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142s now in Northern Rail Livery
I noticed this morning that the 08:05 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly service consisted of two 142s joined together with the front one being a former First North Western one thats been painted in Northern Rail's dark blue and purple livery.
This isn't a good sign for people who hope they will be replaced soon. |
Apparently it'll be 2011 before they're all removed from service. However, they are supposed to be 24 being replaced by Sprinter trains on the Northern network. Though I would have thought that Northern would only repaint 142s if all the 150s, 156s and 158s were in Northern livery which they are not.
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Northern have had 144s in 'Northern Livery' for a while, but I haven't seen a 142 in Northern livery.
I think they only repainted the 144s to show that they were running the Metro trains in West Yorkshire. The 144s (which were previously red and grey) have just had the middle painted blue with the wording 'www.northernrail.org' added at the bottom. So they are now grey, red and blue- not a good choice of colour combination! |
Sorry the original message is slightly misleading. It’s was a Mersey Travel 142 that was used by First North Western that's been painted in Northern's livery. However, is no longer sponsored by Mersey Travel as they are now sponsoring 156s instead.
I don’t carry a digital camera around with me, otherwise I would have tried a get a photo to put online. |
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See my seperate post regarding 142's on the modelling thread. Here's 142043 at Chester on wednesday: http://dave420.fotopic.net/c1354250.html |
I went walking through Delamere Forest today and noticed a number of trains being worked by 142's in the new Northern livery. One Chester-Manchester service consisted of two Northern liveried units coupled together. I hate to say it but I thought they looked quite smart:D
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I quite like 142 units and iam made up when i see them looking very Smart in Northern Livery.
It was only the other night that i was spoilt for choice as the 20.55 from Liverpool Lime Street was worked buy two of them in Northern Livery 142 036+ 142 049. I think it will be a while yet before they are all out of service as recently i have noticed that each time a 150 or 156 comes into Lime Street they almost always have to recive attention from a fitter. Where as the 142's dont seem to have any trouble as ive only noted one faliure in a long while. |
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They are only between 20 & 22 years old.
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I've been affected by two cancellations due to a broken down 142 and on two ocassions a 142 has performed what seemed like an emergency stop in the middle of nowhere while a problem with the train has been administered to. And I don't know how many times a 142 I've been on has been delayed because of door's jamming (although the doors jamming has also occured on 156s) A lot of Northern's 142s also have some kind of interior problem from leaking to out of order toilets to broken seats as a result of age rather than vandalism. |
To be honest i think all the trains Northern have left with are old and battered but with tregards to toilets ive known quite a lot of 156's with defecive Toilets which is rather anoying when you have to walk from one end of the train to the other to get to it then you find it doesent work.
I also think that with the problems with the 142's you have exprenced you may have just been unlucky. The doors on 142's sometimes jam because the School Kids offten stick pens in the mecanisim and there is the fact that they are somtimes used on Express Services whrere as when the train is traveling at speed the doors ratle like mad 2which doesent help what also dosent help is the overlaoding and people squashed against the doors. But i must admit that most of the above are common problems on most old trains and the lack of maintince these days doesnt help the problems but i ca simpothise with Northern because they have been left with a right odd ball fleet and units of a considrable age. Think the DFT shyould alow them to purchase a whole new fleet of trains Built to Modern requirements. And finaly in mu opinion the 185's shold have gone to Northern along with the 170's accuired by FTPE recently and FTPE hshold have had a Class 223 which wouuld be simmler to the 222's but probably only seven coaches long.:) |
I agree that Northern are in need of better stock to cope with the frwquency of services, however there may be issues with giving them 185s or more advanced stock. I am not sure what the restrictions are on some parts but the 185s are heavy units and would they pass for routes like Chester via Altrincham?
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If I remember correctly Pacer trains are the least suitable for the line due to problems that can be encountered with them on the viaduct at Northwich. |
Well 142 003 was working the 18.08 Service from Rainhill to Liverpool Lime Street Last night so this one hasn't yet gone to FGW.
And also there was quite a few 142's out yesterday so there must be a sortage of 156's & 150's the latest Class 142 to be painted into Northern Livery seems to be ex Arriva Trains North East 142 026 as a spotted it yesterday though didn't get a ride on it though :( . It just shows that no matter how mutch Northern don't like the 142's they still keep on providing good service alotogh who would want to travel on one all the way from Liverpool to Huddersfeild. |
142 026 142 034 seem to be the latest ones to gain Northern Livery !
