The early morning mist is still a little reluctant to clear in the background on 12 July 1994, as 166212 passes Wolvercote Junction with the 1F25 07:40 Banbury to Paddington Network SouthEast service. The Cotswold Line can just be seen diverging to the left under the bridge in the background. I haven't taken many pictures from this location, as it is definitely not a very pleasant spot to stand for any length of time, being on the very busy Oxford ring road.

166212 approaches Wolvercote Junction on 8 August 1994 with the 1F68 17:50 Paddington to Banbury Network SouthEast service. Before it became totally overgrown, this used to be one of my favourite Oxford area photographic spots, and although it is taken from the extremely busy A40 road bridge, a wide pavement (and now barriers) keep you away from the traffic. The bridge in the background is entirely different, and is a very precarious place to stand for any length of time. However, just a couple of weeks earlier, I did photograph this same unit from that bridge, travelling in the opposite direction with an early morning train.

Probably the most dramatic lighting that I have encountered whilst taking railway photos. 166212 passes Culham on 15 May 1997 with the 05:30 Paddington to Oxford Thames Trains service. This superb lighting naturally didn't last very long. A little more than ten minutes, and then the black clouds in the background extinguished the sun.

166212 speeds through Claverdon station on 24 May 1997 with the 09:07 Paddington to Stratford-upon-Avon Thames Trains service. Interestingly, this is one of the few occasions that I have seen a Class 166 running as a two car unit. Presumably the centre coach was removed at some point for maintenance, but I don't suppose that it had anything to do with the fact that on this day the train was 35 minutes late.

On 8 June 2003 the Cotswold Line Promotion Group celebrated 150 years of the line with a special train from Oxford to Evesham. On the return journey the train was stabled in the bay platform at Moreton-in-Marsh for a while, before continuing onwards to Oxford. The special is pictured arriving at Kingham station with appropriate headboard. Thames Trains had provided 166212 for the trip, which tied in with various CLPG events at the line's stations.

166212 passes Cornbury Park on 9 November 2008 with the 1P44 11:06 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. The train is accelerating away from Charlbury station, which is just around the corner behind the bushes. Charlbury church can be seen on the extreme right.

Railway photographers are always complaining that lineside photographic locations are disappearing under the onslaught of unchecked vegetation, with once favourite spots vanishing completely. Well, here is the reverse situation. 166212 passes Shorthampton with the 1P37 08:52 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service on 10 September 2009. Ever since I started taking pictures in the late 1970s, this location has been completely useless, with the line barely visible in a tunnel of trees. This mega clearance is in readiness for the reinstatement of double track between Ascott-under-Wychwood and Charlbury.

A superb show of autumn colours at Daylesford on 1 November 2010. 166212 speeds by with the 1P47 12:06 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service. I find it very hard to find a lineside location that includes a reasonable display of foliage in an autumn photograph without the trees shading the line, and there are certainly very few local locations that are as good as this. The brilliant orange of the trees on the left (growing next to the River Evenlode) is especially striking.

166212 is about to pass under Grintleyhill Bridge, Combe on 11 August 2011, whilst working the 1W41 14:21 Paddington to Charlbury First Great Western service. This train, which would normally carry on to Worcester, terminated early due to final preparations for opening of the new double track section of the Cotswold Line.

166212 speeds past Shorthampton on 1 October 2011 with the 1P43 10:58 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. This view is taken from a farm occupation bridge, that prior to clearance work in connection with the reinstatement of double track was completely inaccessible due an impenetrable mass of brambles and dense bushes. I was surprised to find that the view had already become blocked again by a rapidly growing tree, and I had to do some severe 'gardening' in order to be able to take this picture. I predict that this location will soon become impossible once more, as even if the tree can be kept pruned, just look at what's growing all along the side of the cutting!

166212 passes Shorthampton on 6 October 2012 with the 1P40 09:51 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. This is one of those unusual locations that has actually got better from a photographic point of view, although it is now already reverting to its former overgrown state. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s it was virtually impossible to take anything other than a head on shot here, but the reinstatement of double track saw a massive blitz on the lineside vegetation. Unfortunately, as gardeners know, pruning encourages growth. Compare this scene with a picture of the same unit passing the spot three years before.

166212 speeds past Kennington on 6 June 2013 with the 1D57 17:36 Paddington to Banbury First Great Western service. Not the most photogenic of locations, but one of the few on this stretch of line that isn't spoiled by lineside bushes.

My last visit to Lower Basildon. Imminent signs of electfrication, as 166212 runs along the down relief line on 30 March 2015 with the 1N34 11:57 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. At least I arrived just in time, before the masts were erected on the west side of the line!

166212 passes Souldern Wharf on 21 April 2015 with the 2L47 15:08 Banbury to Oxford First Great Western service. Souldern Wharf is at the end of a no through road from the village of Souldern, and as its name implies, originally served a small wharf on the Oxford Canal.

166212 passes Hinksey Yard on 20 January 2016 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington service. The low winter sunshine actually makes GWR's dark green livery look half decent. Most other lighting conditions either make it just look drab, or in some cases nearly black! The train is passing the partially frozen lake, which was created by the original Great Western Railway, during construction of the line to Oxford.

166212 passes Stanley Downton on 2 January 2019 with the 2F97 08:50 Great Malvern to Bradford-on-Avon GWR service. The steam from the nearby Müller dairy rises up in the background. The Met Office had predicted a sunny day, and although it was cloudy when I left home, travelling 40 miles to the west ensured I was standing in the sun. However, it didn't last, and by mid morning, the ideal photographic conditions seen here had vanished.

Running over an hour late, 166212 approaches Standish Junction on 1 June 2021 with the 2V68 13:11 Weymouth to Gloucester GWR service. It is holding up 60062 Stainless Pioneer, which had just come to a stop at the signal protecting the junction.

Running over an hour late because of the late running of the earlier 2V68 13:11 Weymouth to Gloucester service, 166212 passes Haresfield on 1 June 2021 with the 2O82 16:41 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. Because of this serious late running, the train was terminated at Yeovil Pen Mill.

166212 is still accelerating away from its stop at Cheltenham, as it passes Brockhampton on 13 September 2022 with the 2E53 07:30 Warminster to Great Malvern GWR service. This is the view from Burdett Farm Crossing, looking south towards the Brockhampton Lane level crossing, and the distant Cotswold Hills.

166212 passes Standish Junction on 24 January 2023 with the 2F14 10:41 Great Malvern to Warminster GWR service. This had actually started from Worcester Foregate Street, due to the late running of its earlier train - the 2E53 07:30 from Warminster.

Running cautiously over newly laid track, 166212 approaches Cheltenham on 23 June 2023 with the 2E55 09:38 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. Not one single house is visible in this view, even though the location is only a short distance from Cheltenham's town centre.

166212 leaves Cheltenham is a brief burst of sunshine on 23 June 2023. It is working the 2T44 11:49 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. Cheltenham station is just beyond the bride in the background.

Great Western on the West Coast Mainline. 166212 passes Barby Nortoft on 14 October 2023 with the 5Q23 11:08 Bristol St Philips Marsh to Doncaster Works Wagon Shops ECS. The unit was going to Wabtec Rail for a C4 exam.

Great Western on the Midland Mainline. 166212 passes Cossington on 14 October 2023 with the 5Q23 11:08 Bristol St Philips Marsh to Doncaster Works Wagon Shops ECS. I should have had plenty of time to get here for this, but unfortunately the M1 was closed due to an accident, so I had to deviate via Market Harborough. Consequently I arrived with just one minute to spare!

166213 arrives at Kingham station on 17 July 1994 with the 1B36 15:33 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill service. This view clearly shows the double road bridge, with the left hand span now disused. It formerly spanned the tracks serving the Banbury to Cheltenham route (closed in 1962).

Soft evening light at Cholsey on 22 July 1994, as 166213 accelerates away from Cholsey station with the 1F76 18:38 Paddington to Oxford Network SouthEast service. This was a Friday, and therefore the Oxford passengers would be in for a longer journey, as on a Friday the train spent an extra five minutes at Didcot Parkway station, resulting in an arrival at Oxford at 20:05, instead of 19:59 during the rest of the week! The Manor Farm bridge seen here was a popular photographic location for generations of railway enthusiasts. That all came to and end in 2015 with the installation of huge parapet extensions, and the onward march of the Great Western Mainline electfrication programme.

166213 accelerates away from Tackley on 20 July 2002 with the 09:36 Paddington to Banbury Thames Trains service. The carriage washing plant hasn't really dealt with the cab roof, made all the more obvious by the slightly impractical white livery. However, nearby operator Chiltern Railways seem to have the problem sorted!

Miserable weather at Lower Basildon on 5 February 2005, as 166213 heads towards the capital with the 08:24 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western Link service, while 165104 heads into the mist with the 08:03 Paddington to Banbury train. Both these trains are (with a few omissions) all stations services.

166213 in the new First Great Western livery is pictured just west of Kintbury with the 15:18 Paddington to Bedwyn service on 2 April 2007. In the background the bridge over the River Kennett can just be seen. Despite the remote looking location, no effort was required to get this picture, as I was sitting on the bonnet of the car!

166213 rounds the curve near Aldermaston on 23 November 2007 with the 08:40 Bedwyn to Paddington First Great Western service. The houses in the background parallel the A4 road, whilst those directly above the train are situated down a cul-de-sac appropriately named 'Railside'.

166213 rounds the curve near Aldermaston on 23 November 2007 with the 10:18 Paddington to Bedwyn First Great Western service. This location is photographically ideal, with clear views free of vegetation in each direction. Unfortunately it is on a very narrow and busy road, which makes dashing from one side of the road to the other a risky business!

