They've been rattling their way up and down the tracks for far too long.
Now it seems the much-maligned Pacer train, a strange rail hybrid made from the body of a bus, has reached the end of the line.
...or have they?
In an announcement greeted with universal hilarity, the Department of Transport this week said a competition would be launched in the summer for ideas on what the old bone-rattlers could be used for once out of service.
According to the government, they could be turned into 'new village halls', alongside other somewhat bizarre suggestions.
The idea was quickly dismissed by Greater Manchester MPs, one of whom fumed 'if this is the Northern Powerhouse, they can keep it'.
Our story sparked a storm of reaction - and much mirth.
So we scrawled through our many hundreds of social media comments to bring you the best of our readers' ideas for the future of the Pacer.
"Could they not be used as the new Houses of Parliament whilst the refurbishment is ongoing?" suggested Chris Parkinson on Facebook. A common suggestion.
Tony Morley went a step further.
"Park them in London and convert them into overnight accommodation for MPs."
Michael Smith suggested: "They can be used as overnight accommodation when the trains fail to run."
Si Jarvis meanwhile had a novel idea. And he wasn't the only one. Turn them into homes.
'Offgrid living," he suggested on Facebook.
"Get a water source from a 250-litre tank and I'm sure you can probably get an approval for electricity, pad it out and thermal it out and you've got a fair sized one floor house. If people can manage it on a bus them I'm sure you can easily do it on a train."
Simon Baker had a simpler idea.
"This is laughable," he wrote on Facebook. "The only places for Pacers are museums at best, scrap yards at worst."
Over on Twitter - another idea caught our eye.
The carriages could be used in oceans to support sealife - although we're not sure it would work in the Manchester Shop Canal or the Irwell.
Quoting a CNN story from the US, one poster suggested the old Pacers could be used as more than 2,500 outdated New York subway cars have been, to created an underwater reef for crustaceans and fish.
According to the report the project, run by New York's Metropolitan transit authority, ended in 2010, but carriages sit on the Atlantic ocean bed from Delaware to South Carolina, providing surfaces for invertebrates to live on and creating food sources to sustain live.
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Andrew Humphrey, meanwhile, didn't hold back his loathing.
He said: "If they converted them to public toilets, I'd still find a bush."
And Jack Brown added: "I'm sure they will re-convert them back into buses and run them for another 30 years!"
"A micropub at every station!" said another poster on Twitter
Carl said: "You'd get more engagement by melting the lot down into commemorative coins you can use in a shopping trolley..."
In amongst the humour however were serious posts and suggestions.
Many said the Pacers could be converted to be used in some capacity for the homeless: as hubs, shelters or small cafes.
There were also others who like Pacers, with more than one poster suggesting they are the best trains for getting bikes on and off.
And what about a new Northern Quarter bar?
The Pacer model was based on the Leyland bus body, running on four wheels instead of the usual eight used for a railway carriage. They were only ever intended as a short-term stop gap solution.
Northern Rail said it was embarking on a major programme of investment, introducing the first of 101 new trains - worth £500m - from this summer, in the start of its plans to replace Pacers.
Department for Transport is investing £13 billion through to 2020 to transform transport across the region and is focused on supercharging transport connections for years through our support for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Between 2019 and 2024, the government will also invest around £3 billion further in upgrading the Transpennine route between Manchester, Leeds and York to deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys with more seats.
