Less than six months old, 43172 passes Stoke Orchard with the 1V86 10:33 Leeds to Paignton service on 13 March 1982. HSTs had only just appeared on this route at the time. Note that these cross country sets only had one first class coach within a seven coach formation, whereas the original Great Western sets (Class 253) had two, as did the East Coast Mainline sets (Class 254), the latter being an eight coach formation. One of the formerly extensive local orchards can be seen on the right. Surprisingly this is not the derivation of the name Stoke Orchard. It was originally called Stoke Archer, as in the medieval period the parish had to supply the King with an archer for part of the year.

Superb lighting conditions at Alstone on 18 April 1992. 43172 passes the rusting remains of the old goods yard with the 06:40 Newcastle to Bristol Temple Meads InterCity service. This was literally only a few minutes worth of sunshine, during an otherwise dull day. I had called in here purely as I was passing, while in the area checking out potential new cars (BMW 325i in those days).

Christmas Eve on the Great Western Mainline. 43172 passes Shrivenham on 24 December 1994 with the 1B30 13:50 Paddington to Swansea service. The sun has melted virtually all of the frost in the field, and has bunt away the early morning fog, although judging by the background, further to the east the fog is still hanging around.

43172 crosses the flat expanse of West Sedge Moor on 19 August 2002 with the 1A56 12:38 Plymouth to Paddington First Great Western service. West Sedge Moor is an area of the Somerset Levels, comprising numerous meadows separated by ditches. This picture is taken from the roadbridge at Oath, a tiny village, which like most settlements in the area is built on an area of higher ground, to avoid the inevitable winter floods.

With the first class coaches unusually at the 'country' end of the train, 43172 passes Baulking on 12 October 2006 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Photo taken from a convenient public footpath, which for a short distance comes right up to the railway fence.

43172 slows down for the Kemble stop on 30 January 2008 whilst working the 1L58 12:31 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. With the exception of the third coach, the entire rake is in former Midland Mainline livery, although devoid of any branding. The passengers may not have cared about the different livery when boarding, but probably appreciated the original high quality seating as apposed to the new high density configuration of the refurbished First Great Western sets that they usually have to put up with.

After seeing 43172 arrive at Kemble on 30 January 2008 with the 1L58 12:31 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service, I made a quick dash down the platform, through the car park, and up onto the roadbridge, in order to get a second picture of the unusual mixed rake of mostly hired in coaches behind the leading power car.

43172 ambles past Uffington on 12 February 2008 with the 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great service, after the preceding train had been held at signals for 15 minutes. Normally 1/1000 sec shutter speed would be needed for this kind of broadside picture of an HST, but due to this train's slow speed 1/500 sec was more than adequate. I had spotted this oak tree standing alone in the middle of the field and decided it would make the perfect frame for a train on the low embankment.

There may be sunshine in the foreground at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 22 September 2014, but the background is still shrouded in fog. 43172 heads towards London with the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington First Great Western service

Framed by bridge No.99 on the Kennet & Avon Canal near Crofton, 43172 speeds westwards on 24 January 2015 with the 1C81 12:35 Reading to Penzance First Great Western service. This would normally be the 11:59 from Paddington, but started from Reading on this occasion due to operational problems. Note the tank traps on top of the bridge, which are now much more obvious due to the recent clearance of all the bushes and ivy that used to cover this bridge. These concrete obstructions were part of the Kennet & Avon 'Stop Line', designed to hinder the German advance, in the event of an invasion during the Second World War.

An extreme telephoto view at Chipping Sodbury on 15 April 2015, looking east from near the site of the station towards the tunnel. 43172 approaches with the 1B48 15:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. The houses of Old Sodbury can bee seen in the background, with the first of the tunnel's ventilation shafts on the hillside above them.

Hazy late evening summer sunshine at Culham on 11 June 2015, as 43172 heads northwards with the 1W09 19:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The lack of variation in tone when the countryside is all green in mid June doesn't look so bad in evening light.

With a mass of dark clouds coming in from the west and threatening to soon block out the sun, 43172 leads the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington First Great Western service past the site of Challow station on 6 July 2015. The large cleared area in the foreground is the where the worksite for the reconstruction of the nearby roadbridge was situated.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches leads the 1L51 10:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 23 December 2015. The power car, with its special vinyls, was named by Harry Patch's grandson at Bristol Temple Meads on 6 November. Harry Patch was the last surviving British soldier of the First World War, and died aged 111 in 2009. Not easily visible in this view, but there is a representation on the nameplate of Harry's medal ribbons, including the Légion d'honneur.

Shortly after sunrise on 20 January 2016, 43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches passes the frost covered fields at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, with the 1L24 06:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. I had only just arrived at this location, and was still walking up the road from where I had parked the car. Hearing a hoot from the Challow direction, I just had enough time to get the camera out of the bag, and grab this picture.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the 1P07 05:11 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service at Culham on 4 May 2016. The twisted remains of the partially collapsed turbine hall at Didcot Power Station dominates the background.

A close up view of 43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches, as it speeds beneath the road bridge at Compton Beauchamp on 8 May 2016 with the 1C95 18:57 Paddington to Plymouth GWR service. As can be clearly seen here, the power car carries the well known fourth verse of Laurence Binyon's poem 'For The Fallen'.

There is no mistaking where this is! 43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the 1P31 07:10 Hereford to Paddington GWR service at Kingham on 28 May 2016. 43127 Sir Peter Parker 1924 - 2002 Cotswold Line 150 was the leading power car.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches runs through Sonning cutting on 16 August 2016 with the 1L48 09:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. The bridge in the background carries the A4 Reading to Maidenhead road over the railway. The Great Western Railway's graceful original brick bridge hides a modern concrete one, each now carrying one carriageway.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches approaches Steventon on 5 January 2017 with the 1A15 11:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. Retro liveried 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange can just be seen on the rear of the train.

A transitional view at Uffington, showing the brand new, but still not opened, footbridge, and the newly installed electfrication masts. This view from the nearby roadbridge would soon be obliterated by the overhead catenary. 43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches heads towards London on 29 March 2017 with the 1L50 10:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches passes Challow on 6 April 2017 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. The Met Office had predicted a completely cloudy day, instead of which there wasn't a cloud in the sky until around 11:00, and then only moderate cloud throughout the day, and completely clear again by evening. If only they would get it wrong like that every time!

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches races through Honeybourne station on 25 August 2017 with the late running 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. The almost completely cloudless sky was not something that the Met Office had predicted. They had said that the sunny start to the day would give way to lots of cloud by midday.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the diverted 1A14 10:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service, as it climbs the steeply graded chord between Gavray Junction and Bicester South Junction on 17 September 2017. Engineering work at Reading was the cause of this extremely unusual Chiltern Line HST activity.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service at Cassington on 18 April 2018. For the moment this location is relatively open, thanks to some extensive vegetation clearance. It won't last!

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches arrives at Charlbury station on 18 April 2018 with the 1P36 15:22 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service. The First World War graphics on the power car are very tastefully done, but the same cannot be said for the graffiti covering the fourth coach!

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches approaches Steventon on 15 May 2018 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. Post electrification, this is now one of the few usable photographic locations on the Swindon to Didcot line. Various views are possible by walking up and down the farm track that borders the line.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service at Grove on 12 July 2018. This kind of picture is more difficult to get right than an approaching shot, especially when it is travelling at 125mph. After noting that 43172 was on the rear, I just kept firing at ten frames per second as the back of the train went by!

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the 1L54 11:56 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service at Uffington on 19 October 2018. With only a few months to go before the HSTs are completely ousted by the Class 800s, it was noticeable that there were only a minority of trains still worked by the old traction on this day.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches brings up the rear of the 1W29 11:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service at Hanborough on 18 May 2019. This train, which was the penultimate northbound scheduled Cotswold Line HST service, was terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill due to late running. 43162 Exeter Panel Signal Box 21st Anniversary 2009 was leading.

43172 Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches accelerates away from Charlbury station in the rain on 18 May 2019 with the last scheduled up HST Cotswold Line working. This should have been the 1P61 14:35 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service, but due to late running of the earlier northbound train, it started from Worcester Shrub Hill at 15:02. As if to emphasise the sadness of the occasion, the earlier moderately dull weather turned into really dark conditions with heavy rain. The end of the Cotswold Line's double track section can be seen near the rear of the train, and Charlbury church can be seen in the background, directly above the leading power car.

Farewell Harry. Still with its First World War graphics but devoid of its Harry Patch - The last survivor of the trenches nameplates, 43172 brings up the rear of the 0D67 11:04 Bristol St Phillips Marsh to Long Marston light engine move at Up Hatherley on 24 July 2020. A little earlier it had worked up from Devon as the 0D84 07:09 Laira to Bristol St Phillips Marsh, where 43171 was attached for its journey to Long Marston. The pair would later take six Mk3 coaches from Long Marston to Doncaster. At least these power cars are not going to be scrapped, but it does mean that 43172 will presumably lose its distinctive colour scheme, to be replaced by GWR's awful drab green livery.

Gateway to the west! 43172 speeds past West Hewish on 26 March 2022 with the 2C73 11:00 Cardiff Central to Penzance GWR service. This is my first picture of 43172 since it lost its distinctive 'We Will Remember Them' First World War commemorative livery.

43173 passes Lower Wick (between Charfield and Berkeley Road) with the 07:05 Cardiff Central to Newcastle InterCity service on 7 July 1984. I'm not sure now why the framing of this pictures is a bit off, certainly nowadays I wouldn't take such a wide view, and I wouldn't chop off the top of the tree! However, this is one of the limited number of pictures I have of 43173, and the only one of it in its original livery. 43173 was of course the first HST power car to be withdrawn, following the tragic Southall rail crash in September 1997.

43173 passes Bourton on the frosty morning of 28 December 1985 with the 1A20 08:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service. 43173 was the first HST power car to be withdrawn, when it was extensively damaged in the Southall rail crash on 19 September 1997. It was the lead power car of a Swansea to Paddington train, which collided with an ARC stone train, which was correctly signalled to cross its path. Unfortunately the HST's AWS had been isolated due to an earlier brake problem, and the driver failed to respond to two amber signals, only belatedly applying the brakes when very near the red signal protecting the freight train.

43174 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 21 February 1993 with the 1A10 07:30 Cardiff Central to Paddington service. Note the partially completed down relief line, which along with the up relief, which was installed later, was being installed in order to cope with a new flow of imported coal from Avonmouth to Didcot Power Station.

The view from Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, is well known, and is still popular with photographers even after the 25kV wires went up. What is less well known, is that before the wires, and the tree growth on the north side of the line, there was an excellent viewpoint for westbound trains on late summer evenings. 43173 heads west on 28 June 1994 with the 1C68 18:45 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service. This power car was written off in the Southall crash on 19 September 1997. It collided with an ARC stone train, which was quite correctly crossing in front of it.

A common mid 1980s sight was HSTs with mismatched power cars and stock. A typical combination approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, on 10 December 1986, with 43174 leading the 1B28 12:00 Paddington to Swansea service.

43174 passes the site of Blockley station on 24 June 1987 with the 1B56 18:25 Paddington to Hereford 'Cathedrals Express'. This picture is taken from the adjacent brickworks. The area in the foreground is the site of the station's small goods yard, with the site of the station and the level crossing in the background. The station, which was well over a mile away from the village, and much nearer to the smaller village of Paxford, was closed in 1966. This was the only occasion that I visited this particular Cotswold Line location.

A little weak autumn sunshine at Stenson Junction on 14 November 1988. 43174 heads south 1V42 07:45 Leeds to Paignton 'Devonian'. A wide open vista, with the lines on the right into Willington Power Station still in use.

43174 passes Baulking on 8 April 1989 with the 1A28 09:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service. Brambles on the left, and gorse on the right were pretty much the only types of vegetation in this cutting at the time. The same cannot be said today!

Virtually everything in this view of Foxhall Junction, Didcot, is now history. 43174 heads west on 13 March 1997 with the 1C22 09:45 Paddington to Exeter St Davids First Great Western service, passing 60086 Schienhallion, which is waiting with the 6C67 09:43 Didcot Power Station to Avonmouth MGR empties. HSTs have been replaced on this route by bi-mode units, and there is no need for any coal trains to be in the area, as Didcot Power Station has been demolished. Even the gasholder in the background has gone. In addition to all this, the view itself has been lost under a sea of electrification masts and wires.