166213 nears journey's end on 9 February 2008, as it passes Little Bedwyn with the 09:18 Paddington to Bedwyn First Great Western service. Turbo units only travel as far as Bedwyn along the Berks & Hants Line, with HSTs operating all long distance services further west.

In the very last of the light on a winter afternoon, 166213 passes Hinksey Yard on 30 December 2008 with the 1P51 14:31 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. I would say that the train is being watched over by the gull on the yard light on the left, and the rook in the tree on the right, but they both seem to be looking the other way!

166213 & 166201 pass Hinksey Yard on 9 January 2010 with the 12:22 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. Even without any other means of identification, the unusual roof vents on the rear set immediately identifies it as 166201.

There was a light fall of snow during the night on 1 February 2010, and although it had mainly melted by mid-morning in areas that weren't shaded, there was still a noticeable covering in the field near Shorthampton, on the Cotswold Line. 166213 is pictured heading down the Evenlode Valley with the 1P40 09:54 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. It was the local roads that seemed to have the most snow and ice, with the road leading down to Shorthampton and Chadlington being particularly bad. I had managed to turn the corner onto the road with no trouble, but when I looked in the mirror, I noticed that the Land Rover that was following me was sliding sideways across the road - so much for four wheel drive!

166213 passes Shorthampton on 8 March 2010 with the 1P40 09:54 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. This recently cleared location will soon be receiving a reinstated second track (it was singled in 1971), and so the opportunity was taken on this brilliant sunny morning to record the location before the new track is laid and the trees grow again!

166213 accelerates past Moreton-in-Marsh's up advanced starter signal on 23 June 2010, as it heads south with the 08:58 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. This picture is taken from a diverted public footpath, which originally used to cross the line at this point (note the old warning sign post). On the extreme left the very rarely used down refuge siding can be seen being slowly overtaken by the lineside vegetation.

A solitary bicycle indicates that at least one passenger has used Finstock station on 23 March 2012. However, this is not the single up train that is booked to call, so 166213 is pictured speeding straight through past the willow blossom with the 1P43 11:51 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service.

The buds on the young ash tree in the foreground are about to open, in this early spring scene at Dorn on 26 March 2012. 166213 is getting under way from Moreton-in-Marsh station (just out of sight around the corner) with the late running 1W41 14:21 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street First Great Western service.

A car that has been waiting at Ascott-under-Wychwood level crossing now crosses the line, after the barrier lifts following the passage of 166213 on 15 April 2014, as it works the 1P37 09:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service.

166213 passes Ruscombe on 1 May 2013 with the 1K41 08:41 Bedwyn to Paddington First Great Western service. Crisp spring sunshine, and a location recently cleared of trees, makes this a must do location, before the wires and massive overhead catenary supports completely ruin the view forever.

Golden evening light at Wolvercote on Sunday 9 June 2013. 166213 passes the works to reinstate the down relief line, as it slows on the approach to Wolvercote Junction, where it will take the Cotswold Line with the 1W59 18:42 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service.

166213 approaches Charlbury on a very gloomy 2 December 2015 with the 1P43 11:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington service. Although the franchise is now branded as GWR, this unit still carries the former First Great Western colour scheme.

166213 passes Chilson on 9 August 2016 with the 2Z26 08:02 Worcester Shrub Hill to Oxford GWR service. Cotswold Line services were being operated by DMUs, terminating at Oxford, due to extensive engineering works taking place at Hinksey. This was in order to install a new culvert, replace bridge decking, and raise the track by 650mm.

Cotswold greenery! 166213 passes Shorthampton on 10 August 2016 with the 2Z39 11:21 Oxford to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. All Cotswold Line trains were starting from, or terminating at Oxford, due to major engineering work to alleviate flooding problems at Hinksey.

166213 passes Hinksey Yard on 30 March 2017 with the 1P49 14:01 Oxford to Paddington GWR service. The green footbridge in the background replaced a rather flimsy and life expired one the previous year.

166213 leaves Moreton-in-Marsh on 12 June 2017 with the 1P39 10:22 GWR service to Paddington. This had arrived as the rear unit of the 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford. The train was then split in the station, with the front unit going on to Hereford, and this unit heading back from whence it came.

166213 heads away from the camera at Gossington on 17 December 2018 with the late running 2V88 08:53 Weymouth to Gloucester GWR service. The lorry visible in the background betrays the presence of the M5 motorway, which ensures that this location isn't as quiet and peaceful as this view might suggest!

With St Mary's Crossing signal box visible in the background, 166213 passes Chalford on 25 March 2019 with the 2B90 09:18 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. The disused Thames & Severn Canal is just by the side of the line here, and indeed is close to the line up most of the Stroud Valley.

A Class 166 meeting at Stoke Orchard on 2 June 2021. 166213 heads south with the 2O72 07:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth GWR service, just as 166219 heads in the opposite direction with the 2E50 06:06 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street train.

A dilapidated vintage wrought iron fence adds some foreground interest to this view of 166213 passing Bredon's Norton on 21 October 2021 with the 2C12 08:55 Worcester Foregate Street to Westbury GWR service. The problem here was the traffic on the adjacent road. Obviously it wasn't going to get in the way, but every time a car went by, its shadow blocked out the light in the foreground. Luckily the B4080 Bredon to Eckington road isn't very busy!

166213 passes Stoke Orchard on 4 April 2023 with the 2C12 08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. Mid March to early April is probably my favourite time of year for photography, with the first signs of spring, but still with nice low angled light.

As the sun slowly fades out into high cloud, 166213 passes Tredington on 4 April 2023 with the late running 2C28 16:43 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. The western slope of the Cotswold Hills can be seen on the right.

166213 passes Fiddington on 16 August 2023 with the 2T49 17:01 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The bridge from which this is taken is approached by a very rough track from the west, and a footpath across the fields from the east.

166213 approaches the M5 motorway bridge at Lower Wick on 9 September 2023, as it heads north with the 2V54 06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester GWR service. I could have waited half an hour for it to return with the 2C09 10:10 Gloucester to Westbury train (which was terminated at Bristol Temple Meads), but this going away shot is more shadow free. Also, I like the amusing way the train crew's orange bags mimic the orange rectangles displayed in the rear headcode boxes of Southern DEMUs!

166213 passes Gossington on 2 August 2024 with the 2V57 07:33 Weymouth to Gloucester service. Very unusually for a GWR train, this was actually running three minutes early! Late running, or cancelled would be much more likely!

166214 passes Chilson on 29 August 1993 with the 2F02 11:20 Oxford to Great Malvern Network SouthEast service. The trackside bushes are already starting to get out of control, and it wouldn't be long before this view disappeared entirely due to Railtrack, and then Network Rail's complete lack of lineside maintenance.

A location that I only visited a few times, and has now been lost to the inevitable rampant lineside vegetation growth. 166214 passes Lock Wood, near Culham, on 30 May 1998 with the 1F61 14:13 Hereford to Paddington Thames Trains service. The bridge in the background carries the line over the River Thames.

The gap in the bushes at Yarnton is just sufficient for a three car Turbo! 166214 heads north on 6 July 2006 with the 1D47 16:51 Paddington to Banbury First Great Western service. Notice the First Group branding on the obsolete (but stylish) Thames Trains livery.

A lucky picture at Goring on 12 April 2008 shows examples of both classes of 'Turbo' unit. On the left 166214 is rapidly overtaking 165114 whilst working the 08:30 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. On the right, 165114 is traversing exactly the same route, but is having a much more leisurely journey stopping at all stations. It left Oxford before 166214 at 08:21, but will arrive at Paddington exactly half an hour after the 166. Twenty years ago the local services would have been operated by Class 117 DMUs, so therefore a 'Turbo' unit is an improvement, but the Oxford to Paddington 'fasts' were operated by Class 47s or 50s and coaches, so a three car unit is definitely not an improvement!

166214 approaches Tackley on 21 May 2009 with the 2M50 15:57 Paddington to Banbury First Great Western service. As this train stops at most stations, it takes well over two hours, whereas the fastest trains on the Chiltern Line do it in less than half that!

166214 pulls out of Tackley station on 21 May 2009 with the 2P82 19:01 Banbury to Paddington First Great Western service. The clouds in the background meant that the evening's photography would soon be coming to an end!

166214 passes Shorthampton on 24 May 2012 with the 1W23 09:50 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh First Great Western service. Although cleared of vegetation a few years earlier, this location is rapidly going back to its hopelessly overgrown state.

166214 passes Hinksey Yard in superb spring light on 16 April 2013 with the 2N52 16:25 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. Unfortunately this location will become hopeless once the overhead wires go up, and presumably the replacement footbridge will not be photographer friendly either!

166214 passes South Moreton on 7 May 2013 with the 2M50 15:57 Paddington to Banbury First Great Western service. This classic location had already been partly ruined by the installation of a high sided bridge, but would shortly be totally ruined by the Great Western Mainline electfrication scheme!

Contrasting forms of transport at Heyford pictured on a gloriously sunny 13 December 2014. 166214 (running as a two car unit) arrives at the station with the 2L43 11:03 Banbury to Oxford First Great Western service, while alongside a large part of Oxford Narrowboat's fleet is moored at Heyford Wharf on the Oxford Canal. I had been meaning to take this picture for some time, but it requires a still day (for a good reflection), and a stopping train, as the gap between one lamppost and the shadow of the previous one is very tight!

The bands of early morning fog in the background give the scene at Culham on the morning of 26 September 2015 an eerie feeling. The rising sun is just starting to illuminate the chimney of Didcot Power Station, as 166214 emerges from the mist with the 1W11 06:21 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service.

