I was very nicely surprised to catch a train from Saltburn to my meeting in Redcar this morning and find it was a proper train, not a rattling old pacer. According to the train guard, we will be keeping it and getting more of them. These new ones, or at least new to us, are 158 trains, and the ancient pacer trains are 142s. She said the 142s are due to be phased out by the end of the year. I do hope so – when I got to Redcar I didn’t feel like getting off, but the delights of Licencing awaited me so thought I better had. Roll on the 158s!
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Councillor Craig Hannaway 
It needs to be said that the class 158’s , along with the “125” High Speed Train were amongst the last products of a nationalised and confident British Railways, who not only operated train sets, but designed and then ordered them to those designs. With a lightweight aluminium and duralumin body, it gave a smooth ride and was capable of good speeds. On that basis, they ran (and still run) long distance routes. (I recall Manchester to Carmarthen a few years back). But then, nationalisation doesn’t work. We all know that, don’t we ?
Many thanks for this Dave, I had no idea about their history. I think nationalising the railways is one of our most popular policies, especially with people who’ve stood or sat on the floor by a smelly toilet from Kings Cross to at least Doncaster.