43130 leads the 1C20 08:45 Paddington to Cardiff Central past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 21 August 1979. A visitor to this location today would not recognise this view, as virtually everything has changed. There are now four tracks, the PW hut has gone, and the bridge in the background has been replaced. The profusion of dead elm trees, the result of Dutch Elm disease, have also long gone. A new plantation of trees has now taken the place of the pasture on the left. On top of all this, the line has now been electrified.

43130 speeds past the site of Wantage Road station on 3 September 1984 with the 06:30 Taunton to Paddington service. Although in the then brand new Executive livery, 43130 not only carries the obsolete set number 253030, but also still has the W prefix to the power car number. Note the wide track formation at this point, a legacy of the former freight loops which would be reinstated a few years after this picture was taken.

43130 slowly approaches Wolvercote Junction on 11 June 1992 with the 1B48 17:10 Paddington to Hereford service. The train came to a stand once it was clear of the junction, and stood for some minutes on the Cotswold Line, before very slowly moving off. I can only assume this was the result of a late running previous train having to clear the single line at Ascott-under-Wychwood.

43130 rounds the normally freight only curve between Hawkeridge and Heywood Road Junctions, near Westbury, with the diverted 1A33 12:25 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service on 9 January 2000.

43130 Sulis Minerva passes Compton Beauchamp on 17 August 2006 with the 1L22 07:28 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. Sulis Minerva was of course a Roman god, most famously associated with the spa baths at the Roman city of Bath.

43130 passes Denchworth on 2 July 2009 with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. This is approximately half way along the four track section of the Great Western Mainline, which extends from Wantage Road to Challow.

43130 takes the Swindon line at Standish Junction on 30 January 2011 with the 1L67 14:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. The train is on former GWR metals, whilst the line at a lower level formerly belonged to the LMS.

43130 passes Chilson on 6 May 2011 with the 1W47 15:51 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service. The telephoto lens has certainly accentuated the wobbly new track on the left, which is part of the Cotswold Line redoubling programme. Obviously there is still much work to do, including tamping and final alignment. Other signs of work include the sheeted over equipment on the trackside and Ascott-under-Wychwood's newly installed down distant signal, which can just be seen in the distance.

With the cooling towers and chimney of the disused Didcot Power Station visible in the background, 43130 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 8 January 2015 with the 1C15 12:50 Paddington to Bristol Temple First Great Western service.

43130 passes Steventon on 19 January 2016 with the 1G38 13:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. This farm track runs alongside the line for a considerable distance, allowing a choice of viewpoints. Strangely, this is not a location that I had visited until a few years ago, although I have made up for it since!

43130 emerges from the bushes at Farleaze on 28 January 2016 with the 1B27 11:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service. This picture is taken from a dead end road bridge, down the rustically named Pig Lane, near the village of Hullavington.

A frosty winter morning at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 5 January 2017. 43130 heads towards London with the 1A08 05:09 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. Conveniently Network Rail have not installed the masts near the bridge, leaving this relatively unobstructed view. A temporary reprieve however, and the view would soon be gone!

43130 passes South Marston on 12 June 2017 with the 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. By the summer of 2017 this was one of the few spots between Didcot and Swindon that hadn't yet been ruined by electfrication masts.

43130 brings up the rear of the 1P65 15:14 Hereford to Paddington GWR service at Lower Moor on 2 September 2017. 43098 is the leading power car. Note the unusual inclusion of a first class coach in the middle of the train.

43130 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 24 November 2017 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. This deliberate off centre composition shows the remnants of Didcot's disused coal fired 'A' Power Station highlighted against the dark clouds in the background, also the steam rising from the still active gas fired 'B' plant.

43130 passes Edington on 6 July 2018 with the 1A77 05:41 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. This location has recently been cleared of vegetation, opening up the view considerably. The goods shed of the former Edington & Bratton station is now in use as part of an industrial estate.

43131 Sir Felix Pole passes Ebbw Junction on 21 October 1985 with the 1B30 13:00 Paddington to Swansea service. The power car was named after the 1920s Great Western Railway general manager. It only carried the name for a couple of years, although in 1994 the name was reapplied, but with the then common cheap 'tin' plates.

43131 speeds past Bremell Sidings (near Swindon) with the 1B46 17:03 Paddington to Cheltenham service on 19 July 1990. The early repaints into the Intercity 'swallow' livery had tiny numbers which made identification at speed extremley difficult. The minute number can just be seen on the off white panel behind the radiator grilles. Surprisingly, given the seemingly non-stop march of Swindon's expansion, the houses on the horizon still mark the limit of the town's development two decades later.

43131 passes Narroways Hill Junction on 16 April 1991, as it climbs away from Bristol with the 1E37 14:44 Paignton to Newcastle service. I didn't mange to note the number of this power car at the time, due to it being one of the InterCity liveried vehicles that had exceedingly small numbers. However, I have recently been able to match up the very distinctive worn paintwork on the nose with other pictures, therefore providing a conclusive identification over three decades after I took the picture!

The horse in the lineside field is more interested in its pile of hay, rather than 43131 passing by just a few feet away with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol First Great Western service. The location is Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, and the date 30 January 2010.

43131 passes Compton Beauchamp on 17 April 2011 with the 1B46 14:37 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. Although not as good as the eastbound view from this bridge, and certainly no good in the winter when mostly in deep shade, I thought I would record this for posterity before the wires go up and ruin the location for ever. I don't normally use a standard lens for open locations such as this, and this along with the 125mph train has required a shutter speed of 1/4000sec. Oh, and of course quick reactions!

With the first class coaches unusually at the 'country' end of the set, 43131 passes Compton Beauchamp on 23 July 2012 with the 1A06 06:20 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service.

43131 passes Wolvercote on 15 December 2012 with the 1W02 10:21 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. In a few hundred yards, the train will diverge to the left, onto the single track Cotswold Line.

43131 crosses Souldern No.2 Viaduct in very hazy light on 7 April 2013 with the diverted 1A07 07:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. The train has travelled up from Didcot to Banbury, and is now heading to the capital via the Chiltern Line. Ironically, I had visited this location less than 24 hours before, when I photographed 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe in much better light.

43131 passes Bourton on 16 February 2014 with the 1L48 09:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The two unsightly radio masts are nothing compared with the ugly electfrication masts and wiring that came few ears later!

43131 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 26 February 2014 with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. FGW's blue livery may not be particularly inspiring, but at least they usually keep their trains clean.

Although through trains on the Cotswold Line have historically been worked by HSTs, most local services are DMU operated. However, in 2016 an early morning departure from Moreton-in-Marsh is HST operated. 43131 leads the 1P21 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington GWR service past an oilseed rape field near Chilson on 17 May 2016.

43131 speeds through Ascott-under-Wychwood station on 25 March 2017 with the 1P31 07:10 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This being a Saturday, there will be no trains calling at this station in either direction, although 31 will pass through.

43131 passes Oxford North Junction on 25 March 2017 with the 1P61 14:34 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. 66130 can just be seen waiting in the background with the 4V54 09:33 Wakefield Europort to Didcot intermodal. Note the partially completed (and seemingly temporarily abandoned) down relief line.

43131 passes South Marston on 27 October 2017 with the 1L38 07:59 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. The power car is just passing over the footpath crossing on a little used path between South Marston village and the A420 road.

Extensive vegetation clearance is evident in this view from the road bridge near Cassington on 24 March 2018. 43131 heads up the Cotswold Line with the 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. It looks like an old telegraph pole from the days of semaphore signalling has been uncovered by the work.

43131 approaches Steventon on 15 May 2018 with the 1A77 05:41 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. This was travelling relatively slowly, as it was right behind the 4L31 09:03 Bristol to Felixstowe North freightliner. Now that all the electfrication masts are in place, I wonder how long this collection of surplus steel piling tubes will be left lying on the trackside?

43131 passes Cassington on 10 June 2018 with the 1W08 17:33 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. In the background the brick occupation bridge between Cassington and Yarnton stands out clearly in the evening light. Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, with the woods of Shotover Hill beyond can be seen in the far distance.

43131 passes Compton Beauchamp in superb evening light on 10 July 2018 with the 1B76 18:14 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. Note the anti-climb addition to the signal, yet another over the top safety feature that wasn't even considered a few years ago!

43131 passes Hungerford Common on 27 September 2018 with the 1C84 14:03 Paddington to Penzance GWR service. The car park behind the power car is unusually empty, as although access was still technically possible, the fact that the road from the common to the A4 was closed prevented all but the most determined motorists from using it.

A brief sunny spell between the April showers at Baulking on 21 April 1986. 43132 leads the 1A52 14:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington InterCity service through the cutting that is now covered in bushes and small trees, but in the 1980s was covered in nothing more intrusive than a few gorse bushes. This wide open view clearly shows the site of Uffington station in the background, with the 1898 road bridge, which was built to replace the original very dangerous level crossing. This bridge has since been replaced, but due to an unbelievable lack of foresight the new bridge did not allow for possible electrification, so it had to be closed in late 2014 to be modified yet again!

43132 races through the remains of Oaksey station on 3 July 1990 with the 1A22 07:00 Cheltenham to Paddington service. Oaksey station had a comparatively short live, being opened in 1929, and closing in 1964. The original double track line has been reinstated since this picture was taken.

43132 The Worshipful Company of Carmen sweeps round the curve at Llangewydd on 15 April 1991 with the 1B26 13:00 Paddington to Swansea service. Although the additional crest can just be seen, the earlier style of cheap black 'tinfoil' nameplate is all but invisible, even on the original hi-res version of this picture. It was later changed to a more visible silver backed plate.

43132 passes the site of Challow station on 29 October 1992 with the 1A25 07:02 Swansea to Paddington InterCity service. Preparation work was taking place for the reinstatement of the relief lines, which explains the mess on the left of the picture, where the remains of the former down platform have just been removed.

43132 leads the 1B11 08:30 Paddington to Cardiff Central Great Western Trains service past Coedkernew on 14 March 1997. This was transition time for liveries, and here we have both power cars in the attractive 'Merlin' colour scheme, while the stock retains the former InterCity livery. The farm house in the background is called Maerdy. This is a common Welsh place name meaning 'house of the mayor', or more worryingly, 'slave house'. Whilst the former would indicate the wealthiest local farmer, the latter may well indicate an ancient slave market.

The golden light of the setting sun gives a superb glint effect to the 1A84 17:32 Swansea to Paddington Great Western Trains service as it passes Bourton on 11 August 1998. 43132 is leading a complete rake of Great Western 'Merlin' liveried stock, although the rear power car is still in InterCity livery.

Amidst a sea of buddleia bushes, 43132 takes the Severn Tunnel line at Severn Tunnel Junction on 14 August 2004 with the 08:15 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service. The palisade fenced enclosures mark the site of the former Severn Tunnel Junction loco depot, while the overgrown are on the extreme left of the picture is the site of the former freight yard.

