A stranger on the Cotswold Line. Laira allocated P461 (51318, 59470, & 51303) rounds the curve on the approach to Shipton station on 18 September 1982 with the 15:53 Worcester Foregate Street to Oxford service, despite it saying Didcot on the destination blind! Class 118s were infrequent visitors to the Cotswold Line, with services normally being worked by the outwardly similar Pressed Steel Class 117s or the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Class 119s. Ascott-under-Wychwood's signal 200 is effectively the distant signal for Bruern Crossing.

Making a change from the usual Reading allocated Class 117s, Plymouth allocated Class 118 P461 (51303, 59470 & 51318) heads south down the Cotswold Line at Dorn on 15 July 1984 with the 2A81 15:55 Worcester Foregate Street to Oxford service. Moreton-in-Marsh's up distant signal can be seen in the background.

P461 (51318, 59470, & 51303) is a long way from its Laira base as it passes Stoke Orchard on 21 July 1984 with the 16:25 Gloucester to Worcester Shrub Hill service. P461 was reduced to a two car set in 1987 and then withdrawn the following year. The two power cars were cut up at Vic Berry's at Leicester, while the centre car although withdrawn earlier managed to survive until 1991, when it was disposed of at Mayer Parry, Snailwell.

Hybrid Class 118/119 set L579 (51319, 59424 & 51065) approaches Oxford on 23 August 1985 with the 2A25 06:50 Cardiff Central to Reading (via Worcester!) service. The leading vehicle (51319) was originally part of set P462. That was disbanded a month before this picture was taken, and the vehicle found itself deputising for Class 119 DMS 51093, which had been withdrawn. The new set number has clearly recently been applied over a patch of fresh yellow paint. With the disbanding of P462, the DMBS (51304) was scrapped, but the centre trailer (59477) saw further use in set P472, until it too was withdrawn in 1988. 51319 lasted until 1992, managed to become one of the few Class 118 vehicles to carry Network SouthEast livery.

L579 (51319, 59424 & 51065) & L418 (51355, 59507 & 51397) arrive at Sharpness on a very dull 26 October 1985 with the Monmouthshire Railway Society 08:10 Cardiff Central to Portishead 'Sharpness Shunter' railtour. Whilst the rear unit is a complete Class 117 set, the leading Class 119 set has had the front vehicle replaced by a Class 118 DMS vehicle. The original coach (51093) was scrapped earlier in the year. The Class 118 vehicle (51319) comes from the disbanded set P462, the other driving car of which had also been scrapped earlier in the year.

The railtour participants eagerly wander along the side of the track at Sharpness on 26 October 1985, having just disembarked from the Monmouthshire Railway Society 08:10 Cardiff Central to Portishead 'Sharpness Shunter' railtour. The tour was formed from Class 118/119 hybrid set L579 (51319, 59424 & 51065) & Class 117 L418 (51355, 59507 & 51397).

Branch line railtours, 1980s style! Very little health & safety concerns here, as the passengers from the Monmouthshire Railway Society 08:10 Cardiff Central to Portishead 'Sharpness Shunter' railtour have climbed down onto the track and wandered freely all over the trackwork at Sharpness on 26 October 1985. They are seen here heading back to the train, with one or two grabbing one last photo. The train comprises Class 118/119 hybrid set L579 (51319, 59424 & 51065) & Class 117 L418 (51355, 59507 & 51397). 51319 is nearest the camera.

Class 118s were not particularly common in the Oxford area, but on 25 September 1987 Bristol allocated set B464 (51321, 59473 & 51306) was used on the 08:10 Oxford to Reading service. It is pictured arriving at Oxford's platform one after making the short smoky trip from the up carriage sidings (visible in the background on the right). This train would run non-stop to Didcot, from where it would become an all stations service to Reading.

B465 (51307, 59474 & 51322) approaches Collins Lane level crossing, near Purton on 4 August 1980 with the 13:37 Cheltenham to Swindon service. A brief burst of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day was a welcome bonus. A short while later I pictured the same unit returning to Cheltenham from the bridge in the background.