166214 speeds through Shipton on 26 September 2015 with the 1P40 09:51 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. Shipton's diminutive station can be seen amid the trees in the background. In steam days this was known as Shipton for Burford. The town of Burford, four miles distant, never having been railway connected.

166214 arrives at Charlbury station on Saturday 31 October 2015 with the 1P47 12:06 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington GWR service. The background is dominated by the disabled friendly footbridge that was installed when the down platform was reinstated in 2011. The station announcement for this train was of limited use. Not only did it repeat that 'the next to arrive at platform two is the 12:06 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington', even as the unit was leaving the station, but it also insisted that it was formed of five carriages. This would be true on a weekday, when this train is a Class 180, but not at the weekend!

With the tower of St Laurence's Church, Combe visible in the distance, 166214 heads south along the Cotswold Line on 2 March 2016 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. As can be guessed by the tree stumps dotting the embankment, this location has recently been cleared of vegetation, creating a completely open view, something I have not known at this spot in all the time I have been taking pictures.

166214 runs alongside Churchill Heath Wood (near Kingham) on 21 April 2016 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. Unusually, the Met Office had actually been rather pessimistic with their forecast, predicting virtually 100% cloud all day. Instead, there were lengthy sunny periods during the afternoon.

GWR green liveried 166214 & blue liveried 165134 pass Brimpton on 14 May 2016 with the 5Z31 11:37 Newbury Racecourse to Reading ECS. This was the first of three empty stock workings returning from the racecourse after working additional services from Reading. The special occasion was the Al Shaqab Lockinge Day racing festival.

166214 speeds past Clayfield Road level crossing, Bretforton, with the 1P37 09:20 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service on 2 October 2016. There are no really early morning trains on the Cotswold Line on a Sunday, and while on a weekday there would have been six up trains by 10:00, this is the first Sunday train. I deliberately chose a wide view here, in order to include not only the former crossing keeper's cottage, but also the barrier, lights and other paraphernalia of a typical automatic half barrier level crossing.

166214 passes through Finstock station on 6 March 2017 with the 1P43 11:22 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service. Despite only being served by two trains a day, Finstock station has recently received upgraded LED lighting. This obviously is more efficient, but not when they are left on all day! Not easy to see from this angle, but the lights are definitely on!

166214 passes Uffington on 21 October 2017 with the 5U48 07:20 Reading Traincare Depot to Bristol High Level Siding ECS. A going away shot was required here, not only because the lighting was better, but also because the view the other way is obstructed by even more ironmongery than seen here.

166214 passes Fiddington on 19 October 2018 with the 2F97 08:50 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. This was running late, but for once it wasn't GWR's fault, as the two preceding CrossCountry trains were also running late, thereby preventing it passing Abbotswood Junction. Judging by the dark background, it looks like there is a substantial area of fog further north.

166214 passes Little Haresfield on 9 January 2019 with the 2G82 09:36 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The group of people on the bridge in the background are waiting for the departure of 56113 from the loop with the late running 6Z01 05:29 Derby RTC to Okehampton rail grinder move.

166214 slowly approaches Standish Junction on 11 April 2019 with the 2G82 09:36 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The wooded slopes of the Cotswold Hills can be seen in the background, and just visible amid the bushes above the rear of the train is the level crossing on the Bristol to Gloucester line.

166214 leaves Kemble station on 21 May 2019 with the 2B96 15:20 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. The lush green spring foliage, and the superb sky makes up for the drabness of GWR's dark green livery!

Running 41 minutes early, 166214 passes Coates on 21 May 2019 with the 5B97 16:24 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR ECS. As can be seen from the background, a day of sunny spells and cloud, and the slightly darker foreground indicates that the sun was right on the very edge of another cloud.

166214 emerges from the 1,401 yard long Wickwar Tunnel on 2 September 2020 with the 2O76 10:42 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. This photo is taken from a conveniently positioned combined aqueduct and footbridge.

166214 passes Standish Junction on 22 March 2022 with the 2O76 10:40 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. This photo is taken from the new handrail equipped elaborate footpath crossing, on what is a very little used footpath.

166214 passes the little metal clad farm building near Bredon's Norton on 12 April 2023, as it heads south with the 2C12 08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. The few wisps of cloud in the background would very soon change to a totally cloudy sky!

The sheep in the field takes no notice, as 166214 passes West Hewish on 14 June 2023 with the 2Y43 16:46 Avonmouth to Weston-super-Mare GWR service. This is one of those rare instances of a photographic location that has actually improved enormously in recent years.

166215 accelerates away from Cholsey on 22 July 1994, having just called at the station with the 1F68 17:50 Paddington to Banbury Network SouthEast service. 166215 was less than a year old at this time, and most photographers (myself included) were regretting their replacement of the Class 50s and 47s on this route. However, that is nothing compared with what would happen at this location two decades later, when the controversial Great Western Mainline electrification would make photographing anything at all at this location impossible!

A slightly different view of the railway near Heyford. Narrowboats are reflected in the still waters of the Oxford Canal, as 166215 accelerates away from Heyford station with the 1F25 07:40 Banbury to Paddington Network SouthEast service on 13 March 1995. Obviously this was regarded as a slightly more unusual railway photograph at the time, as it was featured as a double page centre spread in Rail magazine. Unfortunately, in the intervening years the bushes have grown considerably, and it would now be very difficult to replicate this picture.

166215 approaches Wolvercote Junction on 30 May 1996 with the 16:50 Paddington to Stratford-upon-Avon Network SouthEast service. This was my usual choice of photographic location in the Oxford area for a quick session after work. However, on this occasion as soon as this train had passed it clouded up, so I reluctantly joined the queue of traffic escaping Oxford in the rush hour, in order to go home. However, this picture is worth including for the now historic Woolworths lorry crossing the Oxford bypass bridge in the background. Who would have thought in 1996 that a little over a decade later that Woolworths would go into administration!

A brief patch of autumn sunshine at Fenny Compton on 5 October 1996, as 166215 passes the semaphore bracket signal (since removed) with the 1F47 11:55 Stratford-upon-Avon to Paddington Thames Trains service. At the time this joined up with the 1F49 11:42 from Great Malvern at Oxford, with the units working in multiple to the capital.

166215 leads an unidentified classmate past Shottesbrooke on 3 May 2003 with the 07:15 Oxford to Paddington Thames Trains service. This view is looking towards Reading, with Chalkpit and Weycock Bridges (both bridleways) visible in the far distance, with a footbridge and pipe bridge in front. 

Shortly after sunrise on 30 May 2005, 166215 heads north from Tackley with the 2L22 05:55 Oxford to Banbury First Great Western. Unsurprisingly, this is the first local train of the day on the line. What is slightly more surprising is the use of a Class 166, rather than the more customary Class 165. This is one of the very few locations on the Cherwell Valley Line that is free of shadows at this ungodly hour in the morning.

166215 shows off its striking new livery as it approaches Cholsey on 6 December 2006 with the 12:45 Oxford to Paddington service. Although not a great fan of some of the more outlandish post privatisation liveries, I think this livery suits these units quite well, certainly better than the HSTs to which it is also being applied. The white roof has been retained from the previous livery, an odd choice really considering the effect the exhausts have on it!

166215 runs along the up relief line at Ruscombe on 17 April 2008 with the 1W00 08:21 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the evidence of recent tree clearance from the cutting sides, although some of the younger trees seem to have been deliberately left in situ.

166215 passes Cassington on 1 September 2008 with the late running 1P36 09:37 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service. This has always been one of the Cotswold Line's more overgrown locations, although naturally is got worse in recent years!

166215 leaves Moreton-in-Marsh station on 28 September 2011 with the 1P35 08:26 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the recently installed lower quadrant signal on the left, which allows southbound departures from platform 1.

166215 approaches Didcot North Junction on 20 October 2011 with the 1W00 08:21 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. A long lens was require in order to clear all of the early morning shadows in the foreground.

166215 passes Churchill Heath on 11 January 2012 with the 1W29 11:20 Paddington to Great Malvern First Great Western service. Just visible in the background is the hamlet of Foxholes, situated on a minor road between Bruern and Foscot.

A foreground of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) and a background of Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) at Bruern on 25 May 2012, as 166215 travels between Moreton-in-Marsh and Kingham with the 1P37 09:51 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service.

166215 passes through South Moreton cutting on 21 July 2013 with the 2N42 13:32 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. A classic viewpoint now blighted by the unsightly masts of the Great Western Mainline electrification scheme.

First Great Western's refurbishment of its Turbo DMU fleet is altering the external appearance of these 1990s built units. Most noticeable is the replacement of the hard to keep clean white roof with a much more suitable mid grey colour. Other modifications include a simplified bodyside colour scheme minus the 'wavy line' logos and LED headlamps. Ex works 166215 partners original condition 165101 at Cholsey on 2 January 2015, as they work the 2P54 13:07 Oxford to Paddington service.

166215 leaves Moreton-in-Marsh station on 31 July 2015 with the 1P37 09:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service. The train had arrived a few minutes earlier as the 2E93 07:50 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh, and is using the crossover in order to gain the correct line, after departing from the down platform. A few years ago a new semaphore signal was installed especially for this manoeuvre. Being on a shorter post, it is virtually hidden by the unit, but its top can just be seen above the second coach. 166215 is wearing the latest version of FGW's blue colour scheme, with plain blue sides, and a much more sensible dark grey roof.

166215 calls at Heyford station on 30 September 2015 with the 2P42 09:35 Banbury to Paddington GWR service. A wide angle lens was required for this view, as the new footbridge is a lot further forwards compared with the original Great Western Railway one.