43132 leads the 15:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service through Briton Ferry on 14 April 2007. In the background 37422 & 37410 can be seen waiting to join the main line at Flying Loop Junction with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z74 13:33 Onllwyn to Birmingham International 'Principality Freighter' railtour. The tour had just passed under the main line after a reversal at Jersey Marine Junction.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? passes Uffington on 27 September 2008 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Note the inclusion of one of the last remaining original blue livered coaches in the middle of the train.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? races through Finstock station on 2 September 2010 with the 1P56 13:11 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. This little wayside station sees just one stopping train a day in each direction.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? (yes, it really does carry that name!) passes Denchworth in superb early morning autumnal light on 16 October 2012 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The bridge in the background is Circourt Bridge, a very well known photographic vantage point, unlike Denchworth Bridge, from which this photo is taken.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? approaches Stocks Lane level crossing, Steventon, on 10 March 2015 with the 1B31 12:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. A low rustic brick wall makes a much more picturesque railway boundary than the now all too common hideous palisade fencing!

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? passes Severn Tunnel Junction on 30 January 2016 with the 1L42 08:24 Swansea to Paddington GWR service, while the 1V04 06:58 Nottingham to Cardiff Central CrossCountry service disappears into the distance.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? leads the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service past Uffington on 25 February 2016. The train is passing over the little used footpath crossing just to the west of the site of Uffington station. The wooden handrail to the crossing can be seen just below the third coach.

The end is nigh at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 7 March 2016. The electrification masts are already spoiling the view, as 43132 We Save the Children - Will you? heads eastwards with the 1L28 07:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? comes off the Cotswold Line at Wolvercote Junction on 11 June 2016 with the 1P26 06:34 Ledbury to Paddington GWR service. This would normally be the 07:04 from Worcester Foregate Street, but engineering work had closed the line to the west of Ledbury.

43132 We Save the Children - Will you? passes Daylesford on 2 March 2017 with the 1P61 14:33 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. Is this the only named locomotive ever to have featured a question mark in the name?

43133 brings up the rear of the first ever HST to work over the Cotswold Line. This is the 10:25 Paddington to Great Malvern service, pictured leaving Evesham station on 14 May 1984, with consecutively numbered 43134 leading.

43133 approaches Standish Junction on 22 August 1987 with the 1B42 16:35 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill InterCity service. While this location is useless in the evening for trains coming from the Bristol direction, as the line is in shadow, the line curving in from the Stroud direction is at a much higher level, and therefore mostly clear of the encroaching shadows. The Cotswold Hills can be seen in the background, with the houses of Stonehouse visible in the middle distance.

Passing HSTs at Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 14 July 1989. 43133 heads westwards with the 1B50 17:40 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa service, while the 1A70 17:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington heads in the opposite direction. They shouldn't have been passing here at all, as while 1B50 is on time, 1A70 is running ten minutes late.

Running 29 minutes late, 43133 approaches Swindon on 15 October 1993 with the 1A29 08:10 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington service. This is picture is taken from the side of Galton Way, with the warehouses of Cheney Manor Industrial Estate (which I was making a delivery to) in the background.

43133 passes Shottesbrooke on 30 August 1998 with the 1A28 09:40 Paignton to Paddington Great Western Trains service. A few months later the franchise was taken over by First Group, and became the familiar First Great Western, an operator which quickly gained a reputation for poor service and bad timekeeping.

43133 approaches Baulking on 10 December 2008 with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Not the most inspiring location, but a slightly different angle compared to the well used locations in the area.

43133 pulls slowly away from Hereford station on 2 June 2009 with the 1P65 15:11 First Great Western service to Paddington. After many years of taking pictures of trains on the Cotswold Line (originally Class 47 & 50 hauled, but latterly with HSTs), this is probably the first time I have photographed an up train at the very start of its journey!

As a narrowboat approaches the lock in the background, 43133 runs alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal near Crofton on 8 October 2009 with the 1C77 10:06 Paddington to Penzance First Great Western service.

43133 passes Up Hatherley on 4 May 2010 with the 1G21 09:48 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa First Great Western service. The lush green spring foliage makes an interesting contrast to the same scene photographed 14 months earlier.

43133 passes Denchworth on 7 May 2013 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. It looks like the paintwork around the headlights could do with some touching up!

43133 passes Uffington on 24 October 2013 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The wide area of grass in the foreground marks the site of the western end of Uffington's former down goods loop.

43133 passes Blagrove (near Swindon) on 14 May 2014 with the 1C07 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. I only visited this location once, and now of course it has been lost beneath a sea of 25kV wiring.

43133 passes Baulking on 13 August 2014 with the 1C17 14:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. By this date this location was getting very overgrown, but very soon it would be virtually ruined by the installation of 25kV wires.

43133 leads the 1L46 09:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service past Compton Beauchamp on 11 September 2014. Soft autumn light, with a hint of mist in the background, and the hawthorn berries starting to show on the bushes.

43133 passes Uffington on 24 February 2016 with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. The bridge in the background marks the site of the former Uffington station, which was the junction for the Faringdon branch.

43133 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 24 January 2017 with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. My main reason for visiting this location was to photograph 800004 working the 1X80 10:37 Paddington to Bristol Parkway IEP test run. Unfortunately that only got as far as Southall, and then retreated back to North Pole depot! So here is the good old reliable 1970s technology that is still maintaining the Great Western's front line passenger service after over forty years of hard work.

43133 passes Wolvercote on 25 March 2017 with the 1P51 12:13 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. The train has just come off the Cotswold Line at Wolvercote Junction, which is just out of sight around the corner.

43133 passes Oddington in the gathering darkness on 17 September 2017 with the diverted 1C25 17:32 Paddington to Plymouth GWR service. Naturally these diverted trains brought out lots of photographers to record HSTs working alongside the more normal Chiltern Railways Class 168 DMUs.

43133 snakes round the reverse curves near Ham Mill, in the Stroud Valley, with the 1L58 13:00 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service on 13 January 2018. Directly behind the power car is the Thames & Severn Canal, with Stanton's Bridge clearly visible. The canal is slowly being restored, and will eventually once again form a through route across the Cotswold Hills.

The view looking west from Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, has been severely compromised by the installation of the overhead catenary. However, I couldn't resist this view of 43133 heading towards London on 18 January 2018 with the 1L54 11:56 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service, due to the fantastic lighting, with the stormy black clouds in the background.

43133 speeds past the site of Edington & Bratton station on 6 July 2018 with the 1A81 07:41 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. The former goods shed now forms part of a thriving industrial estate. The station closed to passengers on 3 November 1952, but this goods shed remained in use by the occasional freight train until 25 March 1963.

The last remnants of the previous week's massively disruptive snowfall can be seen at Shrivenham on 19 December 1981, as 43134 heads west with the 1B72 12:20 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads InterCity service. The snow had been so bad that numerous local roads were totally blocked, and those that were open were treacherous, with temperatures dropping to -20.7°c at nearby Brize Norton!

HSTs have been commonplace on the Cotswold Line for many years, but this is a picture of the first one! 43134 rolls into Evesham station with the 10:25 Paddington to Great Malvern service on 14 May 1984, the first day of the new timetable. This was the first ever scheduled InterCity 125 passenger train on the Cotswold Line, made possible by utilising extra capacity available during the middle of the day. Later of course the trains would take over from the long distance loco-hauled services on the route. 43133 is out of sight on the rear.

Having just traversed the Westbury avoiding line, 43134 approaches Fairwood Junction on 11 March 1986 with the 1C37 11:40 Paddington to Penzance service. Waiting to follow it on the left is departmental Class 101 55035 (ADB975659) with a crew training special. Although partly obscured by mist, the Westbury White Horse is just visible on the hillside in the background.

Admittedly an impressive picture with all the lineside bushes coated by a heavy frost, and the train nicely lit by a low winter sun, but this picture is noteworthy for another reason. This is the 08:30 Paddington to Cardiff Central service passing Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 7 December 1991, with 43134 leading and 43158 on the rear. Less than 50 minutes after this picture was taken it was involved in the first ever accident inside the Severn Tunnel. Emergency signalling was in force in the tunnel, and this train was over half way through the tunnel proceeding at caution and traveling at approximately 20 mph when it was hit in the rear by 'Sprinter' 155306, which was working the late running 07:00 Portsmouth to Cardiff train, and presumably not preceding with enough caution! Thankfully there were few serious injuries, although over a hundred passengers required hospital treatment. The rescue operation was protracted because of the difficult location.43071

43134 accelerates away from Westbury, and approaches Fairwood Junction on 30 October 1992 with the 1C36 12:35 InterCity service from Paddington. This being a Friday, this train will only go as far as Exeter St Davids, whereas on other days of the week it would carry on to Penzance.

A location that unfortunately I only visited a couple of times, and has now been ruined, first of all by a tall radio mast, and latterly by the route's electfrication. 43134 sweeps round the curve near Aldermaston on 6 November 1994 with the 09:35 Paddington to Taunton service.

43134 County of Somerset approaches Tiverton Parkway on 14 May 2000 with the 1C52 14:15 Paddington to Penzance First Great Western service. Clearly a faster mode of transport than the adjacent M5 motorway!

Still wearing the 'fag packet' First livery, while the rest of the train is in First Great Western purple, 43134 County of Somerset is in its namesake county as it leads the late running 07:35 Paddington to Penzance First Great Western service past Upton Noble on 24 July 2004.

43134 County of Somerset leads the 1A17 12:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 8 September 2005. This picture clearly shows one of the pitfalls of photographing HSTs when the sun is high in the sky - the sun is reflecting off the leading edge of the steeply raked cab.

43134 passes the site of Wootton Bassett station on 8 April 2011 with the 1L42 08:28 Swansea to Paddington 'Red Dragon' First Great Western service. It is picking up speed, after curving in from the Bristol Parkway line to the right in the background.

43134 catches a little bit of the fleeting sunshine, as it passes a field of ripening wheat near Uffington on 12 July 2014 with the 1A17 12:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. Unfortunately the lineside bushes are starting to get very intrusive here.

On 5 October 2016, 43134 leads the 1B51 15:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service through the steel mess that has disfigured the once excellent viewpoint at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. On the plus side, Network Rail's utter incompetence has given photographers several extra years photography at this location.

Complete with 'Rail Operations Group' headboard, and in stunning lighting, unbranded 43134 passes Badgeworth on 22 October 2017 with the 5L46 10:00 St Philips Marsh to Ely Papworth Sidings ECS. 43036 is bringing up the rear. With the Class 800s gradually coming into service, GWR's HST's are slowly coming off lease. After many decades of work, this set is leaving the area for the last time. The coaches are going into temporary storage, while the power cars are destined for refurbishment by Brush at Loughborough, and then a new career in Scotland.

43135 calls at Swindon station on 25 October 1982 with the 1A01 08:55 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington service. Because of Swindon station's island platform configuration at the time, it was not much use for photography if the sun was out, although that definitely wasn't going to be a problem on this miserable autumnal day!

43135 speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 2 October 1983 with the 1A73 14:35 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington service. This was in the days when it was unusual to meet another photographer at this location. I had already been visiting this spot for a decade, but unfortunately without a camera when there was a constant procession of Class 47s and Westerns!

43135 passes the almost deserted Hinksey Yard on 12 February 1985, as it gets into its stride after calling at Oxford station with the 1A48 13:43 Great Malvern to Paddington service. This returning out and back Cotswold Line HST working had only been introduced a few months earlier.

43135 passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 21 November 1996 with the 12:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Great Western Trains service. A complete train in the new livery was not that common at the time, and in retrospect I should have put more effort into getting pictures while they were still clean. Any livery incorporating this much white doesn't tend to stay pristine for long! Of course it wasn't long before Great western Trains became First Great Western and the livery changed yet again.