43174 Bristol - Bordeaux passes Compton Beauchamp on 29 July 1997 with the 1L32 06:52 Swansea to Paddington Great Western Trains service. The loco had been named three months earlier at Bristol Temple Meads by the Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux.

As they are obviously fully accustomed to HSTs passing by at full speed every few minutes, the horses in the field next to Circourt Bridge, Denchworth take no notice whatsoever as 43174 passes with the 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea 'Merchant Venturer' First Great Western service on 30 January 2010. There is obviously nothing due from the other direction, as all three signals next to Denchworth Bridge in the background are showing amber. These would normally clear to green for an approaching train.

First Great Western HSTs were diverted away from the Reading area over the Christmas & New Year periods in 2010/11. This was to allow major engineering works to take place at Reading station. One of the routes to see the diverted trains was the former Southern route from Waterloo. On 1 January 2011 several trains from the west terminated at Basingstoke, but one that did complete its journey was the 1O40 06:50 Penzance to Waterloo, seen here deep in third rail territory at Potbridge, headed by 43174.

Network Rail have started extensive clearance work at Wolvercote, in order to reinstate the former down relief line from Oxford to Wolvercote Junction. 43174 passes the work site on the glorious evening of 9 June 2013, as it works the 1W08 17:42 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. Since the mid 1980s this viewpoint has progressively been obscured by fast growing trees, until 2012, when clearance work began. A single tree was left, when the council stopped work. Now the view has been opened up completely, also allowing rail passengers a clear view of Port Meadow, on the right. Note how the course of the relief line is some considerable distance from the main running lines.

Not long after sunrise on 24 October 2013, 43174 leads the 1L28 07:08 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington First Great Western service past Uffington. I had hoped for more autumn colour on the trees in the small copse, but the low light makes a fine picture regardless.

Dramatic lighting at Bourton on 30 October 2013, as 43174 heads away from Swindon with the 1A08 07:25 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service. I wonder how many radio and mobile phone masts there are in the country now, as there are three visible in this view!

43174 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, on 28 January 2015 with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The newly installed fence is preferable to the all too common palisade fencing that now blights so many locations.

43174 passes the site of Uffington station on 21 May 2016 with the 1C04 07:30 Paddington to Penzance GWR service. Most trains from London to Cornwall obviously travel via Newbury and Westbury, but a few go the long way round, via Swindon and Bristol.

43174 passes Tockenham Wick on 19 July 2016 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. Early signs of electfrication can be seen in the background: oddly random masts, and a pointless bridge parapet extension.

Sunday 22 January 2017 was a perfect winter's day, with unbroken sunshine all day, at least in the Vale of White Horse. The clouds visible in the background of this view at Uffington indicate that further west and north it was not so good! 43174 leads the 1L38 09:08 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service past the newly installed electfrication masts that are now blighting this location.

43174 runs very slowly along the up relief line at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 23 February 2017 with the 5Z70 09:10 Bristol St Philips Marsh to Old Oak Common GWR ECS. This was running over 20 minutes early, and consequently would be held for some considerable time at the next signal. Unfortunately this corresponded with an exceptionally windy spell on what was already a very windy day. The wind was so strong that even holding on to the roadside fence, it was all I could do to stand up, and how on earth I managed to keep this level is a mystery!

A meeting of HSTs at Didcot North Junction on 16 February 2018. 43174 brings up the rear of the 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service, while in the background 43125 very cautiously approaches the junction signal with the 1P19 09:01 Oxford to Paddington service.

A rather grubby 43174 accelerates away from Moreton-in-Marsh station (just visible in the background) with the 1P31 07:13 Hereford to Paddington GWR service on 21 April 2018. This view has just been made possible by the removal of a tree. Four of Moreton-in-Marsh's semaphore signals can be seen in the distance.

43174 seems to have acquired a coupling cover that GWR have had lying around for over a decade, as it features the gold lettering and logo of First Great Western's original blue livery. It is seen here passing Chilson on 21 June 2018 with the 1P07 04:47 Hereford to Paddington GWR service.

The last winter of HSTs in the Vale of White Horse, after a reign of over 42 years. 43174 passes a snow covered field near Baulking on 3 February 2019 with the 1A13 09:46 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington GWR service. Although the pristine snow makes an excellent foreground for the picture, I was looking for a different vantage point, so I decided that the branches of these two oak trees would make an excellent frame for the scene.

43175 passes the loops at Woodborough on 20 June 1984 with the 1A41 08:27 Penzance to Paddington 'Cornish Riviera'. This is the site of Woodborough station, which closed in 1966. The loops are still extensively used to allow the numerous heavy stone trains to be overtaken by passenger services.

Not a totally uniform rake, as the rear power car is still in the original blue livery, nevertheless 43175 and its matching InterCity coaches makes a fine sight as it catches the evening light as it approaches Wickwar Tunnel on 10 August 1985 with the 15:25 Paignton to Newcastle service. At this time there was a good mix of loco hauled and HST services on this cross country route.

43175 runs alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal at Crofton on 23 September 1986 with the 1C28 10:10 Paddington to Plymouth service. Not quite a perfect reflection, due to the slight breeze, but there was little prospect of any boats passing by and disturbing the water, as the canal had not yet been fully reopened at the time. It's also a pity that the family of swans wasn't a little nearer!

43175 speeds through Radley station on 20 July 1989 with the late running 1B48 17:15 Paddington to Hereford InterCity service. Over a quarter of a century later 43175 is still going strong, but I very much doubt if the same could be said of the Triumph Dolomite in the car park!

43175 passes Shrivenham on 28 June 1995 with the 1C68 18:45 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads InterCity service. In the background is the concrete footbridge on the site of Ashbury Crossing, which in recent years has become an extremely well used photographic location.

Still immaculate in the recently applied unbranded version of First Great Western's 'Neon' livery, 43175 leads the 10:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington service, pictured here passing Shrivenham on 8 August 2006. Shrivenham Station (closed in 1964) was situated just beyond the road bridge in the background. The photo was taken from the concrete footbridge that replaced the former Ashbury Crossing road level crossing in the early 1970s.

With a wave from the driver (at least I think that's what it is!), 43175 accelerates the 1A09 08:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service away from the Chippenham stop, and passes Langley Burrell on 8 September 2007.

43175 passes Fairwood on 11 September 2007 with the latte running 1A85 05:42 Penzance to Paddington First Great Western service. Just out of sight around the corner is Fairwood Junction, where the Westbury avoiding line diverges.

Woody nightshade, stinging nettles and tall grasses grown on the roadside next to the lichen encrusted Cotswold stone bridge at Chilson as 43175 passes by with the 1P26 06:43 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service on 24 June 2009. Photo taken from a stepladder on the opposite side of the road. The road is very quiet and you would be extremely unlucky to get the view blocked by a van at the crucial moment, a tractor possibly!

43175 passes Baulking on 14 January 2010 with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. A cold and very dull and misty day, but the smattering of snow livens up the picture a little.

43175 races past Denchworth on 8 July 2010 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. This location is little used by photographers, most preferring the more open vistas of Circourt Bridge, half a mile to the west.

43175 GWR 175th Anniversary passes Bourton on 28 August 2013 with the 1L52 10:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. 43175 was named at Paddington on 6 October 2010. Fittingly, a relative of the Great Western Railway's engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was at the event. Christina Clarfelt is the great, great, great granddaughter of the famous engineer.

43175 GWR 175th Anniversary emerges from Sapperton Tunnel on 19 October 2013 with the late running 1L24 06:32 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. With its normal route via the Severn Tunnel closed for engineering works, this train has travelled the long way round, via Gloucester. I had chosen this location, as it would be free of shadows if the sun was out. The sun is just starting to disappear here, and naturally this was its last appearance until I got back home!

43175 GWR 175th Anniversary passes Denchworth on 3 September 2012 with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. A long lens was used here in order to avoid the signal gantry situated right next to the bridge I was standing on.

43175 GWR 175th Anniversary passes South Moreton (Didcot East) on 13 September 2012 with the 1L46 09:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service. 66147 can just be seen in the background, approaching with the 4O40 08:21 Morris Cowley to Southampton Eastern Dock car train.

Equine indifference at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 27 April 2016. Both horses turn their back on 43175 GWR 175th Anniversary as it heads eastwards with the diverted 1A74 05:53 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. This had been re-routed off its usual route via Newbury, due to a fatality at Aldermaston. The horses seem to be like lot of railway photographers, ignoring HSTs, but taking more interest in freight trains!

The penultimate summer of HSTs over the Cotswold Line? 43175 GWR 175th Anniversary passes Daylesford on 17 August 2017 with the 1W25 12:22 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill service. The old style blue livery stands out so much better against the green foliage, compared to the company's latest dull green colour scheme.

43175 GWR 175th Anniversary brings up the rear of the diverted 1A20 10:00 Penzance to Paddington GWR service, as it races through Islip station on 7 May 2018. This was running a staggering 67 minutes late. It had only been a few minutes late until Swindon, but it then sat for nearly 40 minutes on the mainline near Stratton St Margaret.

Running 36 minutes late, 43175 GWR 175th Anniversary passes Water Eaton on 7 May 2018 with the diverted 1C26 17:27 Paddington to Plymouth GWR service. Crossrail engineering works in London were bringing the unusual sight of HSTs to this route. Northfield Farm in the background was formerly accessed by a bridge over the line near the trees in the background. The owners now have a longer drive, via a new road to the south, from which this photo is taken.

43175 passes Standish Junction in the rain on 8 September 2018 with the 1L40 08:37 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service. Extensive stabilisation work has taken place on the cutting side in the background, which has also resulted in the removal of several trees.

43175 passes underneath the Hungerford Common road bridge on 21 September 2018 with the 1A75 05:05 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. This viewpoint has recently been opened up by the removal of numerous lineside trees.

Micro HST formations are becoming quite common in 2018, as the former GWR stalwarts head north to pastures new. Debranded 43175 hauls coaches 41116 & 41137, with 43124 bringing up the rear on 9 October 2018, running as the 5L46 12:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Ely Papworth Sidings, seen here in unfamiliar surroundings, approaching Hatton North Junction.

Slow - surely not! 43175 approaches Kintore on 15 September 2019 with the 2A41 10:34 Aberdeen to Inverurie ScotRail service. At just 22 minutes, possibly one of the shortest ever booked HST workings. Initially this was shown as cancelled due to a problem at the depot, but was then reinstated. Good job I re-checked, as I almost gave up and drove away! There wasn't much possibility of a car spoiling this picture, as the road is a minor lane linking the villages of Kintore and Blackburn, a journey that would be much quicker via the nearby A96 dual carriageway.

81½ miles to go. 43176 passes the lineside milepost at Chaddington Lane (near Wootton Bassett) on 27 August 1993, as it heads towards London with the 1A28 07:32 Swansea to Paddington service. The Upper Noremarsh housing estate now occupies part of the hill in the background.

Looking stunning in the low evening light, remarkably clean 43176 passes underneath the roadbridge at Chilson on 1 August 1995 with the 1B48 17:10 Paddington to Hereford service. At the time there wouldn't have been many cameras that could successfully take this kind of close up view of a fast moving HST. Most cameras at the time had a top shutter speed of 1/1000sec, which would be insufficient to completely freeze the movement of this train. Generally only top of the range 35mm cameras boasted a higher shutter speed. This was taken on an old style Canon F1 on Fujichrome 100 at 1/2000sec f3.5.

43176 passes Clink (near Frome) on 15 April 1997 with the 15:33 Paddington to Penzance Great Western Trains service. The complete train is still in InterCity livery, In fact, Great Western didn't have much time to paint their fleet in the stylish 'Merlin' livery, before being bought out by the First Group in 1998.

43176 heads the 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service past South Marston on 11 December 2007. All except one of the coaches are hired in Midland Mainline stock, although they are devoid of any branding, as Midland Mainline has now been taken over by East Midlands Trains. Paint and vinyl manufacturers have certainly benefited from the ever changing world of the privatised railway!

43176 approaches Didcot North Junction on 26 September 2009 with the 1P26 06:35 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. This is one of the very few locations between Banbury and Didcot that is suitable for taking pictures of southbound trains in the early morning, and even here a very long lens is required to clear the shadows and the junction signal.