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Example: The 13:24 Manchester to Chester train is quietest but the same train would then be expected to run the 15:45 Chester to Manchester train which is fairly busy and then the 17:24 Manchester to Chester train which can get very busy. |
142 024 has been working on the Liverpool - Manchester Oxford Road a few times Last week on Sunday 11th Nov 2007 it worked the 10.00 Service From Liverpool to Kirkham & Wesham.
This one Could be one of the next ones to be painted in to Northern Livery but must agree with you on the Lack of seats as with a few Nottingham Trains Being Canceled it was qiute full. But yet at least they are Nice and warm like the ex Merseyrail Livired ones but it is unknown as yet how many 142 units will be painted into Northern Livery. |
142 031 was out yesterday as well this in Northern livery too.!
above worked the 11.54 service from RainHill to Liverpool. 142 024 worked the 10.00 to Kirkham and Wesham which i traveled on it to Prescot. |
142 005 has surprisingly for an unrefurbished unit been re-painted into Northern Rail Livery as it Worked the Liverpool to Huddersfeild Service Last Night. (14/11/2007)
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Saw this at Lincoln yesterday, for me it is one of the better liveries around, very smart.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqrqod.jpg |
Which one is it please !
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Although with some of those 142s there was some red plastic stuff put on the walls under the windows (I’m not sure what it’s purpose is) Also at least 1 142 had the metal things on the top of the seats either covered in or replaced by purple plastic. Northern have repainted some of each type of 142 they possess. |
What i mean is that the majoity of the 142's exept five of them When under the Managment of First Group had a Refurbishment done by means of :- Cycle and Luggage rack added, New partitions at Driving ends of carrage, New Seat Covers, Purple Painted Panels, New under frame window pannels.
Which was the Refurbishment of all of them with the exeption of five plus the ones Refurbished to Merseytravel Specification and one of the five un refurbished ones is 142 005 and along with 142 029. So Next time you see or travel on one Look at the Differnce but there are now only three un refurbished ones as two i beleve whent to First Great Western. |
I think they AHd new engines put in them as well but this may have been done Before the internal iam not quite shure.
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Although, some people don't use the allocated space anyway. One morning I caught a 156 and a woman boarded with a bike and left by the toilet where it clearly "Do not leave bicycles or luggage in this area." When there was ample room at the other end of the 156. In the afternoon the same woman boarded a refurbished 150 and left her bike blocking the aisle in the same carriage as an empty cycle rack was located. The conductor did not make his or her way through that train. I think it's logical that for passengers with bikes, luggage or baby's buggies to wait on the platform where they'd expect the middle of the train to stop, then as the train's stopping if you see the allocated space is at the front then you can make your way up to the front before the doors have been opened, or the back if there isn't room at the front. |
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Well in my book nobody should be standing it should not be allowed Northern have no excuse for overcrowding trains they need to sort it out big time as one day something serious will happen and they will be the blame and then will they learn.
Manchester to Chester seems like a long route they should have had a 150 on there of four coaches or if fast service then a 156. The maintince should be stepped up as well as the reason for most brekdowns is through overloading the trains so if they didnt overload them there wouldent be as many trains out of service. Northern don't seem to have a clue what they are doing aall they seem to do is give the trains a coat of paint which i must admit does make the 142's especially look tidy but relly they should start putting hard presure on they goverment for new trains. As i belive if they were to put enough presure on the DFT they would probably get there in the end but theres nop reason why Northern can't take other funding means to get new trains ie Private funnding from things Like Football Players-Shops like Primarrk as the ammount of peolpe on the trains going to Primark in Liverpool is amazing. Also noticed that 142 060 & 142 041 seem to be the latest to be painted into the northern livery. |
Hello John, noted today at Farrington curve junction near Preston was 142 051 it was still in Merseyrail yellow. All the best.
Chris. |
Yes there are a fews tillin the yellow, Does anyone know how many of the 142's were Refurbished into Merseyrail Livery / Standards.
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142 037 Spotted today in Northern Livery woring a Rainhill to Manchester Service at 12.10pm this affternoon.
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142 034 Is Now In Northern Livery
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The slowest in the winter timetable is 97 minutes calling at all stations. However, the latter will be 89 minutes from Monday next week |
Thats an hour and 20 Minutes on a 142 shurley something like 150 272 would be better on that route but Northern being PENNY PINCHINhers that they are that must be the norm.
