Pacers through Hunts Cross

[robertclark125]

Are pacers allowed through Hunts Cross? I know they have problems usually on 3rd rail networks, in that some equipment on them can catch the 3rd rail. But at Hunts cross, both the bay platform, and the eastbound through platform are 3rd rail fitted. So, with that in mind, can pacers serve Hunts Cross?

 

[Mojo]

According to the baseline declaration on the Network Rail website, Class 14Xs are permitted Castlefield Junction to Allerton Junction, which includes the lines through Hunts Cross.

Have we finally broken the myth that Pacers are banned from third rail lines, or is there something special about the third rail between Hunts Cross and Hunts Cross West Junction?

 

[asylumxl]

There's even a photo of a 142 in the station, on the Wikipedia page for the station .

 

[Pumbaa]

I don't know, but I'd completely forgotten about that third rail section! I've taken a Pacer through Hunts Cross a few times now, going to Warrington and Manchester.

 

[scrapy]

Yes there is no problem in pacers using Hunts Cross and they also use Platform 7 at Chester so not sure what the issue with 3rd rail is.

 

[jopsuk]

Maybe it was just a half baked theory to try and explain why they never appeared "south of the river"- rather than the more obvious answer of them being post-sectorisation units for Regional Railways that Network SouthEast didn't want (or need- where the hell would you use them in the NSE area, especially in 3rd rail land? GOBLIN?)

 

[Wyvern]

Maybe one has to justify the cost of route proving them in areas where they are not likely to be used.

So there is a "general rule" for most of the network.

 

[northwichcat]

Yes there is no problem in pacers using Hunts Cross and they also use Platform 7 at Chester so not sure what the issue with 3rd rail is.

Yes that's 100% accurate. This rumour was on firstgreatwestern.info last year I think it was because they are trying to make up excuses of why Pacers should be replaced. However, that would mean more 142s removed from the North West as it would ban them from Liverpool-Manchester Oxford Rd and could ban them from Chester-Manchester and Helsby-Ellesmere Port as they may need to use platform 7 at Chester.

 

[Mojo]

This rumour was on firstgreatwestern.info last year I think it was because they are trying to make up excuses of why Pacers should be replaced.

It's way older than that; I attended a Passenger Focus board meeting in Bristol in September 2007 with then FGW MD Alison Forster delivering a presentation and when she mentioned that the 142s would not be running Cardiff to Portsmouth services someone quipped that it's because of the third rail!

 

[tbtc]

where the hell would you use them in the NSE area

My argument is that they are okay for stand alone branches where they are less likely to be hit by Grown Up trains, so I'd deploy some on the Thames Valley branches, plus the Oxford - Bicester line, maybe even Reading - Basingstoke at a push - would release some Turbos for the Cardiff - Portsmouth service...

 

[driver9000]

If you look at the photographs on the wiki page, the through Up Cheshire where the 142 is standing has the conductor rail set much lower than in the photograph of the EMU which is standing in the bay, this may be the reason 142s are able to run along that section (which is electrified for approx 1 mile) as the conductor rail is lower and therefore giving them enough clearance to not interfere with each other which would still prevent them running on the Southern DC lines with the higher rail setting.

 

[Greeny]

The original problem was that the speedometer cable on Class 142's was just long enough to catch the 3rd rail at the junction points at Hunts Cross West Junction as the trains were coming on/off the 'Down and Up Chord Lines', and was being torn off fairly regularly. If memory serves, that led to the cables being shortened slightly.

G