43176 accelerates away from Thingley Junction with the diverted 1L34 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service on 6 November 2010. The train has already visited Swindon, from where it has retraced its steps back to Wootton Bassett, and is now heading for the Berks & Hants line via Melksham, its normal route between Swindon and Didcot being closed for engineering works. This single track line which normally sees very little traffic is almost worked to capacity during diversions such as this.

Most Oxford to London First Great Western services are worked by Class 165 or 166 DMUs. However, HSTs are still booked for some workings. One such is the 1P39 11:01 Oxford to Paddington, seen here pulling out of Oxford on 21 January 2013 led by 43176. The bad weather has obviously deterred some motorists, and large areas of the car park are still covered in undisturbed snow, the majority of which fell three days previously.

43176 speeds through the cutting at Ruscombe on 1 May 2013 with the 1A08 05:09 Plymouth to Paddington (via Bristol) First Great Western service. At classic photographic location that will be lost once the Great Western Mainline electrification scheme takes effect.

43176 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, on 15 March 2014 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. This low level viewpoint will probably become one of my few photographic options once the Great Western Mainline electfrication ruins most of the other local vantage points.

43176 speeds past Baulking on 29 March 2014 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. Note the newly installed signalling cabinet, a prelude to the forthcoming electrification, which will ruin this viewpoint forever.

43176 runs along the down relief line at Cholsey on 8 July 2014 with the 3D16 05:47 Paddington to Didcot First Great Western ECS. Note the bases for the forthcoming electfrication masts hiding in the long grass.

A break in the clouds at Denchworth on 20 August 2014, just as 43176 passes by with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. FGW's blue livery might be rather plain, but it does look good when clean, such as here.

43176 passes Challow on the sunny morning of 18 February 2015 with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. The Lombardy Poplars make a more interesting background than plain sky!

43176 passes the disused platforms of the long closed Shrivenham station on 2 March 2015 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. Note that this set is round the opposite way to normal, with the first class coaches at the 'country' end.

Frustration at Stocks Lane level crossing, Steventon, on 10 March 2015. Villagers are used to lengthy delays at this crossing, and on this occasion the barriers were down for some considerable time, while trains were halted at nearby Causeway level crossing, and proceeded eastwards at reduced speed. The second of three affected trains, the 1L58 12:20 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service passes slowly over the crossing led by 43176.

43176 passes milepost 61½ near Grove on 28 September 2015 with the 1L50 10:20 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. The first few clouds are appearing, the typical weather pattern after a sunny morning.

Viewed from Circourt Bridge, near Denchworth, 43176 speeds along the Great Western Mainline on 1 October 2015 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service, passing the rusty piles that herald the end of this viewpoint!

43176 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing on 9 August 2016 with the 1L46 09:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service. In the background is the recently completed rebuilt bridge next to the site of Shrivenham station.

43176 leads the diverted 1A24 13:45 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service past Charlton-on-Otmoor on 17 September 2017. You can tell that this a recently upgraded line, as the lineside fence is still virtually free of troublesome bushes!

43176 approaches Uffington on 21 October 2017 with the 1A08 06:55 Taunton to Paddington GWR service. Although it is hardly noticeable, there is a single green coach in the middle of an otherwise complete rake of blue coaches. Note the catenary component waiting to be installed, lying by the trackside in the foreground.

Commonplace for four decades, but soon to be history, so no apologies whatsoever for yet another picture of an iconic HST at work on the Great Western Mainline. 43176 passes South Marston on 27 October 2017 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington GWR service.

43176 passes Fiddington on 30 October 2017 with the 5Z74 14:00 Worcester Shrub Hill Long Siding to St Philips Marsh GWR ECS. This was running as a VSTP (Very Short Term Planning) special, and was a definite bonus, as apart from a couple of early morning trains, and a very late evening northbound train, there are not normally any GWR HSTs on this section of line. Also, whereas everything else that passed by on this afternoon (DMUs and Class 66s) will be around for a while, the days of HSTs are numbered (at least in most of England)!

43176 speeds past Challow on 17 May 2018 with the 1A08 06:28 Exeter St Davids to Paddington GWR service. The inclusion of an odd green coach is typical, with no effort being made to keep them in colour matched sets.

Exactly the right size train for the location! Another off lease HST was due to move north on 10 October 2018, and when I found out it was going to be just a single coach sandwiched between two power cars, I decided that this bridge near Eckington would be an ideal spot to photograph it, although the lighting angle was far from ideal. The 5L46 12:08 Bristol Temple Meads to Ely Papworth Sidings crosses the River Avon, with 43176 is bringing up the rear, green liveried Mk3 41012 is in the middle, and 43177 leading. This was running over half an hour early, which has not helped the dodgy lighting at all.

43177 arrives at Moreton-in-Marsh on 3 August 1988 with the 1B46 17:15 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh service. Usually if course this would be the train for Hereford, but a landslip a few miles further north, near the village of Dorn had closed the line, so this train would soon be heading back from whence it came. Despite the evening shadows, it was still just about possible to take a picture of a northbound train arriving a Moreton in the 1980s, with the down refuge siding and the semaphore signals in view. Unfortunately the conifers on the right have grown considerably since this picture was taken!

In late 2007 the Cotswold Line was about to become a largely HST operated railway, although the class had operated a number of peak hour services over the line since 1984. 43177 is pictured here passing Chilson on 7 January 1989 with the 11:10 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill service. Unlike many of the First Great Western operated services today, which use exactly the same infrastructure and rolling stock, this train was running exactly to time.

43177 emerges from Wickwar Tunnel on 30 May 1989 with the 1V56 13:09 Newcastle to Penzance service. The combination of new liveried power car and old liveried coaches seemed to be more common than a complete train in one colour in the late 1980s!

43177 leaves Swindon station on 28 October 1992 with the 1A44 10:15 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service. The building on the left, known as Signal Point, was constructed in the 1970s, after Swindon's original station buildings were demolished. It forms the entrance to the station, but was latterly let out as offices, before becoming vacant.

43177 leaves Oxford station with the 08:05 Hereford to Paddington Great Western Trains service on 16 August 1997. One of the most noticeable things about the classic view from the Osney Lane footbridge compared with even a few years previously is the amount of vegetation covering the sidings on either side of the running lines. Admittedly by this date they were disused and the area on the right was soon to become a car park, but for a while at least the buddleia was getting the upper hand!

So far this is about as close as the railways of the Oxford area have got to electrification! The yard at Hinksey is rather oddly home to an overhead electfrication train on 1 September 1999, as 43177 passes by with the 1B48 17:12 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The badly mismanaged Great Western electfrication scheme that should have seen this line wired had to be scaled back due to massive overspending.

43177 has a rake of hired in Midland Mainline stock in tow as it passes Langley Burrell on 8 September 2007 with the 1C06 08:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. With several sets of coaches away for refurbishment, FGW had to resort to hiring in stock, giving rise to this odd livery combination.

43177 approaches Baulking with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 10 December 2008. The weather forecast had predicted a completely sunny day, and although it did indeed start bright, cloud had soon rolled in covering virtually all the sky. However, in the afternoon it cleared again, before yet more cloud appeared towards evening, the beginnings of which can be seen in the background here, although not to be confused with the steam from Didcot Power Station which can be seen on the right!

A dusting of snow at Bourton on 4 February 2009, as 43177 heads westwards with the 1B22 10:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. Note the white painted signal sighting patch on the farm occupation bridge in the background.

43177 approaches the site of Wantage Road station on 17 November 2009 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. A footpath crosses the line here (as indicated by the white disc sign on the gatepost), but the track that runs parallel with the line is on private land, and signs warn of dire consequences for anyone who trespasses!

Superb evening lighting at Uffington on 20 February 2010, after a day of cloud and intermittent rain and hail showers. 43177 speeds west with the 1C20 15:30 Paddington Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This is the site of the former freight loops, which were removed when the Challow to Wantage Road section of line was quadrupled in the mid 1990s.

43177 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, on 11 February 2012 with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Although most of the overnight frost had melted, this was still a bitterly cold day!

43177 speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 16 October 2012 with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. 66149 can be seen approaching along the relief line with the 4D12 13:22 Didcot Power Station to Avonmouth coal empties. It would appear from this picture that I would be taking the picture of 66149 a few seconds after the HST had passed. However, such was the coal train's incredibly slow speed that it was a full two minutes before it reached this spot!

43177 passes Ruscombe on 1 May 2013 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. This picture is taken from a little used minor road bridge, a much more pleasant place to stand compared with the bridge in the background!

Despite the sophisticated machinery now available to maintain the permanent way, there seems to be no substitute for a gang of men with shovels! On 12 June 2014, the track gang at Shrivenham pause briefly while 43177 speeds past at 125mph with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. They had been clearing excess ballast away from the rails on the down line. I normally try to avoid having 'orange vests' in the picture, but when they just happen to stop right in front of me, in a neatly spaced line, shovels in hand, it makes for an interesting picture, and shows the real railway at work.

43177 approaches Chipping Sodbury Tunnel on 10 July 2014 with the 1L65 13:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service. The aqueduct in the background carries the infant River Frome across the line. The river rises in nearby Dodington Park, and flows into River Avon at Bristol.

43177 passes the site of Oaksey station on 15 September 2016 with the diverted 1B48 15:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service. The train's normal route was blocked by the closure of the Severn Tunnel, which was being prepared for the forthcoming route electfrication.

Network Rail's Great Western Mainline electrification programme is so far behind schedule, that in early 2017 there are still a few areas between Didcot and Swindon without catenary supports. The concrete filled pile in the foreground of this view at Stocks Lane level crossing, Steventon, shows that this situated will be short lived. 43177 speeds westwards on 6 April 2017 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service.

43177 passes South Marston on 10 November 2017 with the late running 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The rustic wooden fence, which is being swallowed up by the nettles and brambles, would soon be replaced by the inevitable palisade deicing.

A powerful close up view of 43177, as it speeds past the new catenary at Grove on 30 November 2017 with the 1C11 11:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. Photo taken from a public footpath crossing.

43177 passes Cassington on 27 June 2018 with the 1W32 15:50 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh GWR service. The removal of various lineside bushes has opened up this view nicely, although the view will probably not last long. The clearance has certainly encouraged the growth of the thistles in the foreground!

Running 15 minutes late, 43177 passes Hungerford Common on 24 September 2018 with the 1A77 05:41 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. The more interesting 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange was on the rear of the train. Note the tree stumps in the foreground, the evidence of some severe and much needed lineside vegetation clearance.

43178 passes Marshfield on 28 April 1984 with the late running 1A23 09:30 Swansea to Paddington service. This may have been running 15 minutes late, but that's nothing compared with 47462 with the 10:16 Cardiff to Paddington relief, which can just be seen stopped in the background, having only managed to travel a few miles before failing!

43178 arrives at Oxford on 12 June 1994 with the 17:56 Reading to Manchester Piccadilly service. It was formerly possible to get an obstructed side view here, but by the mid 1990s trees had started to grow on the edge of Osney Cemetery. Now they are full height trees, and there is no chance of a decent evening picture.

43178 passes Overthorpe on 14 June 1994 with the late running 16:16 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly service. This view gives the impression that this is a quiet rural location. However, the elevated viewpoint is obtained by being halfway up the embankment of the M40 motorway, so it is anything but quiet!

43178 passes Challow on 9 September 1997 with the 1A17 06:12 Swansea to Paddington 'South Wales Executive'. This was approximately half way through the short lived Great Western Trains franchise, before it became First Great Western. This is the western end of the four track section of line from Wantage Road, which was reinstated in the early 1990s for use by trains of imported coal from Avonmouth to Didcot Power Station.

Superb lighting at Cholsey on 27 June 1998, as 43178 heads westwards with the 1C62 17:45 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Great Western Trains service. In their two years of operation, before being bought out by First Group, Great Western Trains managed to get quite a lot of their HSTs into this attractive 'Merlin' livery, although not the whole train in this case.

43179 leads the 1C64 18:00 Paddington to Swansea service past South Marston on 16 June 1984, while the 1A39 16:45 Swansea to Paddington disappears into the distance. This was in the days when the HSTs regularly ran at 125mph, with consequently shorter journey times than today. In 1984 this train took 2 hours 48 minutes to reach Swansea, with 7 intermediate stops. In 2017 the equivalent train takes 3 hours 38 minutes with 9 intermediate stops. Two additional stops do not require an additional 50 minutes, and this just goes to show how the Great Western Mainline services have slowed down over the last three decades. Such is progress! The field on the right of this view has now disappeared under Swindon's new police station.