But it must be quicker to get the TPE 185 or the EMT 158 to Liverpool and then the Mersyrail 507/507 to Chester in fact come to think of it it is in actually jorney time by train only 90 Mins compared to the 97 Mins but with it being reduced to 89 Mins it's only a Minute different but yet would be more comfortable to go this route ie via Liverpool than the one train. especially if 142's are the norm. Today 04/12/2007 Northern operated 142 048 on the 13.27 express service to L/pool from St.Helens Ctl whilst a 156 operated the Local Stoping Service. classic eample of penny pinching. |
142 035 is another recruit to be painted into Northern livery not many more to go now surley out of the Merseyrail ones it only leaves 055 and 058 amd 059.
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Some examples that have affected the passenger numbers on trains include fuel protests a few years ago resulted in some car owners unable to get enough petrol to get to work meaning they had no option but to take the train at a peak time. Engineering works or industrial action can affect other services. Last autumn weekend engineering works on the Manchester to Chester via Warrington line (which has faster services between Chester and Manchester than the line via Altrincham) meant many passengers travelling between Chester and Manchester opted to use the Manchester to Chester via Altrincham service rather than the replacement buses that Arriva Trains Wales were running. The Manchester to Chester via Altrincham services are already quite busy on Saturdays and Northern decided to continue to mainly use 2 car 142s. This resulted in some Manchester bound trains arriving at Knutsford, Hale and Altrincham so crowded passengers were left on the platform waiting an hour for the next service in the hope that they could get on it. Likewise when Arriva ran the Transpennine Express franchisee and their staff went on strike. Arriva ran a reduced service between Manchester Airport and York and no service between Manchester and Liverpool or Manchester and Sheffield. I think most people can imagine how crowded the Central Trains Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield-Norwich service was! In contrast on the Transpennine Express service a lot of sporting events can draw extra crowds on the trains. Liverpool FC, Man United and the York races are all located along the Liverpool to Scarborough route. Before 185s were brought in I've seen on more than one occasion 3 158s joined together consisting of a total of 6 or 8 carriages in order to cope with the extra demand. It's a pity Northern Rail don't do likewise (and they do have trains not being used on Saturday as many of their routes get extra peak services on weekdays only.) In fact one type of fare promotion they have for tickets to Chester is not valid on racedays, which suggests Northern are actually trying to reduce passenger numbers on certain days. |
142 093 was working on the 18.11 from Garswood to Liverpool Lime Street on Friday 07th Dec 2007 it had a 150 on the back and was actually a four car working.
A little unusuall for a train from Wigan to Liverpool at this time of the day ! |
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There's two routes between Chester and Manchester. The one through Altrincham (mentioned above) used to run express down what is now the Metrolink line between Altrincham and Manchester, it got diverted through Stockport since the line was prepared for Metrolink taking about 10 minutes longer. The fastest way of getting between Chester and Manchester is to use the Manchester to Llandundno service which operates via Warrington. That takes 65 minutes between Manchester Piccadilly and Chester. However, both services between Manchester and Chester are hourly during the off-peak period so if you're travelling between Chester and Manchester and you've just missed a train that travels via Warrington then you would arrive 30 minutes quicker using the service via Altrincham (that departs both Manchester and Chester about 10 minutes after the service via Warrington), than waiting for the next service via Warrington. It should also be noted that on the Manchester to Chester via Altrincham line Mouldsworth (the first station after Chester) to Manchester takes around 80 minutes, usually on a 142, and it would not be premitted to travel via Chester to Manchester without purchasing two tickets and possibly having a long wait at Chester. In the other direction Stockport to Chester takes 65-75 minutes, I think it's probably permitted to travel via Manchester on one ticket which would take 10-12 + 65 minutes + connection time, which may give you a more comfortable ride as usually 175s operate between Manchester and Llandundno. Between Stockport and Manchester you can catch 142s, 150s, 156s, 158s, 175s, 323s and Voyagers. Pendulino's do operate between Stockport and Manchester, although you can't catch them if you are making a local journey between Stockport and Manchester. |
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To aim for 0% standing at all times is totally unrealistic - there is always going to be standing at peak hours as the economics of buying enough rolling stock and running services to accomodate everyone for a hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon simply do not make sense.
That said there does need to be a large expansion of services and strengthening of trains throughout northern - the only way this will come about is when the Department of Transport realises not everyone lives in the South east! The money spent and going to be spent on improving services down there compared to the north is an absolute scandal - i am sure if one employee of the DofT went to work on a packed 142 the money would soon be found!! |
Saw 142 058 still in Merseyrail livery today at Farington near Preston.
Chris. |
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