Accrington Pacer and Sprinter

On Friday I had to go to Accrington to collect the motorhome. It had a small water ingress repair done by C&S Caravans.
I went by public transport. Imagine my amazement when the 10.28 drew into Todmorden, 7 minutes late, consisting of a two car Sprinter heading a two car Pacer. The doors took ages to open. The units' engines were being re-started several times. Eventually we proceeded on the loop to Burnley and beyond. The views were fascinating on a cold, sunny morning. At each station for certain the engines in the unit I was travelling in had to be re-started. Odd, were they idle when we were running?

As you prolly know, this is one of the very Pacers that are the bane or delight of Northern Rail enthusiasts. They are due to be phased out in 2020. It will be interesting to find out if they, and the travelling public, stay the course. Pacers have been referred to in no less than the parliamentary House of Commons Transport Committee - in the most derogatory terms. Everyone should know their key feature. It should be a question on University Challenge, a series  on Only Connect or explained on QI. They have one wheel at each corner. This from the engineering community that gave us the four wheel bogie truck.

The van was safely collected and driven home.