43179 Pride of Laira brings up the rear of the 5B76 18:38 Oxford to Paddington ECS at Culham on 15 June 1999. The train had worked up from London a little earlier as the 1D62 17:42 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service. This was only a few months after First Group had bought out Great Western Trains, and the livery had yet to change.

43179 Pride of Laira passes Bourton on 8 September 2006 with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. A rural location, but the horizon is a reminder as to just how close Swindon is!

43179 Pride of Laira speeds past Shrivenham on 9 November 2006 with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff First Great Western service. Having managed to hang on to its Pride of Laira name for over fifteen years, unlike a lot of locomotives, means that it probably is appropriately named!

A frosty morning next to the Kennet & Avon Canal at Crofton on 11 February 2012. 43179 Pride of Laira heads westwards with the 1C74 08:18 Paddington to Exeter St Davids First Great Western service. No boats have been this way yet this morning!

A shutter speed of 1/2000 sec was definitely required for this close up study of 43179 Pride of Laira racing past Compton Beauchamp on 16 July 2013. It is working the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service.

Although the sun visors look like they would be effective, it seems like a copy of the Times helps as well! 43179 Pride of Laira passes Steventon on 19 August 2013 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service.

43179 Pride of Laira speeds past Bourton on 16 September 2013 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. To give some idea of the HST's intensive utilisation, after reaching London this set would work the 1C79 11:06 Paddington to Plymouth, followed by the 1A89 15:00 Plymouth to Paddington, and then the 1G70 18:47 Paddington to Cheltenham. To round of its tour of the Western Region, and to take it back to its starting point, it would then work the 5S70 21:05 Cheltenham to Swansea ECS.

43179 Pride of Laira leads the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service past the site of Challow station on 10 October 2013. It certainly appears to be the 'Pride of Laira', having obviously recently been through the washer, although the paint around the lights could do with touching up!

Viewed from the excellent vantage point of the concrete footbridge that sits on the site of Ashbury Crossing, 43179 Pride of Laira passes Shrivenham on 28 January 2015 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service.

43179 Pride of Laira passes Shrivenham on 18 February 2015 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. Unfortunately the intrusive bushes only went when the even more intrusive electrification masts were installed!

Superb lighting at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 23 February 2015. 43179 Pride of Laira heads towards London with the 1A09 08:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. Needless to say, with a black sky like that in the background, these superb photographic conditions didn't last very long.

The railway passes he town of Chipping Sodbury in a deep cutting, spanned by several tall bridges. This offers excellent photographic opportunities, which of course will be completely ruined by the forthcoming electrification. 43179 Pride of Laira leads the 1L60 12:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service through the cutting on 15 April 2015.

43179 Pride of Laira passes Culham on 9 July 2015 with the 1W08 18:22 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service. After many years of being partly obscured by lineside vegetation, this viewpoint is once again clear, but only until the electrification masts go up!

43179 Pride of Laira just catches the last of the sun, as a large bank of cloud rolls in from the west on 2 August 2015. It is passing the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, with the late running 1U25 18:00 Paddington to Bath First Great Western service, a temporary variation due to the closure of the line through Sydney Gardens, Bath, for electrification work.

The perils of railway photography! Not only was the sun on the point of being blotted out by clouds, but this HST very nearly got in the way of 70806 with the 6M50 07:55 Westbury to Bescot at Compton Beauchamp on 16 May 2016. 43179 Pride of Laira brings up the rear of the 1B10 07:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service.

The classic location of Sonning cutting, shortly before it was desecrated forever by the installation of 25kV catenary. 43179 Pride of Laira heads west on 16 August 2016 with the 1B42 14:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service.

43179 Pride of Laira leads passes Steventon on 5 January 2017 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. The steam rising in the background is from Didcot's small gas fired power station, while the tall chimney belongs to the much larger disused coal fired plant.

43180 catches the last of the evening light, as it passes Bredicot on 18 June 1984 with the 16:42 Manchester Piccadilly to Plymouth InterCity service. Being one of the last power cars to be delivered, 43180 did not have the abandoned 253 set numbers on the front end. However, neither did it have the loco number from new, this being added sometime during 1983. It eventually did acquire the obsolete Class 253 designation, but only when it was painted into the then new Executive livery!

In the very last of the weak evening sunshine, 43180 accelerates away from Kingham station on 20 May 1987 with the 1B56 18:25 Paddington to Hereford 'Cathedrals Express'. HSTs had taken over from Class 50s on the 'Cathedrals Express' a couple of weeks earlier. This photo is taken from the trackbed of the former Banbury to Cheltenham line, which used to cross the Cotswold Line at this point, with a couple of sharp connecting curves giving access to Kingham station.

43180 City of Newcastle upon Tyne passes Lower Basildon on 26 July 1999 with the 1E42 16:20 Bournemouth to Leeds Virgin CrossCountry service. This was just before these trains were downgraded to DMU operation. To quote Joni Mitchell: 'You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone'. How on earth a claustrophobic four coach Voyager can possibly be an improvement in way compared with a seven coach HST is a mystery!

The original version of First Great Western's blue livery was becoming the exception, rather than the rule, when this picture was taken on 28 March 2007, and yet here we see a complete set in the old colour scheme. 43180 leads the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central service through the shallow cutting at Baulking.

43180 passes the site of Severn Tunnel Junction motive power depot on 20 September 2008 with the 1L42 08:29 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. Whereas in previous years the area behind the HST would be occupied by lines of Class 37s and 47s on a weekend, today a solitary Class 66 (66005) sits at the entrance to the former depot. EWS are obviously not a very environmentally conscious company, for although there was no sign of it moving, the 'shed's' engine was running continuously.

43180 rounds the curve on the approach to Charlbury station at Cornbury Park on 28 June 2010, whilst working the 1W00 08:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The line here was singled in 1971, and this section is not included in the modern day double track reinstatement.

43180 passes Chilson on 6 May 2011 with the 1P65 15:11 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. On the right is the recently relaid but yet to be commissioned new up line, which extends from Ascott-under-Wychwood to Charlbury. This is a partial reinstatement of the second track that was removed by BR during the line's low point in 1971.

43180 approaches Cholsey along the up main line on 15 November 2013 with the 1L55 11:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The small group of trees on the right marks the site of a prehistoric hill fort.

43180 passes Denchworth on 8 September 2014 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. If it wasn't for the signal gantry, this location may have well become almost as popular with photographers as the nearby Circourt Bridge.

With the redundant Didcot Power Station in the background, 43180 passes Cholsey on 28 April 2015 with the 1P13 04:50 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. This would be my last visit to this iconic location, as the electfrication, once complete, would completely ruin the view.

The last of the late afternoon winter sunshine illuminates 43180, as it passes underneath the incomplete overhead catenary at Challow on 20 January 2017 with the 1C18 14:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare GWR service.

Signs of impending electrification near the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 4 February 2017. 43180 heads westwards with the 1C13 11:57 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. They don't seem to be erecting the masts in any particular order!

43180 passes Challow on 28 November 2017 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. The two lines of poplar trees are a distinctive feature of this location. This is one of the better (least bad!) photographic locations on the newly electrified line.

A frosty morning at Grove on 30 November 2017, as 43180 heads for the capital with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. Note that the train is in the reverse formation to normal, with the second class vehicles at the London end.

With a single green coach in an otherwise uniform blue rake, 43180 leads the 1W33 16:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service past Lyneham on 18 April 2018. This was still accelerating, after calling at the diminutive Shipton station, approximately half a mile away.

43180 passes Churchill Heath on 22 October 2018 with the 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. 43093 Old Oak Common HST Depot 1976 - 2018 was on the rear of the train, and for once the unusual angle from which I photographed it meant that its unique graphics showed up properly.

A contrast in colours at Hinksey Yard on 24 October 2018. 43180 leads the 1P31 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service, with the hard to photograph 43093 Old Oak Common HST Depot 1976 - 2018 on the rear. This was the third consecutive day that I had photographed this train, firstly at Churchill Heath, and then at Cornbury Park (near Charlbury).

43181 Devonport Royal Dockyard 1693 - 1993 passes Whiteball in the rain on 30 September 1995 with the 1V39 06:40 Newcastle to Penzance 'InterCity Holidaymaker'. A shutter speed of 1/250sec was sufficient here, as there was a severe speed restriction in force. Just as well in the circumstances considering the appalling light, and the fact that I was using Fujichrome 100.

43181 Devonport Royal Dockyard 1693 - 1993 passes Ebbw Junction, Newport on 24 July 1996 with the 1B30 14:00 Paddington to Swansea service. 09015 can be seen pottering about in Alexandra Dock Yard in the background.

With a sprinkling of snow on the ground and a thick layer of frost on the grass and trees, 43181 Devonport Royal Dockyard 1693 - 1993 passes Bourton with the 07:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service on 29 December 2000. The fog which can be seen in the background had only just cleared when I reached this spot, but of course it was the fog during the night which caused the build up of frost on the trees.

43181 Devonport Royal Dockyard 1693 - 1993 sweeps round the curve at Crofton on 15 June 2004 with the 1A24 05:07 Penzance to Paddington First Great Western service. This was transition time for the FGW fleet, with the majority of trains displaying this mix of liveries.

43181 passes Uffington under a dramatic cloudscape on 28 August 2010 with the 1C11 11:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Despite the amount of clouds in the sky, most trains luckily passed during the sunny spells!

The hawthorn bushes are in flower at Bourton on 26 May 2012, as 43181 passes through the shallow cutting just to the north of the village with the 1C10 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

43181 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 30 December 2014 with the 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The superb winter light may happen in future years, but this view will soon be ruined by the Great Western Mainline electfrication scheme.

With the unballasted and not yet commissioned new down line in the foreground, 43181 passes Oaksey on 4 March 2014 with the 1L58 12:20 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the base for what is presumably going to be a new signal on the extreme right.

43181 has just passed Hinksey Yard on 10 May 2014 with the 1P26 06:17 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service, while 66035 waits to enter the yard. It would later emerge with the very short 6Z25 08:46 Hinksey Yard to Westbury departmental working.

43181 passes a field of ripening wheat near Uffington on 12 July 2014 with the late running 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. No damage was done to the crop to get to this remote location, as the 'tram lines' on the right make a very convenient footpath.

43181 leads the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service past Shrivenham on 18 February 2015. The bright blue drain covers may impair the photo, but that is nothing compared with the forthcoming electrification, which will ruin this location forever.

43181 speeds past Denchworth on 10 March 2015 with the 1C11 11:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The foreground shadows are a bit intrusive, but not as intrusive as the electrification infrastructure that would shortly ruin this view for ever.

43181 passes through Sonning cutting on 26 April 2016 with the 1A74 05:53 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. The recent tree clearance has opened up the view, but unfortunately that is only the prelude to the view disappearing completely with the route's electfrication!

The hawthorn is in flower at Daylesford on 28 May 2016, as 43181 heads north with the late running 1W10 05:17 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. This is the first train of the day over the Cotswold Line if one discounts the 1W87 23:18 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh, which leaves Oxford shortly after midnight.

A colourful combination of yellow flowers, blue power car and green coaches at Bretforton on 19 May 2018. 43181 leads the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service past a recently erected fence, which replaces a rather overgrown hedge.

43182 speeds through Par station on 22 June 1996 with the 1A82 15:50 Penzance to Paddington service. Plenty of period railway details here including semaphore signals. As can be seen by the condition of the rails, the tracks on the right are used extensively by china clay freight trains as well as the local passenger services to Newquay.

By late 2006, a complete train in the original version of First Great Western's blue livery was the exception. 43182 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 16 December 2006 with the 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea service.

43182 leaves Moreton-in-Marsh on 19 February 2008 with the 12:40 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service. As is often the case with Cotswold Lines services since First Great Western took over the franchise, this was running 15 minutes late. I was worried that the Paddington to Hereford service would arrive and block out the picture, but of course that was late as well, although as I took this picture, it was just approaching from behind. This was a day of very localised weather, note the bank of fog to the north.