43135 leads the 1A30 08:50 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service past Bourton on 21 September 2003. An almost symmetrical livery combination, with the then new livery applied to the power cars, and one coach near the centre of the train, while the rest of the stock retains the green 'fag packet' colour scheme.

Just a trace of hazy sun illuminates 43135 as it speeds past Baulking with the 1C19 15:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 28 March 2007. Note that 43135 is in the latest version of FGW's livery, while the rest of the train still retains the previous version of the livery.

43135 approaches Wantage Road on 17 November 2009 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Note that the first class vehicles are unusually at the 'county end' of the train.

With the two fields behind the train still not harvested, 43135 passes Bourton on 16 September 2013 with the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington First Great Western service. Honda's Swindon factory can just be seen above the trees in the background.

43135 passes Uffington on 16 April 2014 with the late running 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. I particularly like this time of year, when the fresh new green growth contrasts with the still bare tree branches.

High sun at high summer at Bourton on 17 June 2014, and definitely not the best time for photography. 43135 heads towards London with the 1A19 13:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

43135 speeds past Bourton on 1 July 2014 with the 1L08 04:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. You have to get up early to take properly lit pictures at this location, as even by 07:06 the sun is getting very head on. With the early morning fog now clearing, Swindon is becoming visible in the background.

43135 passes Uffington on 27 August 2014 with the 1C17 14:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The dull weather has helped here, as there is no decent view from the other side of the bridge.

43135 accelerates away from Chippenham on 10 September 2014 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington First Great Western service. Behind the cutting are numerous large industrial estates, with the town of Chippenham just beyond.

43135 speeds past Uffington on 29 November 2014 with the 1C14 12:18 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This spot has clearly got a very short time left as a photographic location, as the white plastic bag and wooden peg mark the site of one of the soon to be installed overhead catenary masts!

43135 passes signs of impending electfrication at South Moreton on 10 September 2015, as it heads westwards with the 1C18 14:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare First Great Western service. Note the totally random height of the new masts.

The horses are undisturbed by 43135, as it approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 7 March 2016 with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. What a pity that the more colourful 43146 wasn't on the front, rather than the rear. It seems that once the wires go up, this side view will be the only option at this well known photographic location. Note the bank of dark cloud in the background. The Met Office had said that it would be sunny, especially in the west. This view is looking west!

43135 approaches Baulking on 1 April 2016 with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. This is taken with a very long lens, which explains why the bridge at the site of Uffington station appears so close. The worksite around the bridge is in connection with the massively delayed and scandalously over budget electfrication scheme.

43135 emerges from Chipping Sodbury Tunnel on 7 April 2017 with the 1B46 14:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. This would be my last visit to this iconic location, as although it managed to survive the onslaught of the electfrication masts by nearly another year, the inevitable happened, and the location is now ruined as far as photography was concerned.

43135 speeds through Ascott-under-Wychwood station on 1 December 2017 with the 1W01 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. Of the 43 trains that pass through each weekday, only two call here: the 2E92 06:53 Worcester Foregate Street to Didcot Parkway up service, and the 1W33 16:22 Paddington to Great Malvern down train.

43136 takes the Westbury avoiding line at Fairwood Junction on 11 March 1986 whilst working the 06:25 Penzance to Paddington service. A slightly odd train here, not so much in the mix of liveries, which was common at the time, but the unusual formation of the train. The two first class vehicles are normally marshaled at one end of the train, but here the additional blue and grey coach has been added between them and the power car. The sun was finally breaking through on this morning after a very foggy start.

During the brief period when the Great Western Mainline between Wantage Road and Challow was a three track route, 43136 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 19 July 1993 with the 1C26 10:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service. As can be seen from the rust, the newly laid down loop had still yet to be commissioned. The deliberately off centre composition of this picture is in order to include Didcot Power Station in the background, which is clearly doing its bit for the National Grid.

Work was well under way to reinstate the up relief line at Grove on 30 January 1994. A crane stands on the up main line, with jibs extended out over the course of the new line. 43136 approaches, running 'wrong line' on the down main with the 1A20 09:29 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington service. The line in the foreground is the then recently installed down relief, which during this Sunday engineering possession, was being used by all down trains. Photo taken from a public footpath crossing.

43136 leads the 1C71 18:45 Paddington to Exeter St Davids (via Bristol) First Great Western Trains service past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 29 July 1999. Whilst the rest of the train has been repainted into FGW's 'Fag Packet' livery, 43136 still retains the stylish Great Western Trains colour scheme. In the late 1990s it was still possible to take pictures from the north side of the line on a summer evening at this location, without shadows from recently planted trees causing much of a problem.

43136 catches the last of the winter afternoon's light, as it passes underneath the road bridge at Challow on 26 January 2000 with the 1C48 15:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. A numerical coincidence saw 165136 pass by ten minutes earlier. Note the stile and public footpath sign to the right of the bridge.

A last look at my once well used photographic vantage point of trains arriving at Charlbury station from underneath the brick road bridge. The date is 4 May 2011 and within a matter of weeks this view will be obscured by a new footbridge, the foundations of which can be seen on both sides of the line. The new down platform is under construction on the left, with the as yet unconnected new line already in place. 43136 arrives with the 1P26 06:43 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service.

Not much room for error here, as the train virtually fills the field of view. 43136 leads the 1C09 10:00 Paddington to Paignton 'Torbay Express' First Great Western service past the site of Knighton Crossing (near Uffington) on 29 September 2011. Despite the obvious route for this train being via the Berks & Hants line, it is in fact routed via Swindon and Bristol, as is obvious from the fact that it is pictured here.

43136 passes the jumble of masts, lights and assorted lineside paraphernalia at Radley on 19 April 2013, as it heads south with the 1P51 14:31 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service. All this clutter explains why there is now no unobstructed view from the bridge in the background.

The wood pigeon sat on the high tension wires pays little attention to the 1P26 06:42 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service as it passes Chilson on 15 April 2014, led by 43136. Although the FGW livery is fairly bland, at least they do tend to keep the HST sets clean.

Passing the isolated tree in the field at Uffington, 43136 heads towards the capital on 16 April 2014 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington First Great Western service. It looks like the tree has suffered some severe damage at some point in its life.

43136 passes Denchworth on 9 October 2015 with the 1C17 14:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. I have deliberately included much more sky in the picture than normal, as the dark clouds make a fantastic contrast to the brightly lit foreground.

Shortly after sunrise on 28 January 2016, 43136 leads the 1L28 07:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR Service past Bourton in the golden early morning light. With a clear sky, it was naturally rather cold, despite the sunshine. Note the frost on the sleepers.

Superb late winter light at the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 18 February 2016. 43136 speeds westwards with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service, passing a couple of rusty steel piles, that signal the forthcoming demise of this spot as a photographic location.

43136 passes Compton Beauchamp on the perfect spring morning of 17 March 2016 with the appropriately headcoded 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. Note the recent lineside vegetation clearance behind the train.

The UEFA Champions League Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 3 June 2017 required GWR to run a whole series of extra HSTs from London to Cardiff throughout the day. The last of these was the 1Z21 15:31 Paddington to Cardiff Central, seen here passing Uffington, led by 43136.

43136 pulls away from Charlbury station, and passes Cornbury Park on 20 June 2018 with the 1P37 15:51 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington GWR service. In addition to its long standing dark bodyside patch, 43136 now seems to have acquired some kind of white blemish underneath the horn grille. The tower of Charlbury church can just be seen above the bushes on the right.

43136 passes a pile of track panels next to the reinstated (for the second time in a couple of years!) down relief line at Wolvercote on 30 June 2018. It is working the 1W07 17:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. This was not really a very successful evening for northbound Cotswold Line trains, with both the previous 1W06 16:22, and later 1W08 18:22 departures from Paddington cancelled!

43137 leads the 1C44 12:44 Paddington to Cardiff Central InterCity service past Shrivenham on 19 December 1981. Its been a long time since the view from the B4000 road bridge was as open as this. Quite large trees now form a backdrop to this scene, but more annoyingly, there are now several large bushes growing along the lineside fence, making a wide view such as this impossible.

Coal fired power stations and HSTs - two things that have disappeared from the Vale of White Horse since this picture was taken on 9 June 1987. 43137 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, in the last of the evening light with the 1C74 19:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare service. I have deliberately gone for an unusual framing, in order to include the huge clouds of steam rising from Didcot Power Station in the background.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 approaches Tiverton Parkway on 1 November 1997 with the 1C20 09:35 Paddington to Plymouth Great Western Trains service. What a pity that this livery wasn't perpetuated when First Group took over the franchise!

43137 Newton Abbot 150 runs along the down relief line at Duffryn on Sunday 9 August 1998 with the 5A70 16:00 Bristol St Philips Marsh to Cardiff Central ECS. This would later form the 1A70 17:55 Cardiff to Paddington service. This view clearly demonstrates that the first incarnation of the GWR franchise (Great Western Trains) got the livery right first time. Although the dark green is virtually the same shade as GWR's colour scheme of two decades later, the addition of the white makes all the difference, making a very stylish colour scheme, unlike the almost universally hated drab later version.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 passes Bourton with the 09:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington Great Western Trains service on 17 October 1998. The power car and the fourth coach have been repainted into Great Western's short lived green and white livery, which gave way to the notorious 'fag packet' livery when the company was taken over by the First Group. In 1998 this view at Bourton was still free of the tall radio mast that was to later blight this viewpoint.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 slowly leads the diverted 1A40 12:55 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service onto the normally freight only chord at Hawkeridge Junction on Sunday 9 January 2000.

A nice bit of spring sunshine at Up Hatherley on 16 March 2009. 43137 heads north with the 1G21 09:48 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service. The bridge in the background is the much better known photographic location of Badgeworth.

A brief burst of sunshine provides some backlighting for 43137 as it leads the 1W00 08:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service past Shorthampton on 12 May 2010. Recently cleared of vegetation in preparation for the reinstatement of double track, the bushes are already growing on the cutting side in the foreground, and it won't be long before this location reverts to its former overgrown state, which will mean this viewpoint will disappear once again.

On 16 August 2010, 43137 slowly passes South Moreton as it approaches a red signal. It is working the 1W47 15:51 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill, which will need to weave across from the fast lines at Didcot East Junction in order to head towards Oxford and the Cotswold Line. The reason for the delay on this occasion was that trains were approaching from the opposite direction on both the main and relief lines, making a brief stop in the Oxfordshire countryside inevitable!

A small group of allotments borders the line at Little Somerford. On 6 March 2012, 43137 Newton Abbot 150 rushes past with the 1L55 11:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the milky high cloud approaching from the west, which marked the end of the day's unbroken sunshine.

Superb early morning light at Compton Beauchamp on 10 September 2013, as 43137 Newton Abbot 150 speeds eastwards with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. Presumably this will be the last autumn before the wires go up at this location.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 emerges from Chipping Sodbury Tunnel on 10 September 2014 with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. The cutting side on the right almost resembles the location in steam days. In those days the vegetation was burnt off annually, in this case it is due to massive bank stabilisation work.