166215 passes the site of Stoulton station on 18 June 2016 with the 1W29 11:21 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill GWR service. Stoulton station closed (along with several other stations on the Cotswold Line) on 3 January 1966. The station had a single siding on the right hand side of this view, that terminated near the footpath crossing which can just be seen in the background.

166215 arrives at Kingham station on 9 July 2016 with the late running 1W45 15:21 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. This picture is taken from the new footbridge, which replaces the former Great Western Railway cast iron one, the base of which can be seen, converted into a flower bed, on platform 2.

166215 passes through Sonning cutting on 16 August 2016 with the 1D30 14:50 Paddington to Oxford GWR service. Luckily the stylish Warren Road bridge in the background will escape the fate of many others on the line, as there is plenty of headroom underneath, and therefore no need for modifications for the forthcoming electfrication.

With the impressive 18th century Manor Farm House (recently sold for £1.6 million) dominating the background, 166215 passes Evenlode on 4 December 2016 with the 1P45 11:15 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. Just 19 seconds later the 1W02 10:42 Paddington to Hereford service passed by in the opposite direction. Note the magpie in the lower left corner of the picture.

166215 passes Wolvercote on 8 April 2017 with the 1P71 16:34 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. The fresh ballast in the foreground briefly hosted the relaid down relief line, which for some obscure reason, was lifted shortly after it was laid!

166215 passes Oxford North Junction on 20 May 2017 with the 1P21 05:56 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. The train is passing over what was formerly the footpath crossing giving access to the allotments seen in the background. The allotment holders now have to go the long way round over the footbridge.

166215 brings up the rear of the 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service on 12 December 2017, as it is led by 166217 into platform 4 at Oxford station. Only the leading unit would go all the way to Hereford, with 166215 being detached at Moreton-in-Marsh, from where it would return to Paddington.

166215 passes Defford on 5 August 2018 with the 2E42 14:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill GWR service. Not ideal lighting, but although they should still retain this interim blue livery for some time, you never know when they are going to get painted into the awful GWR dark green, so every picture counts!

166215 passes Badgeworth on 21 February 2019 with the 2G82 09:36 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. With most of GWR's Turbo fleet in their uninspiring dark green livery, it makes a pleasant change to photograph one in the older and much more attractive dark blue colour scheme.

166215 passes Fiddington on 26 February 2019 with the 2M98 12:27 Southampton Central to Great Malvern GWR service. I wouldn't ordinarily take a going away picture of a DMU, but when it is one of the few remaining First Great Western blue liveried units, and in such superb light, why not!

166215 accelerates away from Stonehouse station on 25 March 2019 with the 2B92 11:20 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. This is a location that I had been meaning to visit for years, and as it is a road bridge over the line (albeit a narrow no through road), only 35 miles from where I live, its amazing that it has taken me over 40 years to do so!

166215 passes Bredon on 25 March 2020 with the 2O80 14:41 Great Malvern to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. It's always worth waiting specially to photograph one of the few remaining blue Great Western units, as they look so much better than the dark green repaints.

I never thought I would see a Class 166 working a train from South Wales along the Great Western Mainline, but the total timetable meltdown caused by the discovery of underframe cracks in the Class 800 & 802 fleets resulted in some desperate substitutions. Most trains were cancelled, but here we see 166215 passing South Marston on 12 May 2021 with the 1L07 07:26 Newport to Reading GWR service, surprisingly only running a few minutes late. The humble Class 166 has been around for nearly three decades, and apart from one or two minor issues, has been totally reliable. Perhaps the engineers who worked at BREL should explain to those at Hitachi how to make a welded aluminium train!

Viewed from the relatively new footbridge at South Marston, 166215 heads away from the camera on 12 May 2021, as it works the 1B07 09:13 Reading to Newport GWR service. This was a brave attempt to fill in for the non-available Class 800 fleet, although most other trains on the route had merely been cancelled. Because of a 26 minute late departure from Reading, this was running half an hour late.

166215 passes Standish Junction on 1 June 2021 with the 2O80 14:41 Great Malvern to Weymouth GWR service. Note the ladder on the right, giving track workers access from the Stroud line on the upper level, to the Bristol line on the lower level.

166215 heads north at Stoke Orchard on 14 June 2021 with the 2E50 06:06 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service, just as 165131 approaches with the 2O72 07:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth train. Amazingly, I had photographed this pair of trains passing at exactly the same spot, a couple of weeks earlier.

166215 takes the Swindon line at Standish Junction on 11 September 2021 with the 2B80 14:59 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. I had just arrived at the footpath crossing as this appeared around the corner. A definite bonus of one of the few surviving First Great Western blue liveried Turbo units in absolutely stunning lighting. The western slope of the Cotswold Hills can be seen on the right.

166215 passes Tumpy Green on 18 September 2021 with the 2O76 10:42 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. The dilapidated looking horsebox is a feature of this location, as it belongs to the nearby Tumpy Green Equestrian Centre.

166215 passes Natton on 4 November 2022 with the 2C12 08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. This was running four minutes late, which was enough to hold up the 1V45 07:05 Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads CrossCountry Voyager, which can just be seen in the far distance.

166215 accelerates away from Ashchurch station, and passes Claydon on 4 April 2023 with the 2O80 14:51 Worcester Foregate Street to Weymouth GWR service. Note the light aircraft parked in the field - not something you see everyday!

166215 passes Claydon on 7 April 2023 with the 2C12 08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. This is my favourite time of year for photography, with the first signs of spring (the blackthorn blossom), and the often very good clear weather.

166215's last journey in blue livery? It is pictured speeding past Uffington on 13 June 2023 with the 5Q70 15:30 Bristol St Philips Marsh Depot to Wolverton Centre Sidings ECS. After work to refresh the Class 165s draws to a close, attention now turns to the 166s. This will presumably unfortunately lead to the few remaining blue units gaining GWR's uninspiring dull green livery.

166215 approaches the public footpath crossing at Gossington on 9 September 2023 with the 2E55 08:38 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. After retaining the much more attractive First Great Western blue livery for many years, this unit has recently been given the green treatment, whilst being refurbished at Wolverton Works.

With hindsight I should have taken more pictures of the Class 165 & 166s in their attractive Thames Trains livery. I suppose with so much else going on at the time they got a little overlooked! However, this view shows the livery off to full advantage. 166216 leaves Kingham station on 8 June 2003 with the 17:12 Oxford to Great Malvern Thames Trains service.

166216 runs along the up relief line near Cholsey on 6 December 2006 with the 12:30 Didcot Parkway to Paddington First Great Western service. This is an 'all stations' service, so will shortly be calling at Cholsey station.

166216 passes Hinksey Yard on 30 December 2008 with the 1P45 13:01 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. Behind the train is the lake created in the nineteenth century as a result of digging material to build the line into Oxford.

166216 crosses the River Evenlode near Combe on 11 August 2011 with the 1P56 15:05 Charlbury to Paddington First Great Western service. With the line beyond Charlbury closed for a week to allow the completion of the double track reinstatement, the station becomes a temporary railhead, with coaches providing services to Worcester. At present there are no plans to redouble this section of track, presumably not only due to the cost, but also the problem of Finstock station, which would have to be rebuilt yet again. The small building just visible in the distance on the extreme left marks the site of North Leigh Roman Villa.

166216 slows down, as it prepares to call at Radley station on 17 December 2012 with the 2P54 13:07 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service, while in the background, the 1W32 12:21 Paddington to Great Malvern Class 180 unit is travelling at full line speed.

166216 arrives at a snow covered Oxford on 21 January 2013 with the 2N22 08:55 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. In the old days scenes like this would have lines of footprints where various railmen had walked up or alongside the line. Nowadays with strict and health and safety rules, and the lack of any staff, the snow goes largely undisturbed.

No longer do Didcot Power Station's cooling towers dominate this view of South Moreton (Didcot East), since their demolition in July 2014. 166216 heads towards the capital on 19 December 2014 with the 2P42 09:35 Banbury to Paddington First Great Western service.

Running 35 minutes early, 166216 leaves Long Marston on 31 July 2015 with the 5Z12 12:00 Long Marston to Reading Traincare Depot First Great Western ECS move, returning to service after having various modifications carried out. The Class 166s are having their air conditioning equipment upgraded at Long Marston, so presumably the whole fleet will visit here in due course. The crew had brought in 166203 for attention, which can be seen in the background. This ran as the 5Z11 09:27 Oxford Down Carriage Sidings to Long Marston, but unfortunately due to some early running, and more importantly as far as I was concerned, a closed road near Honeybourne, I did not arrive in time to see this unit travel up the branch.

166216 passes Little Haresfield on 5 June 2018 with the 2B92 11:20 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. The 166s are talking over from 150s & 158s on the route, and while the 166's more stylish design is welcome photographically, unfortunately the awful drab green livery that most of the units are in definitely isn't!

An extremely unusual location for a DMU! 166216 sits in the civil engineer's siding at Honeybourne on 23 January 2019. It was running as the 10:09 St Philips Marsh to Long Marston ECS, but on arrival at Honeybourne it was unable to precede up the branch, as 50007 was at Long Marston with the 5Z50 08:30 St Philips Marsh to Long Marston off lease HST coaches. In order for 50007 to bring the token back to Honeybourne, it was therefore reversed into this siding.

166216 calls at Cam & Dursley station on 16 July 2019 with the 2E18 08:45 Westbury to Gloucester GWR service. The 2.2MW Box Road Solar Farm now dominates the background of this view. This is the first intrusion (apart from the M5 motorway in the distance) into what was previously a totally rural location.

