British Rail Class 141

The British Rail Class 141 was the first production model of the Pacer diesel multiple unit railbus. After single-car and two-car prototypes and the Class 140 had been evaluated, British Rail ordered 20 two-car units from British Leyland in 1984. The design drew on the Leyland National bus, with a body of standard bus width that was narrower than on the later Class 142 and Class 143, and a Leyland TL11 engine of 200 horsepower (150 kilowatts) in each car. The units were unreliable in their early years and were improved by a modification programme carried out by Hunslet-Barclay in 1988 and 1989. They worked services on routes radiating from Leeds in West Yorkshire until 1997, and twelve were later sold to Iran Railways in 2001 and 2002. Two are preserved in Britain, 141108 at the Colne Valley Railway and 141113 at the Midland Railway at Butterley.