class-142-pacer

The BR Class 142 Pacer was a series of diesel multiple unit railbuses built by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) at Derby in 1985–87, constructed on Leyland National bus bodies mounted on railway bogies as a very low-cost solution to rural and secondary passenger working — see the main BR Class 142 Pacer entry for full details. The Pacer concept — applying road bus bodies to railway underframes — was controversial from the outset: the bus body gave a harsh, noisy ride that was unpopular with passengers, but the very low cost compared with conventional DMU construction made the type economically attractive to the newly sectorised British Rail.

The Class 142 was the largest of the Pacer family, with 96 vehicles built, and worked Northern and Merseyrail services for over 30 years before a Government mandate to make trains accessible to disabled passengers forced their withdrawal, as the bus-derived body steps made step-free access impossible to retrofit. Three examples are preserved: 142001, 142028, and 142068.