The passenger on the platform at Kingham certainly has a reason to look round as 43182 arrives with the 1Z16 14:03 Worcester Shrub Hill to Hanborough First Great Western service on 15 June 2008. Because the rostered driver for one of the diagrams over the Cotswold Line did not sign Class 166 units, a special short HST was made up comprising power cars 43182 & 43042 with coaches 42277 & 44059. The line was closed between Hanborough and Oxford, with buses providing a connection, while an hourly shuttle worked between Worcester and Hanborough. Unfortunately the sun disappeared at Kingham just before the train arrived!

No doubt providing inspiration for railway modellers everywhere, a 'train set' size HST leaves Moreton-in-Marsh on 15 June 2008 with the 1Z22 16:58 Worcester Shrub Hill to Hanborough First Great Western service. The Cotswold Line was closed for engineering work south of Hanborough and because the driver of one of the Worcester to Hanborough shuttle diagrams didn't sign Class 166s, a special short HST was made up comprising 43182, 42277, 44059, & 43042. The phenomenal power to weight ratio was apparent here, as the train was traveling appreciably faster than normal at this location, having just started from Moreton-in-Marsh station which is just visible in the background. 43182 is leading.

The blackthorn is in full bloom at Up Hatherley on 6 April 2009, as 43182 passes by with the 1G21 09:48 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service. Although this train would spend the rest of the day working between Cheltenham and London, it had started the day in the West Country, working up from Cornwall as the 1A74 06:00 Plymouth to Paddington.

Superb winter light at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 14 January 2012. 43182 heads west with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This is one location where the vegetation in the foreground is actually less than in previous years!

43182 is pictured near Brinkworth on 6 March 2012, speeding westwards with the 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. This location is a good walk from the nearest road, and as I soon discovered, not much of a viewpoint when you get there!

Golden evening light at Wolvercote on 19 July 2013. 43182 prepares to deviate onto the Cotswold Line, as it passes the works to reinstate the down relief line. The train is the 1W08 17:42 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service

43182 leads the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington First Great Western service past Bourton on 30 October 2013. I have included this picture because it literally shows the end of the morning's sunshine, as an approaching front rolls in from the west. The clouds were following the train along, but an HST can outrun the weather, so it just beat the clouds to my vantage point!

43182 passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 8 June 2015 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. The more interesting 'Building A Greater West' branded 43146 can just be seen on the rear.

With the first class coaches unusually at the 'country' end of the train, 43182 passes Bourton on 17 March 2016 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. Note the two bases for the forthcoming electfrication masts directly above the power car's roof.

43182 passes Chilson on 17 May 2016 with the 1P19 05:28 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. Directly above the power car is Ascott Mill, a former flour mill on the River Evenlode, situated some distance from the village of Ascott-under-Wychwood.

43182 nears journey's end, as it approaches Moreton-in-Marsh on 25 August 2017 with the 1W32 15:49 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh GWR service. The train would return almost instantly as the 1P69 17:32 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington.

Running 20 minutes late, 43182 passes through Culham station on 25 February 2018 with the 1P51 14:53 Oxford to Paddington GWR service. This would ordinarily be a train from Great Malvern, but the line north of Oxford was closed for engineering works.

43182 passes underneath the as yet unenergised wires at Grove, that will eventually see it made redundant. The train is the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service, and the date is 14 May 2018.

43182 approaches Combe on 11 June 2018 with the late running 1P14 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington GWR service. Not much effort was required to take this picture, as it is taken from the side of the Long Hanborough to Combe road.

Just as the clock on the tower of the nearby Great Bedwyn church strikes 5pm on 2 July 2018, 43182 passes by with the 1C88 16:03 Paddington to Penzance GWR service. The uninterrupted blue sky was typical of the scorching summer of 2018.

43182 slowly pulls away from Hanborough station on 6 August 2018 with the 1W31 15:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. Running late, as usual, the train was terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill. The slight haze visible in front of the trees on the right is dust from a nearby building site, as another field succumbs to yet more houses.

A crisp winter morning at Baulking, in the Vale of White Horse, on 10 December 1986. 43183 heads eastwards with the 1A60 06:00 Haverfordwest to Paddington InterCity service. Haverfordwest no longer has the luxury of a HST service direct to London.

Although of course I took lots of pictures of HSTs in their final years on the Cotswold Line, before the route was downgraded to DMU only status, I didn't take many pictures in the 1980s and 1990s, probably because I was still regretting the demise of the Class 50s on the line. However, here is 43183 catching the very last of the evening light, as it passes Lyneham on 28 April 1990 with the 1B58 18:15 Paddington to Hereford service.

As often happens when railway liveries are changed, mixed colours within a train do little for the corporate image. On 14 July 1997, 43183 in Great Western livery heads a rake of Inter City liveried stock as it approaches Wolvercote Junction with the 1B48 17:10 Paddington to Hereford service. The train is slowing down to take the diverging route a short distance beyond the bridge.

43183 accelerates away from Lostwithiel on 18 July 1998 with the 1A83 15:08 Penzance to Paddington service. Two years after Great Western Trains took over the franchise, they have only partially managed to eradicate the former InterCity image.

43183 passes Crookwood (near Urchfont) on 13 April 2002 with he 1A71 14:48 Paignton to Paddington 'Torbay Express'. I didn't like First Great Western's 'fag packet' livery at the time, but it looks a lot better than their current totally uninspired dark green colour scheme!

43183 approaches Pilning station on 7 August 2005 with the 1B51 15:37 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. I didn't accurately record the number at the time, but I have had no trouble matching up the distinctly damaged front end with other pictures, and thereby categorically identifying it!

A slightly grubby 43183 leads the 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service past Shrivenham on 17 December 2007. The bridge in the background marks the site of Ashbury Crossing, the road there being closed with the erection of the footbridge in the early 1970s.

A picture that I have been intending to take for ages. 43183 races past the 3000 year old Uffington White Horse with the 1A27 17:10 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service on 1 June 2009. This picture requires a summer evening, so that the sun is on the north side of the line, clear visibility and lightning fast reflexes! A shutter speed of 1/4000 sec was used to freeze all movement, but even so getting this shot right is not easy, as at 125 mph the train is traveling at over 180 feet per second!

43183 emerges from Ardley Tunnel on 15 October 2010 with the 1Z11 08:03 Paddington to Banbury First Great Western proving run, in connection with planned diversions over the Christmas period. It would later work the 1Z12 09:57 Banbury to Westbury, 1Z13 12:10 Westbury to Waterloo, and finally the 1Z14 15:10 Waterloo to Paddington. HSTs are exceedingly rare on the Chiltern Line, and I thought I would revisit this location, as I used it for the previous visit of a HST railtour in 1994. The track has been doubled since then! For some unexplained reason, even though there was hardly a breath of wind, just before the train appeared, a flurry of hawthorn leaves starting drifting across the tunnel mouth.

The classic location of Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, before the wires went up. 43183 heads westwards in fine spring light on 5 March 2013 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service.

43183 shows some evidence of bodyside patch painting, as it leads the 1D51 16:49 Paddington to Oxford First Great Western service through the lush upper Thames Valley countryside near Kennington on 6 June 2013.

The immaculately clean bodyside of 43183 is somewhat let down by the unwashed roof, and damaged headlight surround, as it speeds past Denchworth on 4 September 2013 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service.

Almost a bit of weak sunshine, as 43183 passes Compton Beauchamp on 3 February 2014 with the 1A09 07:02 Taunton to Paddington First Great Western service. 43183 was easily reconisable from a distance at this time, by virtue of the missing paint around the headlight.

A picturesque scene at Uffington, still not ruined by electfrication. 43183 heads east on 25 February 2016 with the1A10 09:00 Bristol Tempe Meads to Paddington GWR service. It's a pity the more colourful 43126 wasn't on the front, rather than hiding away at the back!

With the first class coaches unusually at the 'country' end of the train, the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham on 13 March 2017, with 43183 leading.

43183 brings up the rear of the 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service at Kennington on 9 September 2017. The going away shot is actually slightly better here, as the footbridge does not allow a more side on viewpoint for southbound trains.

43183 brings up the rear of the 1W02 10:42 Paddington to Hereford GWR service at Didcot North Junction on 26 November 2017. In a few seconds time the train will be passing underneath the abandoned electrification masts near Appleford. A few seconds later it would in the clear again!

43183 passes Grove on 30 November 2017 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. A rural location at the moment, but this is one of the options for the site of the new Grove station, although as this has been talked about for over 30 years and nothing has happened, this may always remain a rural spot!

In early 2018 there was still an ominous gap in the massively delayed and staggeringly mismanaged electfrication of the Great Western Mainline near Steventon. 43183 rushes past the incomplete catenary with the 1L32 06:59 Swansea to Paddington GWR service on 25 January 2018.

With the main lines closed for Sunday engineering work, 43184 has to use the up relief line at Cholsey on 18 February 1990, as it heads for London with the 1A44 13:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington InterCity service. Despite 43184's badly damaged paintwork, it would not receive the then current InterCity swallow livery (as on the rear power car) for another couple of years, although it did get a much needed touch up. Both this livery, and the later swallow colour scheme matched the InterCity liveried coaches, as can be seen here.

43184 passes Clattercote (between Banbury and Fenny Compton) on 18 June 2002 with the 1M31 16:20 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly Virgin CrossCountry service. This is the only time that I visited this location. A pleasant enough shadow free summer evening location, but a bit nondescript, and not really worth the long walk!

On its second day in traffic, after being repainted into 1980s style InterCity Executive livery, 43184 passes Engine Common on 7 July 2022 with the 1E63 15:27 Plymouth to Leeds CrossCountry service. A guaranteed completely sunny afternoon ensured that this was an extremely well photographed train. Prior to its repaint this had been numbered 43384.

43184 passes Bredon on 8 July 2022 with the 1S51 12:27 Plymouth to Edinburgh CrossCountry service. This was the loco's third day in traffic, after being repainted into InterCity Executive livery. Unfortunately the lineside vegetation is once again taking over at this location, making a slightly more head on viewpoint required at each visit!

43184 brings up the rear of the late running 1V44 06:11 Leeds to Plymouth CrossCountry service at Claydon on 11 July 2022. 43303 is leading. The western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills dominates the background.

43184 passes Eckington in superb late evening light on 6 August 2022 with the 1E67 16:27 Plymouth to Leeds CrossCountry service. I was surprised than there were no other photographers here, as surely the novelty of 43184's InterCity Executive livery can't be wearing off already! The track in the foreground is the start of Eckington Up Goods Loop.

43184 approaches Ashchurch on the frosty morning of 19 January 2023 with the 1V44 06:11 Leeds to Plymouth CrossCountry service. This was running 13 minutes late, which was very fortunate, as at the booked time the sun was still behind a slow moving cloud. In fact the sun only came out just before the train appeared in the distance, and it was then that I realised that I needed to change to this longer lens in order to avoid shadows in the foreground.

43184 passes Gossington on 20 January 2023 with the 1V50 06:06 Edinburgh to Plymouth CrossCountry service. Although I have taken pictures from the bridge in the background, and both the footpath crossings either side of this spot, this is the first time that I have used this particular viewpoint.

43184 passes Standish Junction on 24 January 2023 with the 1V50 06:06 Edinburgh to Plymouth CrossCountry service. The power car carries its original set number 253051, from the early days when HSTs were supposed to stay together as a complete unit (in this case with 43183).

With Bredon Hill dominating the background, 43184 brings up the rear of the 1S51 12:27 Plymouth to Edinburgh CrossCountry service at Tredington on 6 February 2023. 43303 is at the front of the train. This was a completely cloudless day, and apart from some haziness in the distance, luckily fog free.

The 1V44 06:11 Leeds to Plymouth CrossCountry service passes Standish Junction on 15 May 2023, with 43184 Laira Diesel Depot leading, and 43366 HST 40 Celebrating 40 Years of High Speed Train services on the Cross Country network bringing up the rear. I was using a long lens in order to clear the safety railings where the two sets of lines start to separate in height. This was very fortunate, as the sun was coming out briefly from the rapidly increasing cloud, but it still wasn't out where I was standing!

Running 13 minutes late (a fairly normal occurrence!), 43184 Laira Diesel Depot passes the hawthorn blossom at Bredon, as it speeds southwards with the 1V44 06:12 Leeds to Plymouth CrossCountry service on 25 May 2023.