The clouds clear away, and the sun comes out at Gossington on 17 September 2021, just as 166216 passes by with the 2V52 04:50 Fratton to Gloucester GWR service. I wonder how many people in Fratton want to get to Gloucester at that time of the morning!

Photography on the Severn Beach line is difficult, especially at the northern end, with some quite extensive lineside vegetation. However, just south of Severn Beach station there is a gap in the undergrowth of sufficient length to photograph a three car DMU. 166216 gets underway from the station on 26 March 2022 with the 2K43 16:01 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The splash of yellow in the bottom left of the picture is a clump of daffodils managing to survive in the thick bramble patch.

166216 accelerates away from Ashchurch for Tewkesbury station (just visible in the distance) on 2 June 2022 with the 2E48 06:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Great Malvern GWR service. Although I knew beforehand that this unfortunately wasn't going to be one of the few units still in First Great Western blue livery, it was still worth the effort in order to get a picture in the fine early morning light. Only during midsummer is it possible to take a picture with the sun on the front at this location.

With Bredon Hill dominating the background, 166216 passes Fiddington on 26 January 2024 with the 2T46 13:49 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. Unfortunately there are no longer any of these units in First Great Western blue livery.

166217 & 166208 pass the recently pollarded trees at South Moreton on 30 April 1994, as they head westwards with the 1F58 16:48 Paddington to Banbury Network SouthEast service. Although once past Oxford this train would become a local service, stopping at Tackley, Heyford and Kings Sutton, it would not be calling at Didcot, instead it would bypass the town via the east curve.

New traction for the Cotswold Line - mid 1990s style! 166217 was just nine months old when I photographed it passing Chilson on 16 June 1994 with the 2F01 09:40 Worcester Shrub Hill to Reading service. The units would be used on the route for over two decades, along with their non air-conditioned cousins, the Class 165s.

In the very last rays of the setting sun, 166217 passes Culham on 11 July 1994 with the 1F84 19:20 Paddington to Hereford service. Unfortunately those little lineside bushes have got a lot bigger in the intervening years, and this location is no longer a good spot to spend a summer evening.

166217 approaches the site of Yarnton Junction with the late running 09:37 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service on 27 February 2008. At this time this was one of a handful of Turbo operated services over the Cotswold Line, the remainder being worked by HSTs, which were supplanting the troubled Class 180 units. This photo is taken from inside the V of the former junction with the Fairford Branch Line, which headed off across the fields to the left of where I am standing. The Fairford Branch closed to passengers in 1962 and freight in 1970.

The first signs of some autumn colour is showing in the trees at Aston Magna on 17 October 2008, as 166217 rounds the curve with the 09:37 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service. Strangely, Aston Magna never had the luxury of a station, despite the fact that the village is adjacent to the line. Even in the early twentieth century the GWR did not consider it worthwhile opening a halt here, despite both Moreton-in-Marsh and Blockley stations being some distance away. The latter was nearly two miles from the village of Blockley and actually nearer the small village of Paxford!

166217 leaves Didcot Parkway station on 10 December 2009 with the 2N32 11:27 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. It is passing the tanks of the Rail Head Treatment Train, which had just finished its seasonal workings.

There is an abundant crop of haws on the trackside hawthorn bushes at Dorn (near Moreton-in-Marsh) on 6 September 2010. 166217 is pictured passing by with the 1P37 08:58 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. This section of line, between Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh will shortly be redoubled.

166217 swings around the curve at Aston Magna on 25 March 2011 with the 1P37 08:58 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. In the foreground is the recently laid but not yet commissioned new up line, part of the Cotswold Line redoubling programme. Ironically I photographed the same unit at this location on what was essentially a similar train just over two years previously. Note that one of the scourges of modern railway photography - a radio mast has appeared in the background in the intervening time.

166217 passes the hawthorn bosom at Culham on 27 April 2011 with the 2P62 15:07 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. This picture is taken from an occupation bridge at the end of a long very rough track, which is just about passable in an ordinary car, as long as you drive slowly!

Ascott-under-Wychwood station was completely transformed during 2011, with the provision of a new up platform in connection with the reinstatement of double track. The new platform is seen here on the left, complete with a mock GWR style seat. 166217 rushes through with the 1W13 07:21 Paddington to Great Malvern First Great Western service on 10 December 2011. The strange sight of passengers waiting on the new platform on a Saturday, when normally there is no service is explained by the fact that the 07:10 Hereford to Paddington is about to make an additional stop.

In the good old days, when Didcot Power Station was still producing electricity, and this location hadn't been ruined by the catenary of the overhead electrification, 166217 passes South Moreton (Didcot East) on 13 September 2012 with the 2P44 10:36 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service.

A close up view of 166217, as it approaches Cholsey on 2 January 2015 with the 1P43 11:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service. The small group of trees on the summit of Cholsey Hill allegedly marks the site of an ancient hill fort.

166217 approaches Hanborough station on 9 July 2016 with the 1W29 11:21 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. In the background is the Oxford Bus Museum, which was established on the old goods yard site in the mid 1980s, and has now grown to house an impressive collection of local vintage vehicles.

This picture clearly demonstrates the terrible state that some of the national railway network has now got into, now that Network Rail have seemingly given up any pretence at keeping lineside vegetation in check. 166217 & 166219 pass Chilson on 22 February 2017 with the 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. The large bush on the right is almost touching the train, and has been like that for years, presumably being pruned by the trains to the shape of the loading gauge! No wonder they have problems with leaves on the line in the autumn! Thirty years earlier this location was completely open, with nothing more than a few scattered small lineside bushes.

After pausing for a minute in the rain, in the vain hope that there might be some passengers, 166217 gets on the move again at Honeybourne station on 20 March 2017, whilst working the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service.

166217 passes through Finstock station on 1 November 2017 with the 1P43 10:59 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. Like most Cotswold Line trains, this does not call here. There is only one northbound, and one southbound weekday train that stops here.

166217 & 165133 approach Didcot North Junction on 26 November 2017 with the 2P43 10:34 Oxford to Paddington GWR service. Note the temporarily abandoned short section of overhead electrification masts in the background.

166217 passes Cassington on 24 March 2018 with the 5Q66 13:32 Reading Traincare Depot to Long Marston ECS. As most Class 166s migrated to the Bristol area in late 2017, the class is now a comparative stranger to the Cotswold Line, after over two decades of being commonplace. The units are visiting Long Marston for modifications, with the usual pattern being one in and one out on the same day. Note the recent vegetation clearance at this location, which has revealed some old telegraph poles, which had been felled in the late 1970s.

166217 passes Chilson on 10 May 2018 with the 1P14 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington GWR service. Not really the best time of year to photograph these green units, when the rest of the countryside is green as well!

166217 passes Evenlode on 21 June 2018 with the 1P33 13:55 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington GWR service. The radio mast really dominates this location, although I am not sure if the green and brown colour scheme is Network Rail's attempt to camouflage it, or whether it is just going rusty!

166217 passes Croome on 29 June 2019 with the 2O70 06:49 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth GWR service. It has just emerged into the light, after passing through the darkness of the very large Croome Perry Wood.

166217 passes Claydon on 9 August 2022 with the late running 2C12 08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. The unit has just called at Ashchurch (for Tewkesbury) station, which is situated just beyond the bridge in the background.

166217 passes Mount Pleasant (Southampton) on 11 August 2022 with the 1F22 14:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central GWR service. It looks like its bee a long time since anything used the non-electrified siding on the left.

166217 heads north at Stoke Orchard on 4 April 2023 with the 2E53 07:30 Warminster to Great Malvern GWR Service. This is an excellent location for a morning's photography, apart from the incessant heavy road traffic!

166217 passes Pirton on 7 August 2023 with the 2T61 09:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The grassy area behind the Armco barrier on the left is the site of the former Pirton Siding.

166218 speeds through Appleford station with the 11:30 Oxford to Paddington Thames Trains service on 13 April 2002. Until recently the station was noteworthy for retaining its original Great Western Railway pagoda corrugated iron shelters, which were provided when the station opened on 11 September 1933 as Appleford Halt. This was at a time when the GWR was trying to combat increasing competition from local buses. Interestingly, there had previously been a station on the site, which was opened when the line to Oxford was opened in 1844. However, it was closed just a few years later and the residents of Appleford had to wait nearly ninety years for its replacement!

166218 approaches Hungerford with the 08:37 Bedwyn to Paddington First Great Western service on 30 July 2007. The day started without a cloud in the sky, but already by this time a few little clouds were appearing, and as typically happens in the summer within the hour it was predominantly cloudy with sunny spells.

166218 passes Shorthampton with the late running 1P25 09:55 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service on 10 September 2009. The delay was caused by the 09:21 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street being 25 minutes late, and consequently this train had to wait at Ascott-under-Wychwood. The soon to be reinstated double track will help ease such delays. Note the new rails in front of the unit, presumably added during the recent slewing of the formally centered single track.

With the completion of the Cotswold Line track improvement plan in 2011, Moreton-in-Marsh has become even more of a railhead, with an increase in the number of local terminating services. With the commencement of the revised timetable in September, three weekday trains head back from whence they came after arriving at the station. This has required the installation of a new semaphore signal to allow trains heading back towards Oxford to regain the correct running line. As it is on a short post, it is virtually hidden by the train in this view. 166218 leaves the station on 28 September 2011 and weaves across onto the up line with the 1P37 09:51 First Great Western service to Paddington. It had arrived a short while earlier with the 2E93 08:58 Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh. Not only has a GWR style lower quadrant signal been installed here as part of the new works, but the points have been replaced with vintage style bullhead rail track! Both sidings have now been disconnected.