One of the very few pictures that I have of a Western Region DMU in the rather drab all over blue livery that was applied during the late 1960s and early 1970s, after the green livery that the units were delivered in and before the ubiquitous blue and grey livery. B465 (51322, 59474 & 51307) approaches Purton on 4 August 1980 with the 15:00 Swindon to Cheltenham service. Collins Lane level crossing can be seen in the distance in a view that has changed considerably in subsequent years. The steam age telegraph poles have long gone and the inevitable growth of lineside trees and bushes has completely transformed this view.

C465 (51307, 59474 & 51322) rounds the curve at Duffryn on 15 August 1987 with the 2B27 09:30 Cardiff Central to Hereford service. Like many Cardiff units at this time, it has a Welsh dragon and red V lines on the front (slightly compromised by the recent addition of a headlight), and bilingual Valley Train (and on this side) Trên y Cwm wording.

C465 (51322, 59474 & 51307) leaves Oxford on 4 September 1987 with the 07:35 Oxford to Reading 'all stations' Network SouthEast service. The Valley Train branding and Welsh red dragon logo are hardly appropriate for a NSE train, and indeed Cardiff allocated Class 118s were distinctly thin on the ground in the Oxford area. Not even the destination blind is correct, showing Hereford and Llandaff. Presumably as the correct destination wasn't available, somebody just left it set between two inappropriate places!

C465 (51322, 59474 & 51307) moves off from Kingham station on 8 September 1987 with the 2A56 16:50 Hereford to Oxford service. Not only is the 'Valley Train' branding on the side, and the Welsh Dragon on the front completely inappropriate for the Cotswolds, but the destination is one of the oddest I have seen on the line. Neither Porth nor Radyr are ever likely to be a destination from Kingham, both being in the valleys to the west of Cardiff.

Running 20 minutes late, L468 (51325, 59471 & 51310) passes Oxford North Junction on 12 February 1985 with the 2B60 09:23 Oxford to Hereford service. The Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Class 118s were not particularly common in the Oxford area, as most local services were operated by the visually similar Pressed Steel Class 117s. Also noteworthy is that this unit seems to be temporarily allocated to the area, and is sporting a L prefix, denoting Reading depot (for London). This must have only been a short term allocation, as almost every other picture I have seen of this unit has one of the other prefixes: B (Bristol), C (Cardiff) or P (Plymouth). A very well travelled unit!

P468 (51325 & 51310) passes Gunstone Mill (near Crediton) on 22 April 1988 with the 12:45 Exmouth to Barnstaple service. The unit's centre trailer (59471) had been withdrawn the previous month, and immediately cut up at Vic Berry's, Leicester. P468 would survive as a two car unit for just over another year.

B469 (51326, 59479 & 51311) passes Ponthir on 4 September 1986 with the 16:55 Newport to Hereford service. Presumably this set had previously worked the 15:10 Cardiff to Chepstow and 16:05 Chepstow to Newport, which would explain why the destination blind still reads Chepstow! This is one of a number of Class 118 sets of which I only have a single picture, and there certainly wouldn't have been much opportunity to get any further pictures, as the set was disbanded a few months later. The two powered vehicles were withdrawn and moved to Vic Berry's yard at Leicester for cutting up, but the centre car managed to stay in traffic for a further year before finally succumbing to the cutter's torch at Mayer Newman's at Snailwell.

C470 (51328 & 51313) pass Portskewett (between Newport and Chepstow) with the 10:54 Newport to Chepstow service on 4 September 1986. C470 had slightly less than a year left in traffic, and had already lost its centre car (59478) when this picture was taken. Both the vehicles seen here ended their days at Mayer Newman, Snailwell in 1988. At this time various Welsh allocated units were enlivened with the Welsh Dragon on the yellow front end, along with a thin red line recalling the original 'speed whiskers' of the 1960s.

B471 (51314, 59481 & 51329 ) passes Little Haresfield on 24 April 1986 with the 2B24 10:45 Swindon to Gloucester service. Class 118s never seemed to be as common as either Class 117s or 119s in my area, and this is the only time that I saw this particular unit.

B472 (51315, 59482, & 51330) emerges from Sapperton Tunnel on 28 June 1980 with the 17:22 Swindon to Cheltenham service. This unit is of course working down the gradient, but the sight of this tunnel portal was probably not welcome by the crews of steam hauled trains toiling up the bank. Although the gradient eases from a fearsome 1 in 60 to 1 in 90 near the entrance, any slight water ingress in the tunnel was certainly going to make life more difficult for up trains!

