Barnsley doesn’t have the fondest memories of the 1980s – the Miner’s Strike, a decade of Thatcherism, mass unemployment and the impact this had on our local communities. It looked as though another relic of the 1980s – Northern Rail’s pacer trains – would also be consigned to the dustbin of history to the relief of Barnsley commuters, myself included. These trains, which are essentially old-fashioned buses on rails travelling at average speeds of 35mph, should have been put in a transport museum years ago. Instead, for those of us who regularly travel by train between Barnsley, Sheffield and Leeds, they are a regular feature on our railways. The recent admission by Northern Rail that pacers would continue to be used well into 2020 is simply not good enough. Barnsley’s commuters are sick and tired of being treated like second-class citizens.