Engineers from train operator Northern have brought a redundant Pacer train that had been donated to a school in Northumberland ‘back to life’ for the school’s pupils.

After Northern took the train out of service, in 2020, the rolling stock company Porterbrook donated it to The Dales School in Blyth, a school for children with additional needs.

Northern withdrew its last Pacer train in November 2020.

After arranging for the train to be lifted onto a short section of track donated by Network Rail, experienced engineers and apprentices from Northern’s Heaton TrainCare Centre volunteered to work over weekends and school holidays to make it suitable for use by the schoolchildren.

Leaks in the train’s roof were fixed, a walkway over the track was installed, and a power supply to the train was provided.

The volunteers also brought the wipers, headlights, signal buzzer, and fan, in the driver’s cab back into operation so the children can operate them by pressing buttons that light up.

A monitor was installed in the cab at the opposite end of the train so that children could play Train Sim World 4, and the train’s public address system was repaired to enable the pupils to make announcements and will allow therapists to use it as a valuable resource to develop the children’s speech and language skills. The train will also be used to teach the children about rail safety, the hazards of trespassing, and a future career on the railway.

The project was featured in George Clark’s Channel 4 show Amazing Spaces in 2023, and last year it received a ‘Love Northumberland’ award.

“As most of the components needed for the unit are now obsolete, the team provided materials, expertise and extra resources, while producing the relevant risk assessment to make it easy for the school to manage. It has also given the apprentices an opportunity to work on the legacy fleet which has served the North East so well over the years, allowing them to develop their skills on a different electrical and mechanical system. Our next visit is scheduled to be in late July, when we will be fitting the guttering to the train roof to reduce the risk of water entering the windows.”

Garry Roseby, manager of Heaton TrainCare Centre, who is extremely proud” of the engineers who gave up their time to create an interactive driving cab for the children.