On the hottest October day on record (29.9c in Kent), 166218 passes Shorthampton on 1 October 2011 with the 1P40 09:51 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. I make no apologies for taking yet another picture at this location, as it will shortly disappear again due to the rapidly growing vegetation on the left hand side of the track. After many years of being useless for photography, the clearance work for the double track has opened up the view tremendously. This is my first picture here with both tracks in use.

166218 approaches Didcot North Junction on 8 September 2012 with the 2P42 10:07 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. The trees behind the train now block out any chance of a distant view, but more annoyingly the vegetation in the foreground now also gets in the way of a good picture.

166218 calls at a rather damp Kingham station on 16 March 2013. At least two people have disembarked from the 1P43 10:58 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service, and are making their way across the GWR footbridge (since replaced with a more modern structure).

166218 heads south near Stonesfield on 12 March 2015, as it runs along the Cotswold Line with the 1P43 11:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service. Although there has recently been extensive tree clearance at Hanborough, this location just a few miles north, has not had any tree pruning for years! Cornbury House, the grade 1 listed country house at the heart of the 5,000 acre Cornbury Park, can just be seen through the haze in the distance.

Lovely summer evening light at Culham on 9 July 2015. 166218 heads north with the 2N64 18:25 Paddington to Oxford GWR service. The Victorian spire of Appleford church shows up clearly amid the trees un the background.

166218 passes through the picturesque Sonning Cutting on 26 April 2016 with the 2P33 10:49 Reading to Paddington GWR service. Much tree cutting had recently taken place in preparation for the forthcoming electfrication, opening up the view considerably.

166218 arrives at Kingham station on 9 July 2016 with the 1P71 16:34 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. This wide angle view shows the extended car park, and the industrial unit in the background on former railway land. This, together with the lineside trees, explains why my classic 1980s viewpoint from the old Banbury to Cheltenham line in the background, which gave an excellent view of trains travelling in the opposite direction, has now gone forever.

166218 emerges from Sapperton Tunnel on 10 August 2016 with the 3R65 13:45 Worcester Foregate Street to Reading GWR ECS. This is one of a number of special empty stock workings run during the two week closure of the railway at Hinksey. A Turbo unit on the Gloucester to Swindon line is noteworthy, the line's stable DMUs being Class 150s & 158s.

166218 approaches Shipton station on 15 September 2016 with the 1P43 11:22 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service. Like the vast majority of Cotswold Line trains, this will not be calling at the small wayside station.

166218 approaches Oxford North Junction on 20 May 2017 with the 1W11 06:21 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. There is virtually no chance of a shadow free picture with the sun on the front for northbound trains at this location. By the time the shadows from the trees to the left have cleared the track, it is getting very backlit.

166218 passes through Ascott-under-Wychwood station at high speed on 19 June 2017 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This going away shot gives a clearer view of the station. Note the crop of healthy looking weeds flourishing at the base of the relatively new up platform!

166218 heads away from Didcot North Junction on 28 August 2017 with the late running 2N18 08:27 Paddington to Oxford GWR service. There is just enough room for a going away shot, without the signal getting in the way.

166218 approaches Bredon in the rain on 2 May 2019 with the 2F99 16:48 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. This location has recently benefited from some much needed vegetation clearance, and as a result the viewpoint has been improved enormously.

166218 seems to have suffered some front end damage on this end of the unit, seen here heading away from the camera at Little Haresfield on 19 September 2020 with the 2V58 08:23 Southampton Central to Great Malvern GWR service.

166218 passes Bredon's Norton on 15 October 2020 with the 2C12 08:55 Worcester Foregate Street to Westbury GWR service. This is a location that has been on my 'to do' list for some time. Not particularly scenic, but at least it is clear of the long early morning shadows.

166218 passes milepost 102¾, as it accelerates away from Stroud on 2 October 2022 with the 2G03 11:30 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. On Sundays the normal Class 800 London trains are replaced by these Class 166 local services.

166218 passes Cashes Green on 9 October 2022 with the 2G03 11:30 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. This location (just to the west of Stroud station) is now getting very overgrown, almost back to what it was like before the massive vegetation clearance of a few years earlier.

166218 passes the impressive looking Midland Railway crossing keeper's cottage at Brockhampton on 15 November 2023, as it heads south with the 2T61 09:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service.

Dappled winter sunshine at Taplow station on 8 January 2000. 166219 passes through the station with the 1F34 12:48 Paddington to Great Malvern Thames Trains service. In 2015 the ornate footbridge was 'accidentally' damaged during an engineering possession, which a sceptical person might think was a bit suspicious. Watch out Steventon, now that their roadbridge has won a reprieve, against the wishes of Network Rail!

166219 passes Yarnton on 27 July 2006 with the 17:36 Paddington to Banbury First Great Western service. If it weren't for the trees in the background, you would be able to see the Cotswold Line converging from the right towards Wolvercote Junction.

166219 accelerates away from Charlbury station, and passes Cornbury Park on 15 January 2009 with the 1P25 09:55 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the piles of concrete troughing in the background, for use during the forthcoming resignalling and reinstatement of double track.

166219 passes Walton Well Road, Oxford, on 13 June 2010 with the 09:00 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. Considerable work has been done to upgrade the relief lines at this location, although the former LMS tracks, which used to run parallel to these lines are now lost in the bushes on the right.

166219 pulls away from Moreton-in-Marsh station on 6 September 2010 with the 2P42 09:29 Fist Great Western service to Paddington. This is one of only two daily trains that start from Moreton, rather than running the full length of the Cotswold Line. The empty stock works in from Oxford just prior to departure. Although gradually losing its Great Western atmosphere, thanks to the new footbridge, various portacabin, etc, the semaphores hark back to GWR days, as indeed does the track!

With the tower of Charlbury church visible in the background, 166219 accelerates away from the town's station, and passes Cornbury Park, as it heads down the Evenlode Valley with the 1P47 12:06 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service on 8 September 2010.

166219 passes a field of flowering oilseed rape as it approaches Charlbury on 21 April 2011 with the 1P61 14:35 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. The newly laid track has yet to be ballasted, but at least the rails are now in place. Compare this picture with the view just over two months previously, when only the sleepers had been laid.

A very grubby 166219 passes the site of Chipping Campden station (or Campden as the GWR called it) on 26 March 2012 with the 1P57 14:26 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. The station site originally extended almost to the bridge on which I am standing, with a siding into the town's gas works.

166219 weaves across from the up relief to the up main line at South Moreton (Didcot East) on the fine winter morning of 19 December 2014. It is working the 1P37 09:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service.

166219 passes Cornbury Park, as it accelerates away from Charlbury station on 19 April 2017 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. Just behind the train is the present limit of the Cotswold Line's double track section.

166219 passes Badsey on 8 July 2017 with the 1W33 13:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. There is a whole range of corrugated iron sheds next to the line here, but they are now so overgrown that they are hardly visible. They are so decrepit that the vegetation is probably helping to hold then up!

166219 passes Haresfield on 5 June 2018 with the 2E18 08:45 Westbury to Gloucester GWR service. I'm not quite sure what the significance of the chevron patch on the front is, unless it is some tape holding bits of trim on! Incidentally, this image clearly shows the superb full aperture quality of the Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 Macro lens. Very few lenses are this good wide open!

166219 approaches Standish Junction on 2 January 2019 with the 2M97 09:57 Bradford-on-Avon to Great Malvern GWR service. Only half a mile from the actual junction, and the Swindon and Bristol lines are already at considerably different levels.

166219 passes St Mary's Crossing on 16 April 2019 with the 2G82 09:36 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The dull morning has allowed a picture to be taken from the north side of the line, from the elevated viewpoint of the A419 Cirencester to Stroud road.

A wet afternoon at Bredon on 2 May 2019. 166219 heads north with the 2E25 15:28 Warminster to Great Malvern GWR service. Bredon station (closed in 1965) was situated just the other side of the bridge in the background.

166219 passes Up Hatherley on 13 July 2019 with the 2O90 12:41 Worcester Foregate Street to Weymouth GWR service. The footbridge in the background links Hollis Road to Reddings Road, and is a very popular route for local dog walkers.

166219 passes Standish Junction on 1 September 2020 with the 2O76 10:42 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. Note the footpath crossing just behind the unit, which I'm sure Network Rail would love to close, bearing in mind the poor sighting of trains coming off the Swindon line.

A Class 166 meeting at Stoke Orchard on 2 June 2021. 166219 heads north with the 2E50 06:06 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service, just as 166213 approaches with the 2O72 07:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth train.

166219 climbs Upton Scudamore bank on 9 June 2021 with the 1F17 12:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour GWR service. This was my first visit to this location for many years, and I was shocked at just how overgrown it is, although I shouldn't really have been that surprised, judging by Network Rail's poor record of lineside maintenance at other locations!

166219 passes Standish Junction on 11 September 2021 with the 2C80 14:43 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. The signal controlling the junction can be seen just behind the unit, and the diverging lines heading towards Stroud are prominent in the foreground.

166219 accelerates away from Stroud on 9 October 2021 with the 2G96 13:30 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The driver is not waving for my benefit, but to acknowledge the diverted 1L18 11:22 Swansea to Paddington IET, which was approaching from the opposite direction.

166219 approaches Standish Junction on 24 April 2022 with the 2G21 16:28 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The train is descending down the gradient, to meet the line from Bristol, which can be seen on the left.

166219 passes Standish Junction on 24 April 2022 with the 2B13 18:01 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. It was on time here, but like all trains on the route on this day, it would suffer a signal check near Kemble, causing it to arrive at Swindon 10 minutes late.

