23 Pacers in storage, at this Yorkshire heritage railway

Some of the last of Northern's Pacers are currently being stored on a heritage railway line while they await a decision on their future.

Although the 23 remaining Class 144s are still in operational service, they have become surplus to requirements as Northern are running a skeleton timetable during the lockdown period.

Northern are paying a storage fee to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, who will keep the units on their preserved track near Keighley Station until they can return to mainline service.

The buffer-to-buffer collection assembled at Keighley represents all of the Class 144 Pacers ever manufactured, as the majority of the Pacers leased by Northern are Class 142s. They have been running since 1987.

The agreement was reached as there is no space on the main rail network to store redundant stock while so many trains are not in use.

The diesel units are due to be retired in August when the phased withdrawal of the Pacers ends.

Some railway experts speculated that the stabled Pacers may not ever return to service if lockdown restrictions are extended past their retirement date.

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway have had to suspend services and postpone their summer season, and have expressed concern that the volunteer-run heritage line could cease operations in 2021 unless they receive government help.

The KWVR had already incurred a large repair bill after their engine shed in Haworth was flooded during Storm Ciara in February, damaging several diesel locomotives.

The cancellation of the Haworth 1940s Weekend, which brings large numbers of passengers travelling to the festival by steam train, is also a major financial blow.

The units' arrival is a fitting swansong, as they were originally produced specifically to work on local lines in West Yorkshire. They called regularly at Keighley Station until the Airedale Line was electrified in the 1990s.