Transition time on the Great Western Mainline. The electrification masts are already spoiling the scene at Lower Basildon, but the stalwart HSTs are still soldiering on, nearly four decades after their introduction. 43137 Newton Abbot 150 leads the 1L54 11:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service past the track workers on 30 March 2015, catching a brief burst of unexpected but very welcome sunshine. The Met Office had correctly forecast a sunny morning, followed by cloud coming in from the west before lunchtime. This transient brightness was very short lived, and it was time for home straight afterwards. Note the rusty tubular steel pile lying in the grass to the right of the train.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 passes Denchworth on 10 April 2015 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. This train often gets held up between Swindon and Didcot due to the 4L31 09:03 Bristol to Felixstowe North freightliner running in front of it. On this occasion however, all was well, as the freightliner was still at Swindon, running 14 minutes late. Note the 1C08 09:28 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads HST passing under Circourt Bridge in the background. Electrification piling tubes litter the lineside, with some having been driven into the ground, with varying success!

A very lucky picture at Shrivenham, taken on 18 February 2016. At a closing speed of up to 250mph, getting this kind of passing HST picture exactly right is quite difficult. 43137 Newton Abbot 150 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing with the 1C11 11:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service, passing 43026 Michael Eavis bringing up the rear of the 1L50 10:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington. After a sunny start, clouds were now building up rapidly, as can be seen from the background. However, this proved to be temporary, and there was still a sunny afternoon's photography in prospect.

Masts, but no wires at Challow on 6 April 2017. 43137 Newton Abbot 150 heads eastwards with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. The bridge in the background used to be my favourite vantage point, now it has to be the adjacent field!

This is the point where the overhead wiring stops at Steventon in early 2018. 43137 Newton Abbot 150 passes underneath the first wired gantry to the west of the village, as it works the 1C18 14:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare GWR service on 18 February 2018.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 slowly pulls away from Charlbury station, and passes Cornbury Park on 11 June 2018 with the 1P18 06:42 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This was running 20 minutes late. This is not an uncommon occurrence on the Cotswold Line in 2018, where timekeeping has descended to unacceptable levels. Chadlington church, over 2 miles distant, can be seen in the background.

43137 Newton Abbot 150 passes Hinksey Yard on 23 July 2018 with the 1W02 17:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. This was 'only' 26 minutes late at this point, but due to problems with the newly laid track at Oxford, and with the signalling on the Cotswold Line, it would just get later and later, finally arriving at Hereford 71 minutes late!

43138 passes the site of Purton station (closed in 1964) with the diverted 1A47 11:35 Swansea to Paddington InterCity service on 4 April 1982. The line here has now been reinstated to double track. 43138 is still on the national network, daily working trains at 125mph, but I presume the Hillman Imp and Reliant Scimitar on the right have long since ceased to exist!

43138 (with missing headlight lens) passes Denchworth on 31 October 1994 with the 1C38 13:15 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare InterCity service. This is one of my very few railway pictures that includes a rainbow. Obviously with rainbows being so transient, the chances of one appearing when a train is due are slim, and then they are not always ideally positioned. When this picture was taken I thought the view had been ruined by the newly installed signal gantry. That is nothing compared with the mass of electfrication steelwork that now completely blocks this view!

Neatly framed between a couple of ivy covered trees, 43138 speeds westwards on 7 January 2012 with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. It has just passed the site of Uffington station, and is here about to cross over the Fernham to Uffington road.

43138 passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 26 February 2014 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Wester service. The track workers visible in the distance on the down relief line are presumably engaged in preliminary work for the Great Western Mainline electrification scheme.

43138 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 15 August 2016 with the 1B42 14:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service. I was making full use of the head on viewpoint from the bridge, as it will be totally impossible when the wires go up.

43138 passes underneath the old bridge at Compton Beauchamp in superb evening light on 13 May 2017 with the 1G60 18:15 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The arch on the left formerly played host to the up relief line, which ran between Shrivenham and Knighton Crossing. Although it looks like it was a completely sunny evening, there was in fact a large bank of cloud approaching from the west (as forecast), and it wouldn't be long before the lights went out.

43138 brings up the rear of the 1W02 10:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service, as it races through the diminutive Finstock station on 1 November 2017. As this picture is taken from the adjacent road bridge, it can be appreciated just how short the platform is.

43138 passes Didcot North Junction on 16 February 2018 with the 1P24 11:01 Oxford to Paddington GWR service. Recent vegetation clearance has opened up this view, but it will soon be obliterated by the masts and wires of the massively delayed electfrication scheme.

Still at work on the Western, even though it should have been on its way to Scotland! Debranded 43138 passes Oaksey on 3 July 2018 with the diverted 1L88 16:22 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. I wondered why the planned move of a couple of HST sets, with power cars 43035, 43138, 43151 & 43182 from Laira to Bristol, and then to Ely, hadn't actually happened. It seems the vintage locos are still needed in the south (at least temporarily) after all!

Plain blue 43138 races past Challow on 11 July 2018 with the 1G38 13:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. All branding had been removed from 43138 in readiness for its move to Scotland, but problems with the replacement Class 800 DMUs meant it had a brief reprieve. The plain blue makes a striking contrast with the dark green coaches.

43139 leads the 1A25 11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service past South Moreton (Didcot East) on 1 December 1983. For a change, I decided to go for a wider shot, and include the rustic wooden fence in the foreground. This, along with virtually everything else in this picture, has now disappeared. The iconic HSTs have been replaced by Class 800 EMUs, Didcot Power Station and the gasholder in the background have been demolished, and even this viewpoint no longer exists, due to the electfrication of the route.

43139 passes underneath the three arch bridge at Stoke Gifford, as it nears Bristol Parkway station on 6 May 1989 with the 1B28 12:00 Paddington to Swansea service. The bridge formerly gave access to a brick works, which was built to supply bricks for the construction of the line in 1897.

43139 calls at Kingham station on 12 April 1992 with the 1B32 14:40 Paddington to Great Malvern service. HSTs would be the staple InterCity motive power on the Cotswold Line for the next quarter of a century. The difference during that time would be that while this train was bang on time, but with very tatty paintwork, in later years under First Great Western, the train would inevitably be late, but virtually always in clean condition.

A frosty morning at Eckington on 17 October 1992. 43139 crosses the River Avon with the 06:05 Leeds to Plymouth 'Armada' InterCity service. I'm not sure how many people would want to travel from the north of England to Devon early on an October morning, but clearly not many First Class passengers, judging by the empty first coach!

With the Second Severn Crossing just visible through the haze in the background, 43139 leads the 1A51 11:32 Swansea to Paddington 'St. David's Pullman' Great Western Trains service through the weed choked platforms of Pilning station on 10 April 1997.

The swan on the Kennet & Avon Canal takes notice of 43139, as it approaches Crofton on 23 June 2001 with the 1C22 10:30 Paddington to Penzance 'Cornish Riviera'. High summer midday lighting has not improved the First Great Western 'fag packet' livery.

43139 brings up the rear of the 1P73 16:35 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service, as it approaches Kingham station on 8 June 2003. The trees behind the train hide the route of the former Cheltenham to Banbury railway. Twenty years earlier there were no trees, and t was possible to take a photograph from the old embankment looking in the opposite direction.

43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 speeds past Uffington on 28 August 2010 with the 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. No Photoshop manipulation has been applied to this image - the dramatic sky effect is purely the result of the rapidly changing weather conditions, and that good old photographic accessory, the polarizing filter.

A First Great Western HST well off the beaten track. 43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 slowly negotiates the pointwork at Milford Junction on 15 September 2012 with the Cotswold Line Promotion Group's 'Cotswold-Ouse Express' railtour, returning from Scarborough to Oxford. At this point it is running as the 1Z45 17:22 York to Oxford. 43151 is the rear power car. Although this is an instantly recognisable Yorkshire location, with the added bonus of an interesting track layout, a signal box, and rakes of stabled coal hoppers in the background, just as with the morning's location, I was the only photographer present to record this unusual working.

Superb golden evening light at Compton Beauchamp on 12 May 2015. 43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 races underneath the vintage three arch brick bridge with the 1G70 18:47 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa First Great Western service. The low angle of the sun is very evident here, with the shadows just reaching the down line. The fading light also required the use of ISO 800, in order to keep using the very necessary 1/2000sec shutter speed.

Viewed through a forest of newly erected electrification masts, 43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 approaches Goring on 6 July 2015 with the 1L14 05:27 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service.

43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 passes Hinksey Yard in near darkness on 2 January 2016 with the 1P55 15:32 Oxford to Paddington GWR service. Something very unusual is going on in the background. 08742 is about to couple onto the front of 60020, which is working the Pathfinder Tours 1Z62 14:23 Oxford to Birmingham New Street 'Mini Tug' railtour.

43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 passes Kemble Wick in stunning light on 4 March 2016 with the 1L58 12:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. While the Kemble area is bathed in spring sunshine (note the spire of All Saint's church in the background), a few miles to the north it is as black as night, and the rain and sleet is coming down. I know this for certain, as I had just driven through it!

43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 passes underneath the road bridge near Cassington just after sunrise on 11 May 2018. It is working the first up train of the day over the Cotswold Line - the 1P04 05:11 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service.

Early morning on the Cotswold Line on 22 June 2018. 43139 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 disturbs the tranquility of the Evenlode Valley with the 1P07 04:47 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. Note the single green coach spoiling the uniformity of the train.

Golden winter lighting at Crofton on 14 December 2000. 43140 heads towards London with the 1A27 05:15 Penzance to Paddington 'Golden Hind'. As a result of chasing the remaining classic traction all over the country, prior to the mass introduction of Class 66s, I slightly neglected the local scene, so have relatively few pictures of First Great Western HSTs in this livery.

43140 passes Crofton on 17 February 2001 with the diverted 1A30 08:50 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. The train's normal route via Swindon was closed for engineering works.

43140's interim First Great Western livery contrasts markedly with the 'fag packet' Great Western liveried stock as it passes Croome with what is presumably the diverted 1L28 07:03 Hereford to Paddington 'Cathedrals Express' on 15 July 2002 (confirmation anyone?).

43140 emerges from the bushes and approaches Bruern level crossing on 23 June 2010 with the 1P21 05:34 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. The sky shows the typical signs of settled high pressure weather. Although a mostly sunny day, these various bands of wispy high cloud would increase throughout the day, taking the edge off the light.

43140 approaches Woodborough in superb autumnal light on 10 November 2010 with the 1C81 12:18 Paddington to Taunton First Great Western service. This was taken during the stable period of First Great Western's liveries, after the entire fleet had been painted plain blue, but before they had decided to change to green!

43140 speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth in fine autumnal lighting on 18 October 2011 with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff First Great Western service. 43140 entered service in April 1980, and here it is over 31 years later still travelling up and down the Great Western Mainline at 125mph every day. Ironically conceived as a stop gap measure until electrification and the APT took over, the Class 43 has instead proved to be one of the longest lived and certainly the most successful design of diesel loco ever to run in this country.

A wave from the driver for Ascott-under-Wychwood's signalman, as 43140 speeds eastwards on 25 July 2012 with the 1P26 06:44 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the two HST stop boards (for seven and eight coach sets) on the left. In the unlikely event of a HST being used for a train calling at Ascott-under-Wychwood, this proves the point that the train would be blocking the level crossing.