43184 Laira Diesel Depot passes Bredon's Norton on 27 May 2023 with the 1E73 17:27 Plymouth to Leeds CrossCountry service, which was later terminated at Derby. At 20:30 there aren't that many locations that are free from shadows, but I had been told about this spot as a possibility, so paid my first visit. Being on an embankment there is clearly no problem with shadows, although the few small lineside bushes get in the way a little.

Not a money saving measure to get rid of the inconvenient business of carrying passengers! 43185 & 43006 pass Ebbw Junction on 21 October 1985 en-route to Landore depot. These back to back power car moves were much more common in the 1970s & 1980s, and are certainly by far the most photographically interesting type of light engine movement.

43185 approaches Goring on 13 September 1986 with the 1A17 07:00 Swansea to Paddington service. Another location that I should have visited more often, but which has now disappeared under a sea of 25kV wires.

There are plenty of people in 43185's cab, as it approaches Hawkeridge Junction on 4 October 1987 with the diverted 1A27 08:30 Swansea to Paddington service. It will shortly be taking the normally freight only chord to Heywood Road Junction.

Superb, but very brief lighting at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 2 March 1988. 43185 heads east with the 07:10 Taunton to Paddington service. Interestingly the train contains all three HST liveries current at the time. 43185 is in the then new InterCity 'Swallow' livery, whilst all the coaches retain the original blue and grey colour scheme, and the rear power car is in the Executive livery, which was such a radical departure when introduced in 1983. For some unexplained reason this picture was taken on Kodachrome 200, which I was using on what was an otherwise a dull day. The unexplained bit is why I didn't use my other camera loaded with Kodachrome 64 for this transient burst of sunshine! Some serious grain reduction in Neat Image has been called for!

43185 races through Honeybourne station on 17 March 1989 with the 1A21 07:07 Hereford to Paddington 'Cathedrals Express'. Not a very good photo, with the very head on lighting, and the inclusion of my shadow! However, it does show the reopened Honeybourne station's very spartan facilities, which look very basic compared with the today's rebuilt station. The puddle filled car park, and lack of any nearby houses is also in marked contrast to today's view.

The long way round to Cornwall. 43185 Great Western approaches Highworth Junction, Swindon, on 3 March 1994 with the 1C12 07:45 Paddington to Penzance service. Most trains to the West Country would obviously travel via Newbury, rather than via Bristol. The formerly rail connected Shell oil depot dominates the background, with the Rover Works directly behind.

New Year's Day 1995 dawns bright and (mostly) clear at South Marston. 43185 Great Western passes the site of the former sidings with the 1A14 08:00 Cardiff Central to Paddington service. The sidings were installed in 1942, and continued in use until the mid 1960s.

43185 Great Western approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 October 1996 with the 1C34 12:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Great Western Trains service. At the other end of the immaculate train is 43183. This was only the second passenger working for this newly painted set, the first being the 1A27 05:15 Penzance to Paddington 'Golden Hind', earlier that morning. Great Western Trains had unveiled their stylish new livery the previous day. For some unknown reason, this train was stopped at the signal by the roadbridge at Baulking. This allowed me to obtain a second picture of the pristine train passing the site of Uffington station.

43185 Great Western slowly passes the site of Uffington station on 1 October 1996 with the 1C34 12:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Great Western Trains service, which had been stopped for some unknown reason at the signal by the bridge in the background. This was the pristine train's first day in service, after being painted in Great Western Train's stylish new livery.

43185 Great Western passes Knighton on 1 May 2007 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. The short section of embankment here was ideal for the installation of a road underbridge in the 1970s, to replace the former Knighton Crossing.

43185 Great Western approaches Goring on 12 April 2008 with the 05:59 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the inclusion of a single coach still wearing the old livery. Coincidentally, I photographed this same power car here over two decades earlier.

The five wind turbines of the Westmill Wind Farm can be seen in the distance, as 43185 Great Western approaches Uffington on 14 April 2008 with the 1A09 06:45 Exeter St Davids to Paddington (via Bristol) First Great Western service. Note that the third coach still retains the earlier FGW livery.

An aptly named HST power car to be photographed heading west along Brunel's superbly engineering Great Western Mainline. 43185 Great Western is pictured passing Denchworth with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service on 2 July 2009. In recent years I had tended to ignore this location, concentrating instead like everybody else on the nearby Circourt Bridge. This was probably because I had failed to take enough pictures before they erected this slightly over engineered signal gantry. However, it is sufficiently far away to be a frame for the train rather than dominate the picture. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the gantry on the other side of the bridge, which is impossibly close.

Eventually, after a totally cloudy afternoon (not predicted by the Met Office!), the sun breaks through the clouds at Baulking on 3 September 2013. 43185 Great Western heads westwards with the late running 1G47 15:36 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service.

43185 Great Western passes Uffington on 19 November 2013 with the 1C09 10:00 Paddington to Paignton First Great Western service. I hadn't tried this particular viewpoint before. It is halfway between the road and my usual choice of location two fields away.

43185 Great Western leads the 1A08 05:09 Plymouth to Paddington (via Bristol) GWR service past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 10 October 2016. 'Bristol 2015 European Green Capital' liveried 43148 can just be seen on the rear of the train. This is my first picture of 43185 since it received its 'InterCity Swallow' livery heritage repaint a couple of weeks earlier. Coincidentally, the other heritage repaint, 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, was on the rear of a train heading in the opposite direction, just ten minutes later.

On its second day out, after being paired up with Laira's LA16 set of green coaches, and the other heritage repainted power car, 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, InterCity liveried 43185 Great Western approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 12 October 2016 with the 1B27 11:15 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. The track workers don't seem very impressed with the colourful cavalcade passing by just in front of them! I was extremely lucky with the sun here, as there was just a small gap in the clouds. It is clearly cloudy in the background, and the bridge I was standing on was only just in sun - a very close call!

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the 1L82 15:28 Swansea to Paddington service at Standish Junction on 12 October 2016. GWR's other heritage repaint, 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, can just be seen at he front of the train. This was diverted away from its usual route via the Severn Tunnel due to electfrication works.

43185 Great Western passes Bourton on 13 March 2017 with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. Exactly half an hour later, another of the route's non-standard liveried power cars passed by, as 43163 led the 1L50 10:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington service.

43185 Great Western passes Hinksey Yard on 30 March 2017 with the 1W25 12:21 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill GWR service. It's nice to see a power car in the stylish 'Swallow' livery, but there are one or two differences between this repaint, and the real thing from two decades earlier. The grey panel around the lights is a modern addition, and the red line should be higher up, with most of its width carried around the front end, clearly noticeable on this power car in 1988.

43185 Great Western heads swiftly towards London at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 25 May 2017 with the 1A09 07:13 Taunton to Paddington GWR service. This new viewpoint (for me) has been used because not only is the view from the bridge in the background now ruined by the overhead wires, but more to the point on this occasion, the footpath a little further east was not suitable due to works taking place in the vicinity.

Looking superb in the early morning light, 43185 Great Western rounds the curve on the approach to Thingley Junction with the 1A04 06:33 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR Service on 19 June 2017. Note the recently rebuilt bridge on the background. A bit prominent in the landscape, but not as bad as some hideous monstrosities that Network Rail have built recently.

With an abundant crop of blackberries in the foreground, 43185 Great Western passes Uffington on 22 September 2017 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. Note the single green liveried coach in the centre of the train.

A welcome bonus on a warm (for the time of year) and sunny morning at South Marston on 27 October 2017. 43185 Great Western heads towards London with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service.

43185 Great Western passes Grove on 30 November 2017 with the 1L50 10:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. A little backlit, but I was already at the location, so no harm in waiting for an extra half an hour. Photo taken from a public footpath crossing.

43185 Great Western passes Badgeworth on 4 December 2017 with the 1G21 09:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. I wouldn't normally bother photographing a HST in such miserable light, even in their twilight years, but you just can't ignore this retro liveried power car!

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the 1D18 08:51 Paddington to Oxford GWR service, as it reaches journey's end on 12 December 2017. With the temperature only -2 c, there wasn't much danger of the snow melting in the sunshine, and until the forecast high cloud appeared in the early afternoon, it was a day of perfect photographic conditions.

43185 Great Western speeds underneath the roadbridge at Cassington on 11 May 2018, as it heads along the Cotswold Line with the 1P18 06:42 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This close up viewpoint clearly shows the slightly wobbly red and white lines on this recreation of the classic InterCity 'Swallow' livery.

Not ideal lighting, with the sun still too head on, but you don't pass up the opportunity to photograph 43185 Great Western! The heritage repainted power car speeds past Challow on 17 May 2018 with the 1L28 07:08 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service.

43185 Great Western passes Haresfield on 5 June 2018 with the 1G21 09:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. I almost missed this, as 60015 was approaching from the other direction with the 6B13 05:00 Robeston to Westerleigh Murco oil tanks.

The colourful InterCity livery of 43185 Great Western makes the dark green coaches behind it look even more depressing, as the mismatched ensemble passes South Marston on 9 July 2018 with the 1A09 05:29 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. Unfortunately on its next working, the 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea, the train came to a stand near Uffington with the fire bells in 43185 ringing. After an 80 minute delay, the train was terminated at Swindon. I was particularly pleased to see 43185 on this train, as just a minute earlier 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange had passed by in the other direction with the 1C06 08:33 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. I didn't notice this until it was too late, and anyway the picture would have been far too backlit.

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the 1A27 17:10 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington GWR service at Compton Beauchamp on 25 July 2018. This was already running late, but would soon became even later, as it came to stand at a red signal a little further on, due apparently to signaling problems.

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service at Badsey on 4 August 2018. This view has been considerably improved by the clearance of lineside vegetation, although it does now provide a clearer view of the nursery in the background!

43185 Great Western heads south from Moreton-in-Marsh on 4 August 2018 with the 1P65 15:13 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. Considering this is my local line, I haven't got that many pictures of InterCity Swallow liveried HSTs on the Cotswold Line, as after the Class 50s left the route in 1989, I started travelling further afield for much of my railway photography.

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the 1C08 09:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service at Uffington on 29 October 2018. Two years since it acquired its retro InterCity Swallow livery, 43185 is still photographed wherever it goes, something which did not happen when the whole fleet was in this colour scheme!

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the 1G38 13:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service at Kemble on 3 January 2019. Even more noteworthy, 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange was the leading power car. This train was terminated at Gloucester, as it was being held up by the 3Q64 10:20 Canton Pullmans to Canton Pullmans Network Rail test train running slowly in front of it.

43185 Great Western brings up the rear of one of the final scheduled Cotswold Line HST working at Dunstall Bridge, Moreton-in-Marsh, on 31 March 2019. This is the 1W39 13:37 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service, which is being led by 43162 Exeter Panel Signal Box 21st Anniversary 2009. Although the sun was shining weakly, naturally it was a lot brighter a few minutes later, while the train was sat in Moreton station, which can just be seen in the distance.

43185 Great Western slowly pulls away from Moreton-in-Marsh station on Sunday 31 March 2019 with one of the final scheduled Cotswold Line HST operated trains, the 1P69 16:27 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington GWR service. Just a handful of HSTs would operate over the line after this, and as this was booked to be worked by the InterCity liveried power car, I certainly wasn't going to miss it. I expected there would be some other photographers here to record the event, especially as Moreton-in-Marsh is an iconic location, complete with semaphore signals. However, nobody else was on the bridge with me, and it doesn't look like there are any other photographers on the station either. Very strange!

43185 Great Western approaches Steventon on 12 May 2019 with the final standard HST operated train from Weston-super-Mare, the 1A10 08:15 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington GWR service. The driver would shortly have to apply the brakes, as bizarrely the early running 6Y46 10:19 Hinksey to Abbotswood Junction ballast train was let out from the bi-directional relief line, to cross over the up main line right in front of it! The board on the right is the traction changeover indicator for the Class 800/802 bi-mode units, signalling where the driver should raise the pantograph, after travelling through the Steventon dead section on diesel power.

The end - quite literally! 43185 Great Western brings up the rear of the last scheduled Cotswold Line HST working, the 1W08 18:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service, seen here at Daylesford on 18 May 2019. 43009 is at the front of the train. From the following day the Cotswold Line would be a purely DMU operated railway.