166219 passes Gossington on 15 September 2023 with the 2E58 09:51 Warminster to Gloucester GWR service. Note the milepost on the right, now almost completely covered in ivy. This superb light was a bit of a surprise, as although it was sunny earlier in the morning, lots of cloud had rolled in, and it looked like it was going to be cloudy for the rest of the day!

In dramatic winter lighting on 27 December 1993, 166220 pulls out of Oxford station with the 1F53 14:15 Oxford to Paddington service. St Barnabas church stands out clearly against the dark clouds, also Walton Well Road bridge can be seen in the distance beyond the stabled Turbo units. The station visible here dates from the 1990 rebuilding, replacing the inadequate 1971 structure. The footbridge was a new addition in the latest rebuild, a subway had been in use since the original station was built in 1852.

A brief gap in the clouds at Lower Basildon on 15 March 1995. 166220 runs along the down relief line with the 14:45 Paddington to Oxford service. This was the immediate post privatisation period, when Network SouthEast had ceased to exist, but the franchise operators (in this case Thames Trains) had yet to do any major rebranding. It was also unfortunately when Railtrack was created, an organisation that deferred much essential maintenance, which resulted in a number of serious accidents.

166220 passes Bishopton on 16 August 1997 with the 11:18 Paddington to Stratford-upon-Avon Thames Trains service. This pleasant rural view, complete with semaphore distant signal is now just a memory, as Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway station (opened in May 2013) now occupies this site. 

Network SouthEast is dead, long live Network SouthEast! Over four years after the sector's demise, the NSE red, white and blue colour scheme is still in use, and unadorned even by the new operator's branding, as 166220 and an unidentified classmate pass Hinksey Yard on 27 February 1999 with the 1F49 11:42 Great Malvern to Paddington Thames Trains service. Only 166220 came from the Cotswold Line, as the rear unit was the 1F47 11:55 departure from Stratford-upon-Avon, which coupled up to the front unit at Oxford.

166220 approaches Heyford station at speed on 8 April 2002 with the 17:32 Stratford-upon-Avon to Paddington Thames Trains service. This broadside view gives a clear view of this short lived livery. Thames Trains operated services in the Oxford area between October 1996 and March 2004.

166220 sweeps round the reverse curves near Tackley with the 15:02 Banbury to Oxford First Great Western service on 8 March 2007. Unfortunately this location is getting progressive more difficult due to lineside bush growth.

166220 arrives at Kingham with the 13:21 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service on 23 October 2007. This former important rural junction station has lost all its former sidings and associated trackwork, and the impressively large station buildings have long since been replaced by a utilitarian brick office, but as can be seen here, it does retain a well maintained Great Western Railway nameboard.

166220 takes the Didcot avoiding line at Didcot North Junction on 8 October 2010, as it prepares to pass the town at speed with the 1P53 15:01 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. The lines diverging to the left are used by trains calling at Didcot Parkway station.

166220 approaches Didcot North Junction on 8 March 2011 with the 2P40 09:37 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. In order to clear all the lineside clutter and encroaching bushes, a very long lens is required here.

166220 passes Cornbury Park, on the approach to Charlbury station, in the rain on 28 April 2012 with the 1W29 11:21 Paddington to Great Malvern First Great Western service. This is probably the best type of weather to take a picture looking in this direction, as if the sun is out it is always backlit.

166220 races through the recently rebuilt Ascott-under-Wychwood station on 25 May 2012 with the late running 1P40 09:54 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. A lot of trouble has gone into upgrading this station, which normally sees just one train a day in each direction!

166220 passes Whitehill (between Finstock and Combe) with the 1P40 09:51 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service on 9 March 2013. It looks like the valance underneath the coupler has been recently repainted, possibly even in a different shade of blue, as it is really standing out. Usually this area either is, or certainly looks like it is dark grey or black!

166220 passes Rousham on 13 April 2013 with the 2L38 07:53 Oxford to Banbury First Great Western service. It is unusually running as a two car unit. Centre coach 58620 has been removed, presumably for maintenance purposes, leaving the unit formed from 58120 & 58141. Ironically most of these Cherwell Valley local services are operated by two car Class 165s anyway!

166220 passes Walton Well Road, on the approach to Oxford station, with the 1P37 09:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington First Great Western service on 30 January 2015. It is passing 66711, which is waiting for its booked time on the down relief line with the 6M27 10:24 Hinksey to Stud Farm ballast empties.

166220 speeds past Lower Basildon on 30 March 2015 with the 1D31 11:50 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. Whilst the removal of a tree has opened up the viewpoint here (apart from the electricity pole!), the overhead masts in the background herald the elimination of the viewpoint altogether when the wires go up.

166220 & 166205 approach Culham at speed on 9 July 2015 with the 1D67 18:50 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. This would normally be operated by a HST, but due to the RMT union's 48 hour strike, virtually all HSTs to Oxford were replaced by Turbo units. The reduction in top speed from 125mph to 90mph seemingly having little effect on punctuality, proving that the timings are very conservative for HSTs on this route.

166220 passes Didcot North Junction on 10 July 2015 with the 2N12 06:57 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. The tracks to the left are the Didcot avoiding lines, those curving to the left in the background lead to Didcot Parkway station, and those curving away to the right lead to Foxhall Junction, and the line to Swindon.

166220 passes Shorthampton (between Ascott-under-Wychwood and Charlbury) on 12 August 2015 with the 1P43 11:22 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington First Great Western service. As the lineside vegetation continues to grow unchecked, a more head on viewpoint is required here. It wasn't too bad in 2012, but it was a lot better in 2009!

166220 speeds past Lyneham on 3 October 2015 with the 1W45 15:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. This picture is taken from a seldom used level crossing, provided in case any vehicles are too tall for the adjacent road underbridge, which has a 7 ft 3 in height restriction.

166220 passes Daylesford on 31 October 2016 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. I had hoped for more autumn colours on the trees, but at least there is a variety of hues here, from yellow to red. On this occasion the Met Office got the forecast spot on, with early morning fog and low cloud finally melting away around midday to provide some perfect light.

166220 passes Wolvercote on 14 April 2017 with the 1W14 06:52 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. Directly behind the train is the soon to be reinstated down relief line, with the green expanse of Port Meadow on the other side of the fence.

166220 passes Lower Moor on 2 September 2017 with the 1W33 13:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. Both official and unofficial horticulture going on here, with greenhouses in the background, and a feral apple tree in the foreground!

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner is still accelerating away from Stroud station, as it passes Cashes Green on 30 June 2018 with the 2G85 14:14 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The introduction of these units onto the 'Golden Valley' route has opened up new photographic possibilities, but it will have to wait until the valley really is 'Golden', to provide some colour contrast with the unit's green livery!

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Broughton Gifford on 6 July 2018 with the 2M10 12:20 Westbury to Swindon GWR service. This is on the single track Trowbridge to Thingley Junction line.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Norton on 7 July 2018 with the late running 1Z46 15:04 Moreton-in-Marsh to Great Malvern GWR service. The Cotswold Line was closed south of Moreton-in-Marsh, so that extensive engineering works could take place at Oxford.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Standish Junction on 24 July 2018 with the 2O89 10:42 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. This location, like many in the area, has recently had a much delayed visit from Network Rail's tree clearing gang, although at the moment only on the right hand side of the line.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Gossington on 17 December 2018 with the 2E18 08:45 Westbury to Gloucester GWR service. It would return a short while later with the 2O76 10:42 Gloucester to Weymouth train. The bridge in the background carries the A38 Gloucester to Bristol road over the line.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Gossington on 17 December 2018 with the 2O76 10:42 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. A little earlier it passed by in the opposite direction with the 2E18 08:45 Westbury to Gloucester train.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Up Hatherley on 13 May 2019 with the 2G82 09:36 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. Although the hawthorn blossom adds some colour variety, this scene would look so much better with the Turbo unit in the earlier First Great Western blue livery.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Oaksey on 23 July 2019 with the 2B96 15:20 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon GWR service. Ash trees and Rosebay Willowherb are already taking over the recently cleared cutting sides.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Defford in lovely evening light on 17 September 2019 with the 2E25 15:28 Warminster to Great Malvern GWR service. A pity it wasn't one of the few surviving blue Class 166s, as that would have added a bit of colour contrast to what is virtually a completely green scene.

Viewed from the public footpath crossing near Grove, 166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner runs along the down relief line between Wantage Road and Challow on 11 November 2019 with the 3Z36 12:26 Didcot West End to Cardiff Central GWR ECS. This travelled via a reversal at Bristol Temple Meads.

Shortly before the cloud advancing from the west put an end to the sunny morning, 166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Uffington on 13 November 2019 with the 3Z60 10:37 Bristol Temple Meads to Reading West Junction GWR ECS.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Gossington on 20 January 2023 with the 2F14 10:41 Great Malvern to Warminster GWR service. The A38 Gloucester to Bristol road bridge can be seen in the background.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner catches a brief burst sunshine amid the clouds, as it accelerates away from Thingley Junction on 25 March 2023 with the 2M24 09:35 Swindon to Westbury GWR service. This is the start of the single track line to Bradford South Junction, near Trowbridge.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes Fiddington on 3 May 2023 with the 2C12 08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury GWR service. Claydon bridge can be seen in the background. Some distance behind that is Ashchurch for Tewksbury station, which this train has just called at.

166220 Roger Watkins The GWR Master Train Planner passes the site of Stonehouse (Bristol Road) station on 29 July 2024 with the 2E52 08:06 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester GWR service. The wooded slopes of Frocester Hill dominate the background.