43140 Landore Diesel Depot 1963 Celebrating 50 Years 2013 passes Hay Lane, on the western edge of Swindon, with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service on 10 July 2014.

43140 Landore Diesel Depot 1963 Celebrating 50 Years 2013 climbs Sapperton Bank on 17 May 2014 with the 1L40 08:36 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington First Great Western service. The railings on the right are there because the line here is built on the side of a valley, and there is a considerable drop on that side.

A sadly missed photographic location, now unfortunately lost under a sea of overhead electfrication wires. In happier times, 43140 Landore Diesel Depot 1963 Celebrating 50 Years 2013 passes Compton Beauchamp in superb spring light on 30 March 2015 with the 1A07 06:48 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service.

43140 Landore Diesel Depot 1963 Celebrating 50 Years 2013 passes underneath the incomplete electfrication infrastructure at Steventon on 1 March 2017, as it speeds towards the capital with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service.

43140 Landore Diesel Depot 1963 Celebrating 50 Years 2013 sweeps round the curve just to the west of Ascott-under-Wychwood on 14 June 2017 with the 1W03 18:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. Unbelievably, considering this is just about the nearest railway location to my home, I have never taken a picture from this particular spot before! The fact that the sun is only round far enough for the last couple of hours of daylight around the longest day has probably got something to do with it!

43140 Landore Diesel Depot 1963 Celebrating 50 Years 2013 approaches Uffington on 21 October 2017 with the 1A09 08:33 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. I had expected there to be more autumn colour in the copse behind the train, but despite it being the third week of October, virtually the whole wood is still green.

A ScotRail HST in Gloucestershire! 43140 is paired up with plain blue 43035, pictured here passing Fiddington on 10 September 2018, running as the 0L46 05:53 Laira to Ely Papworth Sidings. Ideally I would have liked a picture of the leading power car as well, but that would have been backlit, and getting a decent picture of the 'Seven Cities' liveried 43138 on the rear was much more important, especially as this happened to pass during a brief period of full sun. Although the farm occupation bridge from which this was taken is completely traffic free, it is still not easy to rush from one side to the other to get both pictures, as the best viewpoint requires the use of a precariously balanced ladder amongst the brambles!

43140 brings up the rear of the 1A97 13:45 Glasgow Queen Street to Aberdeen ScotRail service at Newtonhill on 15 September 2019. I was particularly keen to photograph the new ScotRail HSTs during their first year of operation, while they were still using sets of coaches in former operator First Great Western's livery, as here.

43140 passes Limpet Mill (near Stonehaven) on 15 September 2019 with the 1T86 17:44 Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street ScotRail service. The village of Muchalls can be seen in the distance, with the undulating North Sea coastline on the right.

43140 brings up the rear of the 1A55 09:28 Edinburgh to Aberdeen ScotRail service at Scotston on 16 September 2019. The two ScotRail Seven Cities liveried power cars are working with an unrefurbished set of coaches, still in the First Great Western blue colour scheme. In the background, a tractor can be seen bringing in another load of bales from the field. There were two tractors doing this, going backwards and forwards over the bridge on which I was standing. The road was so narrow and twisty, that I had to move the car to make sure it was well out of their way!

A panoramic view of the houses and factories of St Annes, Bristol, taken on 27 February 1996. 43141 approaches North Somerset Junction with the 1C38 13:15 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare service. 58022 waits in the loop in the background with the 4C13 11:21 Calvert to Bristol Avon binliner empties. Since this picture was taken, the waste ground adjacent to Cole Road in the foreground has been redeveloped, and now houses even more modern industrial units.

43141 accelerates away from Swindon station, and passes Highworth Junction on 16 March 1995 with the 1A11 05:32 Swansea to Paddington service. The gas holder, the last remnant of Swindon's once extensive gas works, managed to survive for nearly two decades after this picture was taken, but like most of them nationwide, has now been removed.

43141 passes the site of Patney & Chirton station on 11 May 2009 with the late running 1A77 05:41 Penzance to Paddington First Great Western service. The recent clearance of some lineside trees had improved this viewpoint considerably.

43141 speeds westwards past Baulking on 9 December 2010 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. Not quite the sunny day that the Met Office had forecast, but at least I was in the right place for the sun, as most of the time it was much cloudier in the east. Of course the weathermen had said that any cloud later in the day was coming from the west!

43141 pulls out of platform 1 at Banbury on 2 January 2011 with the diverted 1C09 08:45 Paddington to Plymouth First Great Western service, which had arrived a few minutes earlier lead by 43165. Platforms 1 & 2 had been specially signaled to allow trains to depart 'wrong line' whilst these diversions were in operation.

43141 runs slowly along the up relief line past milepost 62 near Denchworth, before coming to a stand at Wantage Road on 14 July 2011. It remained at Wantage Road for forty minutes, being overtaken by numerous service trains. Presumably therefore an ECS working, similar to the one I saw travelling in the opposite direction less than an hour before. These relief lines are seeing quite a bit of HST activity recently!

43141 takes the Swindon line at Standish Junction on 6 October 2012, as it heads south with the 1L67 15:00 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. It is on the former GWR route, whilst the lines in the foreground formerly belonged to the LMS.

43141 approaches Oxford on 21 January 2013 with the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. Although there was plenty of snow still lying on the ground, it had unfortunately already begun to drop off the trees and bushes.

43141 passes Badsey on 7 February 2013 with the 1P56 13:14 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. The tall fir trees that dominate this location were removed shortly after this picture was taken, changing the view completely.

Previously a very open viewpoint, by 2013 the view from the main road at Culham had become very grown up, with numerous lineside bushes. 43141 is glimpsed through the bushes, as is it heads north on 1 May 2013 with the 1D51 16:49 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. Thankfully all this vegetation was later removed, restoring something of the former excellent viewpoint.

A deliberately wide view of the railway at Shrivenham on 16 April 2014, taken to include as much of the oilseed rape field as possible. 43141 heads west with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. Years ago there would have been a clear view of the whole of the train.

43141 passes a large clump of Ox-eye Daises as it slows down on the approach to Kingham station on 7 June 2014 with the 1P65 15:13 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. This picture is taken from a public footpath that links the villages of Kingham and Bledington.

Recently named 43141 Cardiff Panel Signal Box 1966-2016 (with the Welsh version Blwch Signalau Panel Caerdydd 1996-2016 on this side), passes Compton Beauchamp on 16 May 2016 with the late running 1L20 05:58 Swansea to Paddington GWR service.

43141 Blwch Signalau Panel Caerdydd 1996-2016 passes Cattybrook on 19 July 2016 with the 1L55 11:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. This location has recently been opened out by the removal of a line of trees on the left. This photographic improvement is shortly going to be reversed, once the electrification masts visible in the background spread nearer to the bridge.

43141 Cardiff Panel Signal Box 1966-2016 passes Wolvercote in superb evening light on 25 March 2017 with the 1W06 16:15 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. Network Rail has rightly been criticised for its unbelievably slow progress with the Great Western Mainline electfrication scheme. However, that is nothing compared with their reinstatement of the down relief line between Oxford North Junction and Wolvercote. That has actually gone into reverse, with the track that was installed in 2016, having been taken up!

You can't beat it! A local jogger is easily outpaced by 43141 Cardiff Panel Signal Box 1966-2016, as it leads the 1P31 07:10 Hereford to Paddington GWR service past at Kennington on Saturday 9 September 2017. The path is part of the very well used Sustrans route No.5 long distance cycle track.

43141 Blwch Signalau Panel Caerdydd 1996-2016 approaches Standish Junction on 13 January 2018 with the 1G11 07:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. This was running 40 minutes late. In the background is what for generations of railway photographers was known as the 'Black Bridge', now clearly misnamed!

Sunday engineering work closed the main lines between Reading and London on 14 June 1987, so all trains were using the relief lines. 43142 St. Mary's Hospital Paddington leads the 1A20 09:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service along the up relief line at Shottesbrooke. 43142 only carried the St. Mary's Hospital Paddington name for just over two years, with the standard plates seen here being replaced by the cheap looking reflective style, which were then removed after just a few weeks!

Sunday engineering work has closed the fast lines at Waltham St Lawrence on 8 April 1990, and all trains are using the relief lines. Note the low-tech red flag on the up main. 43142 heads west with the 1C32 10:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare service.

The driver of 43142 glances up at the photographer, as he slows down to take the Cotswold Line route at Wolvercote Junction on 11 June 1992 whilst working the 18:20 Paddington to Hereford 'Cathedrals Express' service. This was the second of the two HST worked evening services over the line at the time. There was also a midday HST service, but apart from the corresponding up services all other trains were worked by DMUs.

A mixture of liveries at South Marston on 12 June 2003 as 43142 heads west with the 17:42 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. 43142 sports the short lived First Group livery with white around the cab, which was carried by only a few power cars. The rear power car is in the later version of First's purple colour scheme, as is the fifth coach, whilst the rest of the train is in the so called 'fag packet' livery.

43142 passes Woodborough on the misty morning of 27 October 2003 with the 1A21 05:55 Plymouth to Paddington service. Unfortunately I have got very few pictures of HSTs in this livery, which was First Great Western's first attempt at a blue colour scheme. Each subsequent version of the livery got less inventive.

The fog is only just beginning to clear at Compton Beauchamp on 22 August 2011, as 43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 passes by with the 1L24 06:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The footbridge at Ashbury Crossing, which is normally visible in the background of this view is still hidden in the gloom. It is good to know that in these days of high tech innovations, nothing beats stuffing newspapers underneath the sun visors when driving into the low early morning sun!

The tree in the field next to the line at Uffington makes a superb photographic foreground. 43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 passes by on 16 April 2014 with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service.

The lookout man keeps watch, as 43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 speeds past the site of Shrivenham station on 4 September 2014 with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

With the first class coaches unusually at the 'country' end of the train, 43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 passes Goring in superb early morning light on 6 July 2015 with the 1C03 07:00 Paddington to Bristol First Great Western service.

43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 speeds past Uffington on 25 February 2016 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. Although for some odd reason I never visited this location in the 'good old day's of the 1980s, it has since become one of favourite locations on the Great Western Mainline, principally because of the various different viewpoints that can be had by walking up and down the lineside field.

With the rails glistening after a recent shower of rain, 43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 arrives at Honeybourne on 30 March 2017 with the 1W32 12:20 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill GWR service. The track in the background is the freight only line to Long Marston.

43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 passes Wendlebury on 17 September 2017 with the diverted 1B25 09:58 Paddington to Carmarthen GWR service. This picture is taken from the newly constructed Langford Lane roadbridge. This replaces a level crossing some distance to the north, and involved constructing a new Langford Lane, on a completely different route.

43142 Reading Panel Signal Box 1965 - 2010 approaches Steventon on 25 January 2018 with the 1A12 07:48 Paignton to Paddington GWR service. Wires to the west, and wires behind me to the east, but still no wires here!

43143 passes Oxford North Junction on 20 July 1990 with the 1B48 17:12 Paddington to Hereford service. 43143 was less than ten years old at the time, but already wearing its second livery. When I took this picture I certainly couldn't have predicted that 28 years later I would be taking a picture of it on the east coast of Scotland!

