LOCOMOTIVE SERVICES Group’s subsidiary charter company Inter-City announced the debut main line passenger outing for Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive orange and tan-liveried Class 142 Pacer diesel multiple unit 142003 on August 31 – with the tour declared a sell-out just seven days later.
Returning the Pacer to routes the DMUs often worked during their 35-year working lives on the national network, the ‘St Tudno Wanderer’ was due to operate on September 27, just after this issue of Railways Illustrated closed for press.
Picking up passengers at Wilmslow, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Line Street, the train was then set to head to Chester before traversing the North Wales Coast line and reaching its destination at Llandudno Town. The train was then due to have a break of about 90 minutes before retracing its steps back to Wilmslow.
The inaugural tour was priced at £49 and all seats were sold out just seven days after bookings went live on the InterCity website. At the time of writing, no further main line tours with the Class 142s have been announced.
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