166221 leads an unidentified classmate past Cholsey on 27 June 1998 with the 1F78 18:48 Paddington to Oxford Thames Trains service. After Reading this train ran non-stop. Despite this, the train is running on the down relief line.

Old and new liveries at Wolvercote Junction on 21 May 2001. 166221 approaches with the 16:48 Paddington to Stratford-upon-Avon Thames Trains service, sporting that company's new livery, while in the background, 165137 (still in original Network SouthEast livery) heads south with the 17:27 Banbury to Oxford service. At this time Turbo units could be seen at this spot heading for three different destinations - the two seen here, plus the Cotswold Line route to Worcester and Great Malvern.

166221 arrives at Kingham station on 8 June 2003 with the 16:35 Hereford to Paddington Thames Trains service. At this time Kingham's original small car park was being extended to cope with the massive increase in traffic that the Cotswold Line was (an still is) enjoying.

166221 passes Ruscombe on 17 April 2008 with the 1K41 08:40 Bedwyn to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the amount of vegetation clearance that has taken place at this location, although it won't take more than a couple of years for it all to return!

166221 was the final Turbo unit to enter traffic, in September 1993. It is seen here accelerating away from Charlbury station and passing near to Cornbury Park on 19 March 2009 with the 12:06 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service. After nearly four decades as a single track railway, this section of the Cotswold Line is about to regain a second track, although bizarrely only to a point a mile or so south of this point.

166221 slows down for the approach to Moreton-in-Marsh station, as it passes Dorn on 1 August 2011 with the 1P61 14:35 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. As the newly reinstated up line has not yet been brought into use, the train is using the single line which has had to suffice on this section of the Cotswold Line since 1971. Unfortunately this train was running well behind time, due to the previous down train being delayed. This is just the kind of problem that the reinstatement of double track should alleviate. If 166221 had appeared at the correct time it would have been in full sun, rather than the hazy light seen here.

166221 passes Hinksey Yard in superb winter light on 4 December 2012 with the 2P48 11:37 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service, while a Class 66 waits in the yard with a lengthy rake of bogie spoil wagons.

166221 hurries along the up fast line at Ruscombe on 1 May 2013 with the 1P27 09:01 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the two different styles of mileposts (30½ miles to Paddington). The traditional yellow post on the right, and the more modern design on the left.

166221 passes Oxford's most recent blot on the landscape, as it heads north past the hideously ugly Castle Mill student accommodation blocks with the 1W13 07:21 Paddington to Great Malvern First Great Western service on 13 July 2013. Two classmates can be seen stabled in Oxford's down carriage sidings.

Passing some ominous signs of impending electfrication (and therefore disappearance of this viewpoint), 166221 Reading Traincare Depot & 166212 approach Cholsey on 2 January 2015 with the 1P39 11:01 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service.

A First Great Western livery comparison at Cholsey on 28 April 2015. 166221 Reading Traincare Depot wears the new plain blue colour scheme, with a dark grey roof, while behind it is 166218, still in the earlier 'wavy line' livery with a light grey roof. The pair of units are working the 2P20 06:07 Banbury to Paddington service.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot approaches Culham on 9 July 2015 with the 1D35 17:18 Paddington to Oxford GWR service. The trackside weeds are a little intrusive, but that is nothing compared with the bushes that had grown up prior to the recent lineside clearance.

Sporting First Great Western's new simplified livery with a dark grey roof, 166221 Reading Traincare Depot approaches Didcot North Junction on 10 July 2015 with the 1W12 06:50 Paddington To Oxford service. This makes an interesting comparison with 165103, in the company's former colour scheme.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot takes the Long Marston line at Honeybourne station on 7 August 2015, as it works the 5Z11 09:27 Oxford Down Carriage Siding to Long Marston First Great Western ECS move. The Class 166s are having air con modifications carried out at Long Marston, and the usual course of action is for the driver of this inwards unit to return with a completed one. The sun briefly appearing through a small hole in the cloud here wasn't particularly welcome, as the lighting angle is virtually head on.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot arrives at Long Marston on 7 August 2015 with the 5Z11 09:27 Oxford Down Carriage Siding to Long Marston First Great Western ECS move. It is visiting the site to have modifications carried out to the air conditioning.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes through the gates into the Long Marston complex on 7 August 2015 with the 5Z11 09:27 Oxford Down Carriage Siding to Long Marston First Great Western ECS move. 166204 can just be glimpsed on the right, waiting to come out with the 5Z12 12:00 Long Marston to Reading Traincare Depot ECS.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes signs of its impending replacement, as it heads westwards between the new electrification masts at South Moreton on 10 September 2015 with the 2N48 15:27 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service.

The Great Western Railway footbridge at Kingham station is being replaced by a new structure a little further along the platform. This is the scene on 16 December 2015, with the old bridge still in use, and the new bridge still fenced off. The old bridge was once nearly double this size, continuing over the former Banbury and Cheltenham platforms on the right, and connecting with the nearby Langstone Arms Hotel. 166221 Reading Traincare Depot departs with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes Shorthampton on 10 August 2016 with the 2Z32 10:56 Worcester Foregate Street to Oxford GWR service. This location is rapidly becoming extremely overgrown, despite all the lineside vegetation being cut back in 2009, in preparation for the Cotswold Line redoubling. Network Rail only ever do major clearances such as this, and otherwise do not do any lineside maintenance whatsoever. Just look at how close the bushes now are to the down line. And they wonder why they have problems with leaves on the line in the autumn!

166221 Reading Traincare Depot and green liveried 166214 arrive at Moreton-in-Marsh station on 4 November 2016 with the late running 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. The 3S33 05:56 Swindon to Gloucester Horton Road Rail Head Treatment Train, led by 56078, can just be seen underneath the roadbridge, waiting to follow the unit to Worcester.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot accelerates away from Moreton-in-Marsh on 15 March 2017 with the 1P57 14:25 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. The replacement of Dunstall Bridge, on the farm track to the south of the town, has resulted in some vegetation clearance. This has opened up this view, which has not been possible for a number of years. I have deliberately included the remaining trees in the foreground of this picture, as they make a nice frame for the train. The houses of Moreton-in-Marsh can be seen in the background.

Just managing to mostly dodge the worst of the early morning shadows, 166221 Reading Traincare Depot & 165137 pass Kennington on 9 September 2017 with the 1P24 08:01 Oxford to Paddington GWR service.

Golden oak leaves provide a touch of autumn colour to the foreground of this view of 166221 Reading Traincare Depot, as it accelerates away from Moreton-in-Marsh on 17 November 2017 with the 1P51 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. It is passing under the recently reconstructed Dunstall Bridge, a design that proves that Network Rail can design a pleasing looking structure when they want to! I was really lucky with the sun here, as it disappeared into a large mass of high cloud about a minute later.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot approaches Combe on 7 January 2018 with the late running 1W02 10:42 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. The bridge on the left carries the line over the River Evenlode, which the railway will cross and recross numerous times before it gets to Charlbury.

Early morning near Moreton-in-Marsh on 18 May 2018. 166221 Reading Traincare Depot approaches Dunstall Bridge with the 1W11 05:12 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh GWR service. It would very soon return with the 1P14 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington.

A welcome change from the Cotswold Line's omnipresent green Class 165s. 166221 Reading Traincare Depot is just starting out on its journey, when photographed approaching Dunstall Bridge, Moreton-in-Marsh, on 18 May 2018 with the 1P14 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington GWR service.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot approaches Dunstall Bridge, Moreton-in-Marsh, on 6 August 2018 with the late running 1P24 10:24 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington GWR service. Although not advertised as such, this was clearly an alteration to the usual 1P24 11:01 Oxford to Paddington service, to enable festival goers from the Wilderness Festival at Cornbury Park, Charlbury, to get home. The late departure was caused by the late running of the 5Z24 09:54 Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh ECS, which was further delayed by being briefly held at Moreton's down outer home signal, which can be seen in the distance.

One of the few remaining First Great Western blue liveried Class 166s, 166221 Reading Traincare Depot, slowly approaches Cam & Dursley station on 26 March 2019 with the 2O90 12:51 Great Malvern to Weymouth GWR service.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes Blanchworth on 18 September 2021 with the 2V52 06:08 Salisbury to Gloucester GWR service. It looks like there will be fine show of yellow flowering oilseed rape in this field in 2022.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes Blanchworth on 18 September 2021 with the 2O74 08:42 Gloucester to Weymouth GWR service. This is the highest numbered Class 166, and by a strange coincidence, just eight minutes later, the lowest numbered unit passed by in the other direction. To add to the coincidence, both DMUs are still in the old First Great Western blue livery.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes Bredon on 8 July 2022 with the 2O80 14:51 Worcester Foregate Street to Weymouth GWR service. Unfortunately this location is now getting rather overgrown, reverting to the state it was in a few years previously.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot approaches Standish Junction on 6 August 2022 with the 2V52 06:05 Salisbury to Gloucester GWR service. Note the contrast between the dry grass in the foreground, and the lush greenery on the other side of the cutting.

166221 Reading Traincare Depot heads north at Fiddington on 6 February 2023 with the 2V92 11:12 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. Fairly head on lighting, and a going away picture, but it's always worth taking a picture of one of the few remaining First Great Western blue units.

With Bredon Hill dominating the background, 166221 Reading Traincare Depot passes Tredington in superb winter light on 6 February 2023 with the 2O80 14:51 Worcester Foregate Street to Weymouth GWR service.

Freshly outshopped in green livery, and shorn of its former Reading Traincare Depot name, 166221 approaches Ashchurch on 4 September 2023 with the 2T61 09:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. This was running 18 minutes late, as it had been held at a signal in the distance for some time, due to a trespass incident.