The driver of 43143 has just surrendered the Evesham to Norton single line token to the signalman at Norton Junction on 22 May 1994, whilst working the 1B36 15:43 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill InterCity service. Just behind me, the late running 1A70 16:35 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington train was waiting to access the single line. Note the plethora of speed restriction signs. 90mph for the Cotswold Line, 50mph for the curve to Abbotswood Junction, 30mph for the actual junction, and 25mph coming off the Cotswold Line.

43143 passes the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 5 April 1996 with the 1B30 14:00 Paddington to Swansea service. How times change. Largely ignore by most photographers at the time, the footbridge here would be teeming with photographers now if there was any chance of an InterCity liveried HST running, which unfortunately there isn't! Of course not only have the HSTs been replaced by the inferior Class 800 EMUs, but also this location has been severely compromised by the 25kv overhead wiring.

43143 Stroud 700 races past Knighton (between Swindon and Didcot) with the 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service on 18 April 2007. Typically, the cloud which had been well broken when I left home soon built up as can be seen here, leaving only brief sunny spells. Of course, when I got back home the reverse happened!

43143 Stroud 700 passes Oaksey in the rain on 21 November 2009 with the diverted 1L55 11:29 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. An appropriate power car for this route, as the train had passed through Stroud station a short while earlier.

43143 Stroud 700 passes Crofton on 20 October 2010 with the 1A78 06:48 Penzance to Paddington First Great Western service. The 80mph speed restriction sign is a reminder that this route does not really do justice to the HST's capabilities, with numerous curves not allowing the full 125mph speed to be achieved, in marked contrast to the Bristol mainline.

43143 Stroud 700 passes Bourton on 4 March 2014 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. Early March means that the shadows are no longer a problem at this location. The mud and ruts on the track down the bridge are another matter!

43143 Stroud 700 speeds underneath the soon to be demolished bridge at Shrivenham on 12 June 2014 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington First Great Western service. Typical of a midsummer day, the clouds were starting t build up, after a completely sunny start.

43143 Stroud 700 passes Baulking on 30 June 2014 with the 1L50 10:20 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. The middle of the day during high summer is hardly the best time for photography, despite what the average person thinks!

Caught in mid wipe! The driver of 43143 Stroud 700 washes the windscreen, as his train passes Steventon on 29 September 2015 with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The chimney of Didcot's redundant coal fired power station can bee seen in the background.

The frost encrusted roadside barrier at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, makes an unusual foreground, as 43143 Stroud 700 heads towards London with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service on 20 January 2016. Note that Network Rail have removed most of the trees on the right. Most, but not all!

43143 Stroud 700 passes Denchworth on 18 February 2016 with the 1A08 05:09 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. This wildly off centre composition is in order to show the extensive works going on in connection with the forthcoming electfrication.

43143 Stroud 700 passes Bourton on 12 August 2016 with the 1C17 14:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. New signals have recently been installed, in preparation for the much delayed electrification work, yet ironically, the sighting patch from semaphore signalling days still exists on the bridge in the background!

43143 Stroud 700 sweeps past the site of Shrivenham station on 13 March 2017 with the 1A16 07:41 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. The masts in the background indicate that this viewpoint will soon be lost amid a sea of wires!

43143 passes the 10¼ in gauge Kerr's Miniature Railway at Arbroath on 1 September 2018 with the 2W93 15:08 Dundee to Aberdeen ScotRail driver training special. 43036 brings up the rear. This just happened to pass in a few minutes worth of sunshine, virtually the only time the sun appeared from behind the clouds all day! After over four decades of hard work on the Western Region, the locos will now have an easier time of it in Scotland, with no 125mph running, and only four or five coaches per train. When the trains enter passenger service, they will feature refurbished coaches with power operating sliding doors, and in the same livery as the power cars. This set features unrefurbished coaches, still in the First Great Western blue colour scheme.

With a toot from the driver, 43143 passes over a recently reconstructed embankment near Kintore on 15 September 2019 with the 1T78 11:03 Inverurie to Glasgow Queen Street ScotRail service. Despite this running to time, Realtime Trains was showing the nonsensical note: 'This service was cancelled between Inverurie and Inverurie due to unknown cause'!

Springtime on the Cotswold Line. 43144 rounds the curve at Aston Magna on 13 April 1991 with the 1A55 13:45 Great Malvern to Paddington InterCity service. Note that one of 43144's headlight covers is completely missing.

43144 passes the monster pile of pallets on the site of Shrivenham station, as it works the 1A25 07:02 Swansea to Paddington service on 19 March 1993. The station closed in 1964, but the site has been in industrial use in some form ever since.

43144 makes use of the area's bi-directional signalling, as it crosses over from the down to the up line, on the approach to Bristol on 27 February 1996. It is working the 1C46 14:45 Paddington to Penzance service. The train has just passed North Somerset Junction, and is approaching Feeder Bridge Junction.

Not a going away shot as it may look like at first glance, but 43144 is running 'wrong line' (note the headlights) at Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham on 8 August 2006. Full use is being made of the bi-directional signaling, as some unspecified problem further up the line requires the 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service to take this course of action.

43144 has full power applied as it passes Yanton with the 1W47 15:51 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service on 2 April 2009. It has just diverged onto the Cotswold Line at Wolvercote Junction, but will soon already be slowing for the first stop at Hanborough. The Scots Pine trees in the background mark the site of the former Yarnton Junction station, where the Fairford Branch diverged. The GWR's favourite tree of choice is now all that marks the site of a number of closed stations.

A viewpoint that I had been meaning to use for a number of years and somehow never got around to. 43144 passes Knighton with the 1B20 09:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service on 1 March 2010. The train is just approaching the site of Knighton Crossing, which was replaced in the early 1970s by a road underbridge, which is just out of the picture to the left. The inclusion of the road signs, roads and bushes add foreground interest to the scene, but obviously this picture will only work successfully in winter or early spring.

43144 passes Ruscombe on 1 May 2013 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The platform of Twyford station can just be glimpsed through the arch of the bridge in the background.

Sporting 'Building A Greater West' vinyls, 43144 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 16 April 2015 with the 1L60 12:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service. The rabbit in the foreground is not impressed!

A lucky picture at Compton Beauchamp on 20 April 2015. 43144, with its 'Building A Greater West' vinyls, heads east with the 1L24 06:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service, as the 1B10 07:45 Paddington to Swansea heads in the opposite direction, with 43015 bringing up the rear. Normally this kind of picture would show trains passing at a closing speed of approaching 250mph, but on this occasion neither HST was doing anything like 125mph. The London bound train is still accelerating away from a PW slack at Bourton, while the Swansea bound service is running under adverse signals, catching up with the 1G11 07:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa train.

'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 leads the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington GWR service past Bourton on 23 September 2015. Having already seen the first GWR green liveried set, this was the start of a colourful HST hour, which included the 'Visit Plymouth' and 'Bristol 2015' power cars.

The evidence of 43144's 'Building A Greater West' vinyl can be seen in the background, as the power car leads the 1A20 14:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service past the first signs of impending electfrication at Steventon on 29 September 2015.

'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 October 2015 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington GWR service. After nearly a decade of the plain blue livery, and just as the company ditches it in favour of green, no fewer than five power cars now sport non standard colour schemes.

Plenty of evidence of lineside vegetation clearance just to the east of Challow on 24 February 2016, but very little evidence of the much delayed electrification. 'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 speeds towards the capital with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service.

43144 passes Uffington on 25 February 2016 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. It also worked the same train the previous day. The brick structure in the foreground is a small culvert underneath the embankment, and its slightly over engineered appearance is presumably designed to stop any ballast falling into the ditch and blocking it.

Catching the last of the evening sunshine, 'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 leads the past 1L90 17:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service past Compton Beauchamp on 8 June 2016. Although this has always been a reasonably good location for photographing mid summer evening trains, the removal of some lineside bushes has made it even better.

This is not quite the ordinary picture that it appears to be. Rather than yet another GWR HST from either South Wales or Bristol passing the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 9 August 2016, this is something a little bit different. It is the 5L28 08:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington ECS. Appearing as a VSTP working, this is presumably in connection with the line being closed at Oxford, resulting in disruption to the normal HST diagrams via the Cotswold Line.

Is the track worker praying for divine help with the bungled Great Western Mainline electfrication scheme? 43144 passes the site of Shrivenham station on 11 August 2016 with the 1L52 10:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service.

'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 brings up the rear of the 1A14 11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service at the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 5 October 2016. Something of much more interest to the majority of the photographers on the bridge can be seen approaching in the distance - LMS Princess Royal Class 4-6-2 6201 Princess Elizabeth.

Golden late afternoon light at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 2 November 2016. 'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 heads towards the west with the 1C18 14:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare GWR service.

A last look at the well known location at Bourton? As the sun fades out into high cloud, 'Building A Greater West' liveried 43144 passes Bourton on 3 November 2016 with the 1L46 09:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service. The much delayed electfrication masts finally appeared here just a few days later.

43144 approaches Challow on 20 January 2017 with the 1G38 13:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. Several years behind schedule, and massively over budget, the unbelievably badly organised Great Western Mainline electfrication programme is now blighting the Vale of White Horse landscape.

43144's livery proclaims 'Building A Greater West', and the evidence of that can be seen in the background. The electfrication of the Great Western Mainline is nowhere more controversial than here at Steventon, for the bridge from which this picture was taken is due to be demolished, and this is the subject of fierce local opposition from villagers. This picture was taken on 6 April 2017, and shows the 1L50 10:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service.

The driver of 43144 gives a couple of extra blasts on the horn, as he spots me on the bridge at Shipton on 21 February 2018. The train is the 1W01 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. The tree stumps on the cutting side give ample evidence of recent extensive vegetation clearance, which has opened up this view nicely. Unfortunately a tree near the road on the right has been left, so there is still no possibility of a picture from the south side of the line if the sun is out.

43144 approaches the public footpath crossing near St Mary's Crossing on 8 May 2018 with the late running 1G29 11:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. Chalford's distinctive parish church can be seen amid the trees on the left.

43144 passes the recently cleared location of Hungerford Common on 27 September 2018 with the 1C82 13:03 Paddington to Plymouth GWR service. Until the massive lineside vegetation clearance, only a very head on shot was possible here.

43145 passes Rangeworthy on 5 May 1986 with the 1E30 07:00 Plymouth to Newcastle service. Its amazing just how open this location was in the 1980s. Note the 1960s vintage Massey Ferguson combine harvester in the background, which was probably already out of use when this picture was taken.

43145 passes Aller on 7 December 1988 with the 1B52 10:10 Paddington to Plymouth service. A clean InterCity swallow liveried HST in nice low winter light looks the business now, but would have been largely ignored by photographers at the time. Kodachrome 64 and a Canon A1 with 100mm lens record the scene.

Weak winter sunshine at South Moreton (Didcot East) on 7 January 1990. 43145 runs along the up main line with the 1A30 09:11 Swansea to Paddington service. At the time, InterCity liveried HSTs were mostly ignored my many photographers (not me!). Three decades later things are a little different!

43145 passes through the pastoral Wiltshire landscape near Rodbourne on 6 August 1992 with the 1B50 17:30 Paddington to Milford Haven service. Although Rodbourne village is fairly close to the line, the Great Western Railway did not see fit to provide it with a station when the 'Badminton cut off' line was opened in 1903. Being only a small village didn't usually prevent a station being provided in those days!

