them for regular transport, but they've always held a macabre fascination for me. We'll miss them when they're gone :smile:
View attachment 480204
Northern are planning on retiring the last of them in 2024. Five years left yet to enjoy them.
 
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