43186 passes Badgeworth on 16 February 1985 with the 1E23 08:33 Plymouth to York service. Although the InterCity Executive livery had debuted on the HST fleet in 1983, the majority of the Western Region sets were still in blue and grey at the start of 1985. Soon there would be many years of 'mix and match' sets, not helped by the addition of another revised colour scheme in 1987.

43186 leads the 08:05 Hereford to Paddington service away from Moreton-in-Marsh on 4 May 1996. Although Budgens supermarket and the new houses behind the station detract somewhat from the period feel, there is still plenty of steam age infrastructure at Moreton-in-Marsh, and although virtually never used, a surprising amount of the original sidings still survive. Note that the replacement emergency coupling hook cover on 43186 has obviously been swapped with another power car, as the paintwork doesn't match.

Dramatic lighting at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 23 February 2002. 43186 finds a lucky patch of sun amid the dark clouds, as it heads towards London with the 1L48 09:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service.

43186 leads the 15:33 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service past the site of Coates station on 21 April 2002. Coates was the original station for the Kemble area, opening with the line in 1845 and being called Tetbury Road. The inclusion of the word road in the title was traditional GWR practice when the station was in the middle of nowhere! The present Kemble station came into use in 1872 and Tetbury Road then effectively became its goods station, changing its name to Coates in 1908.

Gleaming ex-works 43186 passes Farleaze (near Hullavington) with the 08:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service on 1 September 2007. The train does not quite present a unified image, as although most of the stock is in the new 'Neon' livery with wavy lines motif and red doors, the third and fourth vehicles are still in the earlier version of the livery.

43186 passes Up Hatherley on 4 May 2010 with the 1L58 12:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. Although this looks like a rural location, there are houses all around, largely hidden from view by the lineside bushes.

After the rain had finally stopped, 43186 passes Compton Beauchamp on 16 May 2010 with the 1A26 17:00 Bristol Tempe meads to Paddington First Great Western service. The wide formation here betrays the course of the former up relief line.

43186 shows evidence of its previous livery, as peeling paint reveals traces of yellow on the panel below the headlights. It is pictured here passing Compton Beauchamp on 5 June 2010 with the 1L14 05:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. A solitary hawthorn bush is still in flower, but otherwise at this time of year everything is virtually the same shade of green.

43186 unusually runs along the down relief line at Denchworth on 14 July 2011. Presumably an ECS working (5Zxx Old Oak Common to Bristol is my guess) or possibly a crew training run (there are plenty of people in the cab). It stopped at the end of the loop at Challow to let two service trains past. HSTs do not normally use these relief lines, but it is obviously not that rare, as I saw one ten days previously, and another later on during this afternoon!

43186 just catches the last of the late afternoon sun at Standish Junction on 6 October 2012, as it heads south with the 1L85 17:00 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. Despite the faltering light, I was determined to get this picture, as 43186 has eluded me ever since it had its Diamond Jubilee vinyls applied earlier in the year. After spending a considerable period out of service at Laira, I thought I might have missed my chance.

Neatly framed by a venerable oak tree, 43186 passes Uffington on 27 October 2012 with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Hardly visible at this distance is the power car's unique Diamond Jubilee livery. A more conventional view would have been better to shown off the livery, but I was going for a more arty look for a change. The lone tree is all that is left of a former field boundary hedge, grubbed out sometime in the 1960s.

43186, one of the two First Great Western power cars adorned in the striking HP 'All Change' vinyls, passes a slightly misty Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 22 July 2013 with the 1C09 10:00 Paddington to Paignton service. Obviously they make sure it's kept clean, as after a couple of months in service, it still looks pristine.

43186 races underneath the roadbridge at Shrivenham (since replaced by an ugly modern concrete replacement) on 9 April 2014 with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. Shrivenham station, which closed in 1964, was situated on the other side of the bridge.

43186 passes Baulking on 20 March 2015 with the 1G38 13:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa First Great Western service. Still not much sign of the hugely delayed electfrication scheme here, although it won't be long now!

43186 leads the 1L46 09:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service past Grove on 28 September 2015. Denchworth road bridge is in the background, with Circourt Bridge just visible in the far distance. Photo taken from a public footpath crossing.

Golden late afternoon light at Steventon on 19 January 2016. 43186 leads the 1B46 14:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service past some parked agricultural machinery, while in the background a column of steam rises from Didcot's remaining gas fired power station.

The horses in the field next to Circourt Bridge take no notice, as 43186 leads the 1B15 08:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service past Denchworth on 20 January 2016. I wouldn't normally bother with a backlit picture such as this, but the frosty field, and the equine indifference makes the picture.

43186 passes Kennington on 9 September 2017 with the 1P37 08:43 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. Surprisingly, given the proximity of the dark clouds in the background, the sun managed to hang on for another 30 minutes.

43186 passes Uffington on 13 November 2017 with the 1A08 05:09 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. Nice lighting and autumn colours, but the location is still pretty much ruined by the recent installation of the 25kV catenary!

Running 35 minutes late, 43186 passes Combe on 20 April 2018 with the 1P31 12:09 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. The blackthorn blossom in the foreground adds to the picture at the moment, but in a few years time the bush will have grown sufficiently to block this view once again, and no doubt it will be many decades before Network Rail clears it again!

43186 passes Shorthampton on 7 September 2018 with the 1P18 06:42 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This was running exactly on time, something which is nothing like as common as it should be on the Cotswold Line under GWR's stewardship!

43186 Taunton Castle approaches Foley Park Tunnel on 20 May 2023 with the 11:00 Arley to Kidderminster service. 43188 Newport Castle is bringing up the rear. Despite the presence of various other visiting locomotives, this GWR 'Castle' HST was the definite star of the Severn Valley Railways Diesel Gala.

43186 Taunton Castle passes Brent Knoll on 14 June 2023 with the 2C79 14:55 Bristol Temple Meads to Penzance GWR service. 43016 Powderham Castle is bringing up the rear. This train would normally start from Cardiff, but the Severn Tunnel was closed for engineering works.

43187 passes Clink Road Junction on 11 May 1985 with the 1A38 08:27 Penzance to Paddington 'Cornish Riviera'. The single track line to Frome can be seen diverging to the right in the background. Approximately half a mile further on is Frome North Junction, where the line from Whatley Quarry joins.

43187 passes Standish Junction on 11 October 1986 with the 1V41 07:00 Bradford Interchange to Paignton service. Typical of the period is the combination of a pair of Executive liveried power cars, sandwiching a rake of original blue and grey stock. Unfortunately lineside tree growth since this picture was taken would make this autumn morning picture impossible nowadays, due to the length of the shadows.

43187 pulls away from Bristol Parkway station on 6 May 1989 with the 1A44 11:41 Swansea to Paddington InterCity service. passing the Avon 'Binliner' wagons, stabled on the right. The large buildings on the horizon are the hangars at Bristol Filton Airport.

Having just passed the site of Badminton station, 43187 leads the 1A36 09:25 Cardiff Central to Paddington Great Western Trains service past Acton Turville on 2 October 1996. Presumably Chipping Sodbury Tunnel, through which the train has just passed, is a bit leaky, which is why the driver felt the need to wash the windscreen!

43187 speeds past Shrivenham on 7 October 2006 with the 1B51 15:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. The bridge in the background is a concrete footbridge on the site of the now closed Ashbury Crossing.

43187 passes St Mary's Crossing signal box on 8 April 2010 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. This Victorian GWR box survives purely to control the minor road crossing leading to a few houses alongside the derelict Thames & Severn Canal, midway between Chalford and Brimscombe. The signalman here gets a lot of exercise, as the white box at ground level contains the signaling instruments, and the crossing gates are manually operated. A real anomaly on a modern main line, where the passage of trains could be interrupted by a 100 year old plus system relying on a key being returned to a machine in a wooden trackside box!

43187 approaches Culham on 27 April 2011 with the late running 1P56 13:11 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. This location is approached along an extremely rough road, which is not suitable for the timid driver!

Just three days after its rebranding from First Great Western to Great Western Railway (or GWR), ex-works 43187 leads a complete rake of the new dark green liveried coaches past the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 23 September 2015, with 43188 bringing up the rear. It is working the 1C10 10:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service. Green ought to be a good colour choice for railway vehicles, but this just looks too dark, and seems to highlight every reflection. It certainly won't look good in mid June under a high summer sun!

43187 leads the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service past Compton Beauchamp on 25 September 2015. The rebranded franchise's one and only (for the moment!) green liveried HST is still looking clean after five days in traffic, although the rather uninspired colour scheme still fails to impress. At least there are no distracting logos, or clashing colour bands, etc. However, this simplification has even extended to the removal of the yellow stripe that for nearly half a century has indicated a first class coach. It has been replaced by a virtually invisible thin silver line.

Still looking clean after two weeks in service, 43187 passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 October 2015 with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington service. With its already unpopular 'stealth' dark green livery, this shows how well GWR's new corporate images blends in with the landscape!

43187 brings up the rear of the 1G21 09:36 Paddington to Cheltenham GWR service at Steventon on 9 December 2015. As only one set has received this pseudo retro green livery, the leading power car has to be 43188.

GWR liveries old and new at Sonning on 26 April 2016. 43187 brings up the rear of the 1B15 08:45 Paddington to Swansea service, while in the background 165106 & 165125 approach with the 2P34 08:34 Didcot Parkway to Paddington.

Great Western green 21st century style. 43187 leads the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR Service past Compton Beauchamp on 5 May 2016. The dark green does not photograph well, often appearing nearly black! However, here it contrasts well with the fresh spring greens in the landscape, and for once doesn't actually too bad.

43187 leads the 1A78 06:50 Penzance to Paddington GWR service past Brimpton on 14 May 2016. Note the steel pile for the forthcoming electrification just to the right of the power car. Also, in the background are a couple of masts, all on their own, seemingly installed at random. It may seen too obvious, but isn't the most logical way to do a job like this to start at one end, and methodically work your way along, not install a few masts, then have to go back later to add more!

43187 passes Copmpton Beauchamp on 27 May 2016 with the 1A17 12:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. I have now got several pictures of this set passing this location since it was painted green. Different seasons bring different results, but this one where the landscape as well as the train is green is the least satisfactory.

Sooner or later GWR's green liveried HST power cars were going to get separated from their green coaches. Such was the case on 15 August 2016, when 43187 worked the 1L60 12:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington service, seen here approaching Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. Luckily the freshly harvested field provides a contrasting background to the loco's drab green colour scheme.

Green liveried 43187 is paired with a blue set of coaches, as it works the 1P41 12:01 Oxford to Paddington GWR service on 16 August 2016, seen here passing through Sonning cutting. Note the evidence of recent tree clearance, in preparation for electrification.

43187 leads the 1P57 14:25 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service past Daylesford on 13 February 2017. Both 43187, and 43188 on the rear of the train now sport Welsh dragons logos along with Y Cymro / The Welshman wording. The low winter light, and the fact that the dark green livery contrasts with the landscape, rather than blends into it, actually makes a fairly decent picture, although it has to be said that Great Western's choice of livery is pretty uninspired. This is the first time that I have used this particular vantage point, which is very strange considering it is on my local Cotswold Line. I have used the bridge in the background for numerous pictures, and even ventured into the field on the other side, but for some reason never before to this spot!

43187 passes the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, on 13 March 2017 with the 1L55 11:29 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. I had noted this mismatched livery combination heading for Wales earlier in the day, and after consulting the diagrams, was prepared for its return in the afternoon. In the foreground is the truncated road at the site of Ashbury level crossing, which was closed and replaced by a footbridge in the 1970s.

43187 slowly approaches Honeybourne on 11 August 2017 with the 1W23 11:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. This is not quite a complete green set, as blue livered 43132 is on the rear. A very dull day allowed this picture from the north side of the line, although the poor light does emphasise the awful drabness of this livery.

Another colour mismatch! Green liveried 43187 is partnered with a blue set of stock, as it works the 1P61 15:21 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service on 25 August 2017. It is pictured here passing through Honeybourne station.

Running 21 minutes late, 43187 passes Badgeworth on 9 January 2019 with the 1L50 10:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. I'm not sure what the delay was, as the inward working (the 1G11 07:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa) was on time. I know, I glimpsed it through the trees as I was driving through the Stroud Valley.

