British Rail Class 141
British Rail Class 141 Pacer | |
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![]() 141108 at the Colne Valley Railway | |
Interior of a Class 141. | |
In service | 1984 - 2005 |
Manufacturer | British Leyland |
Order no. |
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Family name | Pacer |
Refurbished | 1988 - 1989 |
Formation |
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Diagram |
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Fleet numbers | |
Capacity |
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Operators |
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Depots | Neville Hill[1] |
Lines served | West Yorkshire |
Specifications | |
Car body construction | Steel[4] |
Car length | 15.45 m (50.7 ft)[3] |
Width | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)[3] |
Height | 3.906 m (12.81 ft)[4] |
Articulated sections | 2 |
Wheelbase | 9 m (30 ft)[4] |
Maximum speed | 75 mph (121 km/h)[2] |
Weight |
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Prime mover(s) | 1 × Leyland TL11[2] |
Power output | 205 hp (153 kW)[3] |
Transmission | SCGR500 4-speed[2] |
HVAC |
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Bogies | AX1[4] |
Braking system(s) | Air[4] |
Safety system(s) | AWS |
Coupling system |
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Headlight type | Fluorescent[4] |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |

The British Rail Class 141 was the first production model of the Pacer diesel multiple units. They were created because then British Rail had a large shortage of trains so rather than spending lots of money on expensive proper trains, they invented the Pacer. British Leyland at the time had a surplus in the production of bus bodies so the idea was to weld the bus body from an old bus on to a freight waggon chassis. The result of this was that pacers have notoriously poor suspension and are noisier around corners due to flanging (the squeaky noise that you'll sometimes hear when travelling by train). This makes them non-ideal passenger trains so they are now being replaced (or have been replaced in the case of the class 141) by new trains.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fox & Hughes 1994, p. 15
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Class 141". The Railway Centre. Archived from the original on 9 March 2005.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Fox 1987, p. 40
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Vehicle Diagram Book No. 220 for Diesel Multiple Unit Trains (Railcars) (PDF). Derby: British Railways Board. 1982. DP228, DP229. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
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ignored (help) - ↑ "Class 141 Railbus Built 1984". Llangollen Railcar Group. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008.