B472 (51330, 59482 & 51315) passes Badsey on 31 December 1983 with the 2B18 11:00 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill service. Littleton & Badsey station used to be situated near the level crossing in the background, with the goods yard occupying the area covered by the scrapyard. The station closed in 1966, after being listed in Beeching's infamous 1963 report, and then immoratalised by Flanders and Swann in their song 'Slow Train'. In 1983 there was clearly a well tended allotment between the road and the railway. Three decades later the area has become a tangled mass of brambles and other bushes.

B472 (51330, 59482 & 51315) has just passed through Shipton station on 5 May 1984, as it works the 2C72 09:07 Didcot to Hereford service. A miserable day, but it does allow a picture to be taken from the north side of the line. It is also one of the few pictures I have of a Class 118 on the Cotswold Line.

B472 (51315, 59482, & 51330) passes Hinksey Yard on 4 July 1985 with the 09:53 Oxford to Reading service. 47202 waits in the up loop, prior to crossing into the yard with the 6V19 06:05 Bescot to Didcot Speedlink.

B472 (51315, 59482, & 51330) arrives at Moreton-in-Marsh station on 2 July 1986 with the 2A56 16:46 Hereford to Oxford service. This was running half an hour late, and was consequently holding up 50025 Invincible, which had been waiting just behind me for ten minutes with the 1B46 17:00 Paddington to Hereford. At least the redoubling of the line a couple of decades later would not allow this to happen nowadays.

Making a change from the more usual Class 117 or 119 units on the route, B472 (51315, 59482, & 51330) passes Oxford North Junction on 13 May 1987 with the 2A85 08:08 Hereford to Oxford service. Although I have fewer pictures of Class 118 units than the other Western Region allocated classes, this particular unit was the one that seemed to appear all the time, and was a more common visitor to the Cotswold Line than its classmates.

B473 (51331, 59483 & 51316) stands at Kingham station on 23 April 1983 with the 2B08 06:06 Reading to Worcester Foregate Street service. This is one of the very few pictures I have of Western Region DMUs in the all over blue livery. The more numerous Pressed Steel 117s had all received either the mostly white, or later blue & grey livery by the time I started taking photos, but the 118s did seem to hang on to their blue livery for a lot longer.

B473 (51316, 59483, & 51331) approaches Standish Junction on 7 July 1984 with the 08:48 Swindon to Worcester Foregate Street service. The Swindon lines (left) and the Bristol lines (right) are at the same level at this point being just a few yards from the actual junction, but as the lines curve round to the left in the distance the difference in level becomes marked, until the Swindon line peels off to the left towards Stonehouse at a considerably higher level.

B473 (51331, 59483 & 51316) has just a few yards left to travel, as it nears journey's end at Gloucester on 6 July 1985 with the 2B16 07:32 Warminster to Gloucester service. This had travelled via the 'Golden Valley' line, after a reversal at Swindon. The grassy bank behind the unit used to give a grandstand view of trains entering and leaving the station. A new road and plenty of trees have put an end to that!

B473 (51316, 59483, & 51331) accelerates away from Kingham station on 20 May 1987 with the 17:30 Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh all stations local service. Never as common on the Cotswold Line as the Class 117 and 119 units, B473 was however a more frequent visitor than most, by virtue of its Bristol allocation. B473 was withdrawn in July 1993, and was scrapped almost immediately at M C Metal Processing, Glasgow.

The Pressed Steel Class 117s were much more common on the Cotswold Line than the very similar Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Class 118s. However, on 6 August 1987 the first down train of the day was worked by a 118. C480 (51312, 59479 & 51327) passes Daylesford with the 2B50 07:00 Oxford to Hereford Network SouthEast service.

B480 (51312, 59479 & 51327) passes Quedgeley on 6 May 1988 with the 2B09 06:36 Swindon to Worcester Shrub Hill service. The highest numbered of the Western Region's 15 Class 118 sets (B460 - B473 & B480), B480 entered service in June 1960, and would not quite make 30 years in service, being withdrawn in October 1989, although it had been reduced to a two car unit for its last tear in traffic. It had also spent a lot of time in the early 1980s operating without its centre car. Note the over optimistic Birmingham destination blind!