There were trains even worse than Pacers – Yorkshire Post letters

DARE we hope that Rail Minister, Andrew Jones’s imaginative idea for disposing of Pacers (The Yorkshire Post, May 29) does not lead to too many expletives? Though difficult to believe, they were briefly preceded by worse – ‘Sprinters’. These were cut-price-to-the-bone buses on a cattle truck chassis, with a worrying gap between coach and platform; they also had dodgy brakes.

Why it is not end of the line for these Pacer trains – The Yorkshire Post says

Once, on the Leeds train, approaching Pannal, the brakes were applied and not much happened. The guard leaned out of the window and shouted to the waving fists and umbrellas “we’ll come back for you” – which we did, slowly! On another occasion, the brakes went on in Bramhope tunnel and stayed on!

Those of us on the following London-bound 125, had a leisurely trip to Leeds, via Knaresborough and York, with tea and bacon sandwiches.

The guard allowed us the use of an early mobile phone – a large box with a handle on top.

Though rather like something from a Carry On film, more seriously this illustrates the historic and ongoing failure of successive governments to commit and invest properly beyond London and the Home Counties.

So far as I know, neither Sprinters, nor Pacers, were ever seen outside their “Here be Dragons” land.