47500 Ascott-under-Wychwood 2 November 1986

Ascott-under-Wychwood's last remaining semaphore signal for down trains was situated on a high embankment to the west of the village, but a gap in the lineside vegetation allowed a close up picture of a train approaching to be taken from the neighbouring field. This did however require split second timing to get it right! 47500 Great Western heads westwards on 2 November 1986 with the 1B16 09:40 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill Network SouthEast service (note the branding on the blue & grey Mk1 coach). Unusually for the period, this train was running 50 minutes late, presumably due to Sunday engineering works in the London area, or perhaps a future First Great Western employee was getting in some early practice for use two decades later!