43145 approaches Stocks Lane level crossing, in the village of Steventon, with 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 29 September 2009. The chimney of Didcot Power Station can be seen in the background.

43145 speeds eastwards past Bourton on 31 August 2010 with the 1A15 11:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. This picture is taken from a farm occupation bridge midway between the road bridge in the village of Bourton (in the background), and the site of Shrivenham station.

43145 speeds past Ascott-under-Wychwood signal box on 25 July 2012 with the 1P21 05:35 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. Until 2011 this train would have been weaving across to join the line directly in front of the box, as it was single track from here all the way to Wolvercote Junction. The single track now commences near Charlbury station. The track appears to have a slight cant to the right, and the signal box has a definite lean to the left. This is enough to make the sliding windows have a habit of shutting themselves!

43145 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, in superb autumn light on 19 November 2013 with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Didcot Power Station's redundant cooling towers can be seen in the background.

A First Great Western HST meeting at Challow on 2 January 2014. 43145 heads towards London with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington service, while the 1C07 09:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads train disappears underneath the road bridge.

43145 passes Bourton on 8 August 2015 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. The fresh ballast is the result of both tracks being lowered in order to accommodate the forthcoming overhead electrification. This will negate the need to rebuild both the bridge I am standing on, and the one in the background.

43145 leads the 1L55 11:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service past Wapley on 16 February 2016. Just visible through the trees is Shire Way, effectively a ring road around the massive housing estate that sprawls out from Yare and Chipping Sodbury.

43145 passes Bourton on 13 March 2017 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. Electfrication obviously has its benefits, but no other form of railway 'improvement' has such a catastrophic affect on the environment. Broad gauge changed to standard gauge, steam gave way to diesel, and HSTs took over from loco hauled trains, but still the Great Western Mainline had a minimal impact on the landscape. Electfrication has now blighted Brunel's masterpiece forever, leaving a hideous scar across the countryside.

43145 passes the allotment next to Stocks Lane, Steventon, on 6 April 2017 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. Good use is being made of the south facing brick wall, to grow various fruit trees, in true Victorian walled garden style.

43146 passes Bremell Sidings on 19 June 1988 with the 1B33 14:50 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa service. At this time the only connection to the oil depot sidings was a trailing connection in the up direction, but as can be seen from the gate on the left, there was formerly a rail connection at this end of the site as well.

Welcome to Oxford! The Austin Maxi and Hillman Avenger have reached the end of the road, but nearly three decades later 43146 is still going strong. Heading up a complete matching rake of InterCity liveried stock, 43146 pulls out of Oxford station on 26 May 1990 with the 1A23 07:03 Hereford to Paddington service. The scrapyard is long gone, and is now Oxford station's car park

43146 rounds the curve at Creech St Michael on 6 July 1990 with the 1V42 08:20 Leeds to Paignton 'Devonian'. Unfortunately this location is no longer as open as this, with significant tree growth in the immediate foreground.

43146 leaves Oxford station on 28 June 1991 with the 1A15 06:05 Hereford to Paddington service. Coincidentally, I had photographed this same power car, at the same spot, on a similar service, just over a year earlier.

43146 accelerates away from Totnes with an empty stocking working heading for Laira on 26 March 1994 after waiting in the centre road for 47811 to pass with the 09:18 Manchester Picadilly to Plymouth service. The perfect combination for railway photography using a Pentax 6x7 and ISO 100 film - full sun and a relatively slow moving train!

43146 emerges from Twerton Tunnel on 12 October 1994 with the 1C42 14:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service. The newly planted trees on the right of this view soon ruined what was an excellent photographic location. It was also a very secluded spot in 1994, long before the travellers arrived!

43146 speeds through the Berkshire countryside near Hungerford on 30 July 2007 with the 1A76 05:05 Penzance to Paddington 'Golden Hind' First Great Western service. This photo is taken from a farm occupation bridge, a short distance to the west of the town.

43146 passes milepost 85¾ near Callow Hill on 12 April 2011 with the 1L51 10:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service. I had been meaning to visit this location for a number of years, but I must thank Steve King for pointing out the super abundance of blackthorn blossom next to the bridge. Unfortunately the weather forecasters had been a little optimistic again, and the sunshine was frequently interrupted by lengthy cloudy spells. I only just got away with it here!

The second platform is taking shape at Charlbury station on 3 May 2011 as 43146 arrives with the 1W47 15:51 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service. The coping stones are partly in place and in the background the recently delivered point that will mark the end of the new double track section can just be seen. The time is 17:11, which explains why there are no orange jacketed workers wandering about in the picture!

'Building A Greater West' branded 43146 leads the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service past Baulking on 20 March 2015. This was the prelude to an interesting hour's photography, with 60066, 66713 & 60085 all heading west with freights.

'Building A Greater West' branded 43146 passes Baulking on 23 April 2015 with the 1C18 14:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare First Great Western service. Coincidentally, I photographed this power car at the same location a month earlier. This gives a good indication how much the lineside vegetation changes during the spring growing season.

'Building A Greater West' branded 43146 heads south along the Chiltern Line at Ardley on 4 April 2015 with the diverted 1L24 06:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. Just visible on the rear is FGW's other non standard liveried power car, 43163. This train had just reversed at Banbury, after turning left off of its normal route at Didcot. This was caused by major engineering work at Reading taking place over the Easter weekend.

'Building A Greater West' declares the vinyl advertising livery applied to 43146, and in the foreground is the evidence! A line of steel piling tubes litter the trackside near Steventon on 9 December 2015, as 43146 speeds past with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service.

'Building A Greater West' branded 43146 passes Bourton on 28 January 2016 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington GWR service. Presumably this will be quite a long lived vinyl covered power car, as the Great Western is being very slowly rebuilt - the electrification being currently four years behind schedule!

'Building A Greater West' branded 43146 passes Wapley on 16 February 2016 with the 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. This is the site of Westerleigh East Signal Box, and the flat area of ground behind the fence in the background marks the site of sidings, and the junction for a former short freight branch, that curved away sharply to the north.

43146 passes the site of Ashbury crossing, near Shrivenham, on 18 February 2016 with the 1C10 10:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The 'Building A Greater West' branding does not really ring true with historians and railway photographers, as the electrification of the route is effectively historical and architectural vandalism.

'Building A Greater West' liveried 43146 runs alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal near Crofton on 23 August 2016 with the 1C79 11:06 Paddington to Plymouth GWR service. Note how the canal has been almost halved in width by the encroaching reeds.

'Building A Greater West' liveried 43146 speeds past the one remaining tree that Network Rail haven't chopped down at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. It is working the late running 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service on 1 December 2016.

A family out for a Sunday stroll, crossing the threatened bridge on which I am standing get a toot from the driver of 43146 on 26 March 2017, as it passes Steventon with the 1L63 13:46 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. The 'Building A Greater West' logo on the bodyside really ought to be changed to 'Very Slowly Building A Greater West', such is Network Rail's exceedingly slow progress with the beleaguered electfrication project. Now many years behind schedule, the infrastructure is gradually getting nearer - note the masts in the background.

43146 rounds the curve at Drumlithie on 15 September 2019 with the 1A81 09:37 Glasgow Queen Street to Aberdeen ScotRail service. Although the power car is in ScotRail's Seven Cities livery, the coaching stock retains former operator First Great Western's colour scheme.

43146 brings up the rear of the 1T82 13:32 Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street ScotRail service, as it crosses Mondynes Viaduct on 15 September 2019. The viaduct carries the line over the Bervie Water, a river that rises in the nearby Drumtochty Forest, and flows into the North Sea at Inverbervie.

When 43002 was repainted into the original InterCity 125 livery in 2016, photographers recorded its every move, and of course I made sure I got a few pictures of the smart looking power car. However, this is the real thing, back in 1982, when most photographers (not that there seemed to be that many!) mostly ignored HSTs. 43147 leads the 1A05 09:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service on 27 October 1982, pictured at a barely reconisable Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. Two tracks, no wood in the background, a few surviving dead elm trees, and of course well over three decades away from any disfiguring overhead catenary!

43147 passes Rangeworthy on 4 September 1986 with the 07:40 Bristol Temple Meads to Liverpool Lime Street InterCity service. This mismatch of liveries, with a pair of InterCity Executive power cars sandwiching a complete rake of blue and grey stock would cause immense interest if it existed in 2016, but 30 years earlier it seemed like I was out of step by taking pictures of HSTs!

43147 descends the gradient towards the Severn Tunnel at Pilning on 11 October 1986 with the 1B32 14:00 Paddington to Swansea InterCity service. The footbridge in the background indicates the presence of Pilning station. Network Rail's refusal to replace this bridge during their electrification work, effectively results in the closure by stealth of Pilning station.

43147 passes Hinksey Yard on 14 March 1987 with the 1A48 13:14 Great Malvern to Paddington service. This train typifies the era, with a pair of power cars in the InterCity Executive livery, but with the coaches still in blue and grey. The Oxford skyline in the background is dominated on the right by the then still relatively new ice rink.

The tide is out at Shaldon Bridge on 16 September 1990, as 43147 Red Cross heads westwards with the 1C42 12:20 Paddington to Penzance service. A few months after this picture was taken railings were installed along the top of the foreground wall.

43147 The Red Cross rounds the curve at Crofton on 16 May 1992 with the 1A32 07:35 Plymouth to Paddington service. Behind the train is the world famous Crofton Pumping Station, which supplies water to the Kennet & Avon Canal, which can be seen in the foreground. Just visible to the right of the power car is a Second World War pillbox, part of the GHQ stop line defence system.

Bovine indifference at Shrivenham! 43147 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing on 1 November 1994 with the 11:25 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (via Cheltenham) service. The train is passing between the two incarnations of the 71 milepost. A decade later the post that once supported the one on the right survives to be a nuisance for photography.

43147 approaches Wolvercote Junction on 21 May 2001 with the 1B61 17:12 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. Most of us at the time thought this livery was a bit uninspired, but it looks an awful lot better than the green livery that came nearly two decades later!

43147 passes Whitehill (between Finstock and Combe) with the 1F35 08:03 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service on 21 February 2004. Some vegetation clearance has obviously recently been carried out here, but a lot more needs doing!

43147 takes the Swindon line at Standish Junction on Sunday 10 September 2006 with the diverted 14:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. As the Severn Tunnel was closed for engineering works, trains from South Wales were heading to London via Gloucester and the 'Golden Valley' line.

43147 passes through the rolling Evenlode Valley countryside near Bruern on the Cotswold Line on 10 August 2007, with the 05:11 Abergavenny to Paddington First Great Western service. As is unfortunately typical nowadays, this train was running 20 minutes late. First Great Western has a very poor reputation for punctuality, to say nothing of chronic overcrowding. The service on the Cotswold Line is considerably worse than in BR days. Perhaps FGW ought to concentrated more on running the trains efficiently rather than gimmicks like new liveries (note the coaches).

The weak early morning sun has just started to burn off any overnight mist at Compton Beauchamp as 43147 passes with the 06:40 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service on 14 April 2008. The use of a long lens at this location is essential at this time of the morning, as even the shallow cutting and few bushes near the bridge shade the line in the foreground due to the low angle of the sun.

