unit – and Voith T211r two-stage hydrokinetic transmission, starting with a torque converter which switches to fluid coupling drive once the unit is up to . All units were fitted with new Voith transmission by late 1991 and Cummins engines were fitted between 1993 and 1996 to improve reliability. This change has proven to have been largely successful, although isolated failures have occurred, such as when a Northern Rail unit derailed en route from Blackpool to Liverpool in June 2009 due to a cardan shaft failure. Operations British Rail Provincial/Regional Railways From new, some units were painted according to the region they operated in. For example, the first 14 Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive sponsored units (142001-014) received GMPTE orange and brown, then the next 13 West Country based units (142015-027) were painted in a Great Western Railway inspired chocolate and cream livery and marketed as 'Skippers'. Canada Unit 142049 was sent to Vancouver, Canada for Expo 86. The unit retained its Regional Railways livery and ran three trips a day all summer from Abbotsford to New Westminster. In order to operate on Canadian rails, it was equipped with radio and ditch lights, and given the designation RB100 for radio identification. Post privatisation Northern England Upon the privatisation of British Rail, the Class 142 fleet was divided between North Western Trains in the North West and Northern Spirit in the North East. Northern Spirit began operations in 1997 and continued until 2000. At this point, parent company MTL ran into difficulties and the company was sold to Arriva, who renamed it Arriva Trains Northern in 2001. In 1998, ATN swapped seven Class 142s (142085-142091) for seven Class 150/2 units from Valley Lines. In October–December 2002, these were swapped for non-refurbished units 142072-77 and 080–3, as 142086-091 had only recently been refurbished by Northern Spirit and Valley Lines wished to start their refurbishment from scratch. In 2004, First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern were merged into the Northern rail franchise, which inherited a combined fleet of 79 Class 142s. All 79 Class 142s were painted into the Northern Rail livery. Due to rising passenger numbers in the north of England (by about 10% per annum and even by over 25% per annum at some stations where the 142s were in operation), some units had been replaced by Sprinter trains. Five Class 142 Pacers, in service with First Great Western, were