Standing on Manchester Piccadilly a few weeks ago, I had one of those bizzare moments, I'll explain if I can.
Ten or so years earlier I had been stood in almost the exact same spot and I could see Class 158, 156, 142 etc. DMU's and alongside them first generatiom DMU's such as 101's and the so on and so forth, and the image that strikes you is something of a contrast between old and new. You could see that those old DMU's where reaching the end of their working lives.
And I saw the exact same thing today. Except now it was the Sprinters and Pacers looking like the old DMU's and the newer 185's etc. where the modern thing, and that sort of struck me really.
I imagine the 158's have at least a decade left to go but I can see the 150 and the 142 being withdrawn perhaps earlier than this, maybe much earlier, and I can't help but feel like they're going to fade into the void and nobody will want to remember them.
I just wonder if anyone else can see, or would particularly want to see, Sprinters or Pacers of any class enter preservation.
Personally I'd be interested in a Class 142 preservation society because I have a bizzare fondness for the 142, but I'm pretty sure I'm one a million there.
Anyway I imagine now might be the right time to start planning for the preservation of a lot of trains from the 80's and early 90's?
Sorry if this seems like a daft discussion idea.