43147 speeds past Uffington on 27 September 2008 with the 14:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Note the complete absence of any mesh in front of the air horns between the headlights. Some photographers would have cloned out the radio mast in the background of this picture, but I believe that unless a piece of infrastructure is actually sprouting out of the top of the loco it should be left, as otherwise you are falsifying history. After all, I would ideally like to Photoshop this HST back to the original blue and grey livery!

43147 passes Shrivenham on 7 January 2010 with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This is the site of Ashbury Crossing, which was closed in the 1970s, and replaced with a footbridge.

43147 takes the Swindon line at Standish Junction on 25 October 2010 with the 1L50 10:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. Photo taken from a little used (except by me!) public footpath.

The diminutive station at Shipton only sees a few trains actually stopping for passengers. Bizarrely for a station with such short platforms and on a line where a lot of the services are operated by units, in 2011 one of the calling trains is an HST. On 19 March 2011 43147 pulls away after briefly stopping with the 1P31 07:10 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. Unfortunately this once excellent vantage point is now reduced to this very head on viewpoint.

43147 passes Moredon with the 1L53 11:35 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service on Sunday 16 March 2014. The double track is about to be reinstated between Swindon and Kemble, and I particularly wanted a picture at this location, as amazingly I had up until this point never taken a picture here! As the new line was not yet in use, it gives the impression of the train running 'wrong line'. Prior to the work, there was actually the remains of the original double track quietly rotting away in the undergrowth at this point.

43147 Royal Marines Celebrating 350 years brings up the rear of the 1L67 14:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service at Cashes Green on 5 October 2017. The train is slowing down for Stroud station, which is just around the corner.

Superb (but very brief) lighting at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 12 October 2016. 43147 Royal Marines Celebrating 350 years passes the partially completed electrification masts with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. For once the weather was better than forecast, with some sunny spells amid the predicted cloud.

43147 Royal Marines Celebrating 350 years brings up the rear of the 1G29 11:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service at Up Hatherley on 5 October 2017. It may be a going away shot, but it gives a wider view on that track, and it is in perfect light.

A picture that graphically illustrates the terrible state that Network Rail have let sections of the rail network get into. For many years this bush at Chilson has been trimmed by passing trains to the loading gauge profile! 43147 Royal Marines Celebrating 350 years passes by with inches to spare, as it heads up the Cotswold Line on 1 December 2017 with the 1W23 11:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. Hopefully this neglect may soon be corrected, as other sections of the line have been receiving the attention of the tree cutting gangs, and GWR won't want their new Class 800 DMUs getting scratched!

43147 Royal Marines Celebrating 350 years passes Grove on 14 May 2018 with the 1L42 07:30 Carmarthen to Paddington GWR service. Photo taken from a public footpath crossing, which is now one of the few decent photographic locations on the route.

The hazy evening sun on 11 June 1984 has just enough strength to cast a vague shadow, as 43148 leads the 1B34 18:05 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service past Compton Beauchamp. Just three years old when this photo was taken, few would have guessed at the time that over a quarter of a century later it would still be doing the same job, day in and day out.

43148 leads the 1A09 07:00 Cardiff Central to Paddington InterCity service past Woodley on 14 June 1987. In the 1980s there was only a very flimsy fence between the road and the railway at this point. Naturally this has now been replaced by a palisade fence to make photography more difficult.

43148 passes the site of Shrivenham station 4 September 1992 with the 1A25 07:02 Swansea to Paddington service. Berkshire Vale Transport were using the old station yard for storage at the time, just like Leggett Freightways had done, a decade earlier.

In lovely crisp early morning autumnal light, 43148 passes Crofton on 21 November 2006 with the 1A84 05:08 Penzance to Paddington First Great Western service. At the time this was the first train of the morning from the west to the capital. The train is just approaching the severe left hand bend which takes the line past Crofton Pumping Station. This explains the rail flange lubricator, which can be seen next to the power car's rear bogie.

43148 passes Baulking on 17 August 2009 with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. It's a good job that there wasn't much wind, as otherwise the seed heads of the thistles in the foreground would be blowing about all over the place, spoiling the picture!

43148 passes the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham on 7 January 2010 with the late running 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Snow had fallen all through the previous day, giving a covering of approximately 20 cm. Despite dire warnings on the radio about the state of the roads, I decided the combination of snow and sun was too good to miss. I managed to do the thirty mile round trip to this location with just the merest hint of wheel spin, despite all but the main roads being largely untreated.

43148 passes Langley Burrell on 12 September 2010 with the late running 1C09 10:03 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare First Great Western service. Looking at the trees in the background, I realise this is a location that I should have visited during the autumn. Now of course the location is ruined by the overhead electfrication catenary.

Just as forecast, Wednesday 10 November 2010 turned out to be a perfect autumn day, with virtually unbroken sunshine. 43148 speeds past Woodborough with the 1C84 13:06 Paddington to Plymouth First Great Western service. I would imagine that this would be the last opportunity to photograph the autumn colours here, as the following day's gale force winds are bound to have stripped most of the leaves off the trees.

With the steam rising from Didcot Power Station's cooling towers dominating the background, 43148 passes Steventon on 19 February 2013 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This had been delayed at the level crossing in the distance, after a lorry had struck the barriers, causing all trains to be hand signalled over the crossing.

43148 approaches Kingham station on 16 March 2013 with the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. Note the curved retaining wall on the left, indicating where the tracks from the Banbury to Cheltenham line platforms at Kingham station connected with the Cotswold Line.

43148 was one of two First Great Western power cars to receive this startling 'All Change' Hewlett Packard advertising livery, applied with vinyls over the standard colour scheme. It is seen here speeding past Baulking on 5 July 2013 with the 1C21 16:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads.

43148 brings up the rear of the 1W00 08:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service, as it enters Oxford station on 30 January 2015. This viewpoint that has changed considerably since I first started taking photos, and now only going away shots like this allow a unobstructed wide view, thanks to the lights on the right getting in the way of a southbound picture.

43148 passes the site of the former GWR Coates goods station (closed in 1963) with the 1Z89 17:13 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa First Great Western service on 16 May 2015. The train that would normally run in this path would be the 2G89 18:14 Swindon to Cheltenham DMU. Weekend engineering work resulted in all trains on the route being HSTs, with South Wales trains being diverted over the line. The strange light blue effect on the power car's body side is a reflection from the numerous old shipping containers parked in the old station yard.

'Bristol 2015 European Green Capital' liveried 43148 leads the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service past Compton Beauchamp on 17 March 2016. Unfortunately the Met Office had been a little optimistic with their prediction for a completely sunny day. There was a still a lot or early morning cloud drifting about, and therefore this is only partly lit.

Despite it being 2016, GWR's fleet of HSTs still includes four power cars bearing the colourful 'Bristol 2015 European Green Capital' vinyls. One of the quartet, 43148, passes the site of Challow station on 21 March 2016 with the 1L20 05:58 Swansea to Paddington service.

43148 leads the 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service past Wantage Road on 13 July 2016. This view clearly shows the state of the electrification progress, with masts in position all the way to Didcot. Notice also the substation under construction on the right. It is slightly ironic that the disused Didcot Power Station can be seen in the background, the closure of which, along with other coal fired power stations has led to a severe reduction in the UK's generating capacity reserve, something which is obviously only going to get worse once this line is electrified. I hope we don't get any 1970s style power cuts!

A golden autumn morning at Chilson on 7 November 2016. 43148 leads the 1P26 06:42 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This was the location I had selected for the 3S34 Rail Head Treatment Train, but a massive delay caused by the removal of 56078 at Worcester, dictated a move to Charlbury.

43148 approaches Thingley Junction on 19 June 2017 with the 1A07 06:48 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington GWR service. Apart from the rebuilt bridge in the background, the only sign of the massively delayed electrification programme is the steel pile, with its temporary wooden cover, in the foreground.

43149 pulls out of Swindon station on 15 July 1989 with the 1C26 10:15 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare InterCity service. The Brunel designed grade II listed building on Swindon's island platform can be clearly seen in this view. What is thankfully hidden from view to the right of this picture, is the huge nondescript office block that now forms the main entrance to the station.

43149 BBC Wales Today speeds past Bruton on 18 July 1998 with the 1C11 07:35 Paddington to Penzance Great Western Trains service. This gives a good clear view of the attractive 'Merlin' livery, and although the sun is only just beginning to light the south side of the church, at least the view is enhanced by the dark menacing clouds.

43149 passes the site of Patney & Chirton station on 11 May 2009 with the 1C84 13:06 Paddington to Plymouth First Great Western service. The station (which closed in 1966) formerly served as the junction for the Devizes branch.

The wheat is a little late being harvested at Knighton on 22 August 2009, as 43149 sweeps by with the 1C07 09:00 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare First Great Western service. The train is just approaching the underbridge which diverts the Longcot to Uffington road away from the former Knighton Level Crossing.

43149 passes Denchworth on 16 August 2010 with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. A long lens is required here, as the picture has to be very carefully framed looking through a signal gantry in the foreground.

This 12 February 2011 picture shows the first section of the reinstated double track at Charlbury station, on the Cotswold Line. Still only a very short section, ending just a matter of feet in front of this view, although the positioned sleepers extend some way beyond. 43149 arrives with the 1W02 10:21 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The newly installed rails can be seen in this earlier view of 43154, when they were positioned in the 'four foot' of the running line. As the line was singled in 1971, this is the first time I have ever seen two tracks at this location!

The old lichen encrusted bridge at Compton Beauchamp provides a bold foreground to this view of 43149 racing westwards on 16 July 2013 with the 1B42 14:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. The stunted roadside sycamore and hawthorn bushes have long been a feature of this quiet rural location.

43149 University of Plymouth passes Bourton on 16 February 2014 with the 1C11 11:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The only problem with this location is that it is a hump back bridge with no footpath!

43149 University of Plymouth passes Acton Turville on 10 September 2014 with the 1B27 11:25 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. Note the new bridge in the background, the unfortunate prelude to the forthcoming electrification.

43149 University of Plymouth passes Bourton on 17 September 2014 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Nearly half a century after semaphore signalling disappeared from this route, the remains of the white signal sighting patch is still visible on the bridge in the background.

43149 University of Plymouth passes Uffington on 29 November 2014 with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The oak tree on the left certainly provides a welcome colour contrast.

A frosty morning at Challow on 11 February 2016. 43149 University of Plymouth passes the site of the old station with the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington GWR service. This was not long before this classic location was lost due to the installation of 25kV catenary.

43149 University of Plymouth catches a brief patch of sunshine at Chaddington Lane, Wootton Bassett, on 8 September 2016. It is working the 1L51 10:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service. The two rusty steel piles in the foreground herald the end of this viewpoint, once the associated catenary and wires are erected. The outward spread of Wootton Bassett is evident in the background, as a modern housing estate marches over the hill.

The birds perched in the dead tree take no notice, as 43149 University of Plymouth passes Compton Beauchamp on 13 September 2016 with the 1A06 06:20 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington GWR service. Note the first of the electfrication mast bases in the foreground.

43149 University of Plymouth rounds the curve at Islip on 17 September 2017 with the diverted 1A10 08:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. The position of the windscreen wiper indicates that as well as being very dull, the weather was a little damp!