This close up view of 43187 at Steventon on 24 February 2019 clearly shows the power car's Y Cymro The Welshman branding. The train is the 1C15 13:03 Paddington to Taunton GWR service. The Class 800 EMU takeover is almost complete, as this was the only HST seen during a two hour lineside visit.

43187 Cardiff Castle passes West Hewish on 14 June 2023 with the 2C85 17:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton GWR service. Although GWR call these short 'Castle' sets Class 255, that designation has no official validity. When they were introduced the Western Region sets were Class 253, and the Eastern Region ones Class 254. However, that was abandoned quite early on.

The Great Western Railway inaugurated the 'Cornish Riviera Express' in 1904, and it soon became one of the most famous named trains in the country. Ninety years later it was still going, and is pictured here approaching Tiverton Parkway, running as the 1C31 10:35 Paddington to Penzance, led by 43188 City of Plymouth on 1 May 1994.

43188 emerges from Hillfield Tunnel, and approaches Gaer Junction on 11 September 1997 with the 1B14 09:00 Paddington to Swansea Great Western Trains service. This was the first franchise operator to use the Great Western name, but was only short lived in this guise, before being absorbed in to the First Group.

43188 arrives at Charlbury on 23 August 2008 with the 1P70 17:07 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. The HST stop board on the right shows just how far from the station platform the front of down trains have to be.

Under a clear blue sky, 43188 passes Uffington on 21 April 2009 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. Needless to say, this completely open viewpoint didn't stay like this for very long!

43188 passes Shorthampton in the pouring rain on 10 February 2013 with the 1W03 12:42 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. Naturally I had not gone out in these conditions just to photograph a HST, but as I was there the picture was taken, as the rain certainly gives the picture a different look. My reason for going was 66551 coming the other way on an engineer's train.

43188 heads through the drizzle at Whitehill (near Combe) on 9 March 2013 with the 1W01 10:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. I seem to like photographing this power car in the rain, having seen it in similarly dire conditions just a few weeks earlier!

Golden early morning autumnal light at Challow on 10 August 2013. 43188 speeds past the site of the old station (closed in 1964) with the 1L24 06:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. A mundane view, but electrification will soon render this viewpoint extinct.

43188 passes Denchworth 8 January 2014 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The long lens has certainly compressed the perspective, making Circourt Bridge seem relatively close.

A chance to try out the 1/4000sec shutter speed on my camera, or more accurately a chance to test how quick my reactions are! 43188 speeds past Shrivenham at 125mph on 16 April 2014 with the 1B46 14:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service.

On 10 September 2014, 43188 accelerates away from Chippenham station (mostly hidden by the bushes in the background) with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. A location that I had meaning to visit for some time, and another Great Western Mainline spot ticked off before the wires go up.

Passing between a pair of flowering hawthorn bushes, 43188 heads west along the Great Western Mainline at Bourton on 20 April 2015 with the 1C20 15:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare First Great Western service.

First Great Western was rebranded as Great Western Railway (or GWR) on 20 September 2015, complete with a new dark green livery. Initially one HST set was painted in the new colour scheme, and it is seen here passing Bourton just three days after the launch, on 23 September. 43188 leads the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington service, with 43187 bringing up the rear. I'm not too sure about this livery. It doesn't seem to photograph well at all, sometimes looking nearly black! I always thought that chocolate and cream would look very impressive on the HST fleet, but assumed that First Great Western wouldn't want to use it, as that was looking backwards, not forwards. However, by rebranding the company GWR, complete with a modified 1930s Art Deco style 'shirt button' logo, that is exactly what they are doing!

43188 speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 October 2015 with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. Note the large cast letters on the locomotive's side - a blatant copy of the real Great Western Railway's 1930s logo.

In preparation for the much delayed and scandalously over budget electrification, various clearance work has been taking place along the Great Western Mainline. The small clump of trees that marked the site of a former pond on the north side of the line at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, has been removed, although for some reason one tree has been left. This wide angle view shows the scene on 20 January 2016, as the GWR's only green liveried HST, led by 43188 speeds by with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington service.

Summer greenery at Shipton station on 15 June 2016. 43188 speeds westwards with the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. Since the closure of the foot crossing here, the only access to the down platform is the gate seen here, leading directly from FWP Matthews flour mill car and lorry park.

43188 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 23 February 2017 with the 1G21 09:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. Circourt Bridge is in a very exposed location, and with winds gusting at over 40mph (it seemed much more!) it was quite difficult to keep this framed properly!

43188 passes through Stratford Parkway station on 21 April 2018 with the Okerail 1Z44 07:10 Okehampton to Stratford-upon-Avon railtour. Hidden by the footbridge on the rear of the train is 43093. Unfortunately the combination of GWR's awful dark green livery, high overhead sun, and virtually head on lighting, do not make for a very good picture. However, the rarity of a HST at this location certainly makes it worth recording. At least the 2J37 11:26 Stratford-upon-Avon to Stourbridge Junction DMU managed to avoid ruining the pictures by a few seconds!

43188 brings up the rear of the 1A93 14:00 Penzance to Paddington GWR service at Great Bedwyn on 2 July 2018. The rustic gate has since been replaced, as the turn back siding on the left has been lengthened to accommodate Class 800 DMUs.

Sporting the usual mixed rake of green and blue stock, 43188 passes Churchill Heath in atrocious light on 12 December 2018 with the 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. For some reason I hadn't previously taken a picture from this particular angle, so as I was already there, and the HSTs are very nearly extinct on the Cotswold Line, it was worth the short wait, despite the terrible lighting requiring a very large aperture, even at ISO 1600.

One of the highlights of the Severn Valley Railway's 2023 Spring Diesel Gala was the appearance of one of GWR's 'Castle' HST sets. The unusual visitor is pictured during a shunting manoeuvre at Kidderminster on 20 May 2023. 43188 Newport Castle is leading, with 43186 Taunton Castle at the rear. In addition to being named, 43188 also sports Y Cymro The Welshman branding.

43188 Newport Castle passes Puriton on 22 August 2023 with the 2C79 14:00 Cardiff Central to Penzance GWR service. Brent Knoll dominates the background of this view, which hasn't changed much since the only other time I visited this spot, 33 years earlier, in 1990!

43189 speeds down the gradient at Frampton Mansell on 14 March 1990 with the 10:45 Paddington to Great Malvern 'Cheltenham Spa Express'. HSTs look even more impressive when using the panning technique to keep the loco sharp against a blurred background. However, the possibilities of getting it wrong mean I don't try it that often!

43189 arrives at Oxford station on 24 July 1990 with the 1B58 18:20 Paddington to Hereford service. Note Railfreight Distribution 47052 lurking in the shadows in the bay platform. The cyclist hoping to take his bike on the train would have had no problem, unlike his successor three decades later. HSTs had plenty of room for bikes, whereas the new Class 800 DMUs have only very minimal and badly designed provision, which is frequently useless, as not all bikes fit on their idiotic hook system!

43189 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 16 March 1994 with the 1A34 06:42 Milford Haven to Paddington service. This was in the days when a new lineside fence meant a discreet concrete post and wire barrier, rather than a hideous completely over the top palisade eyesore!

Transition time at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 21 October 1997. During the various livery changes that have effected the HST fleet over the years, there is always a time when mis-matched sets are common. This picture illustrates the change from the InterCity livery to Great Western Train's stylish colour scheme. 43189 Railway Heritage Trust heads westwards with the 1B24 12:00 Paddington to Swansea service. Note the unusual yellow backed nameplate. This was changed to a more conventional black, when the power car received First Great Western livery.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust approaches Compton Beauchamp on 30 April 2007 with the 1C24 17:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Note the use of hired in unbranded Midland Mainline coaching stock.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes underneath the A423 Oxford ring road at Hinksey on 2 May 2007 with the 1W47 15:51 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service. Recalling the 1980s with mis-matched liveries, this more modern lash up involves a rake of hired in Midland Mainline coaches.

43189 weaves across from the Swindon line and joins the line from Bristol at Standish Junction on 16 March 2009. It is working the 1G11 07:48 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service. The photo is taken from a public footpath crossing. Although eventually the day turned out to be quite sunny, at this stage the light was still quite weak, with a drab featureless grey sky.

A dull and damp autumnal day at Oaksey on 14 November 2009. 43189 heads towards Swindon with the 1L50 11:00 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the modern trend for leaving long lengths of unused rail right next to the running line.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust speeds past Denchworth on 24 February 2011 in some long overdue sunshine with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. With just the odd exception, the whole of January and February 2011 had been very dull, with way below the average number of sunny days. Split second timing and a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec are required for this type of shot!

43189 Railway Heritage Trust approaches Cholsey 30 March 2012. There is a reasonably clear foreground, but the background is completely obliterated by fog. The train is the 1G21 09:48 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa First Great Western service. The dull conditions do at least allow this view from the north side of the line.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust approaches the public footpath crossing (since replaced by a bridge) at Uffington on 23 July 2012. The train is the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes Challow on 19 September 2012 with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. Note that this is running in the reverse formation to usual, with the first class coaches at the 'country' end.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham, on 2 February 2013 with the late running 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The sky may look impressive, but with that much cloud around it was a worrying time for photography!

43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes Compton Beauchamp on 14 March 2013 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. A reasonably long lens is required here, in order to clear some foreground shadows.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust approaches Cholsey on 15 November 2013 with the 1A17 12:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. A bright autumn day, but it looks like there is much cloudier weather a little way to the north!

43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes underneath the A417 road bridge at Challow on 19 December 2013, as it heads towards London with the 1A15 11:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

The footpath from Baulking to the Kingston Lisle road runs parallel with the railway for a short distance, with a small copse on the south side. In winter the wood shades the line, and in summer the dense foliage is not very photogenic. However, in spring and autumn the location is excellent for photography. 43189 Railway Heritage Trust heads westwards on 29 March 2014 with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust brings up the rear of the 1G21 10:15 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service on 30 April 2016, as it weaves across Standish Junction. This is where the line from Swindon joins the Bristol to Gloucester route.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes Wantage Road on 13 July 2016 with the 1B27 11:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service. With the masts on the south side of the line not yet in place, there is a temporary reprieve for photography at this location. Ironically this is now much easier, as a new bridge with footpath has now replaced the previous extremely dangerous one.

43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes Grove on 25 May 2017 with the 1L42 07:30 Carmarthen to Paddington GWR service. Note that the up main line is still without its 25kV wires. Photo taken from a public footpath crossing.

Blue, green, blue, green, blue! 43189 Railway Heritage Trust leads a mixed coloured 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea service past the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 15 December 2017. Because GWR's application of their new green livery has been so slow, mismatched sets like this have become relatively common. Obviously only a few vehicles would get the new colour scheme, as the vast baulk of the fleet will be handed back when the Class 800s take over, so at least they are not wasting money!

Maytime! 43189 Railway Heritage Trust passes Grove on 14 May 2018 with the 1A12 07:48 Paignton to Paddington GWR service. When the hawthorn comes into flower in early May, the stunning white blossom makes an excellent picture. However, the flowers soon start to turn to a mucky off white colour, so this prime specimen just had to be photographed.

43189 passes through Shipton station on 5 September 2018 with the 1W01 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. Although this isn't one of them, Shipton station has a much improved service compared with its near neighbour Ascott-under-Wychwood. Five trains a day call, compared with Ascott's two!

43189 Launceston Castle passes Brent Knoll on 14 June 2023 with the 2U24 12:50 Penzance to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service, 43187 Cardiff Castle is bringing up the rear. When I visited this location in the early 1990s there was a wide variety of freight, departmental and mail trains. Such has been the traffic reduction over the years, that on this occasion there was just one single booked northbound freight.

43190 arrives at Cheltenham station on 17 November 1982 with the 1E61 07:55 Plymouth to Leeds service. HSTs had taken over these inter regional workings earlier in the year. This is the site of Lansdown Junction, and on the left is the trackbed of the line that continued on to Malvern Road and St James stations (both closed in 1966), and then onwards to Stratford-upon-Avon.

43190 passes Oxford North Junction on 2 May 1990 with the 1B48 17:12 Paddington to Hereford service. This viewpoint only lasted a short while, after some extensive vegetation clearance. In fact, the reflection had already become obscured when I returned to photograph the same train less than three months later.

43190 approaches Baulking on 18 September 1991 with the 1C48 15:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads InterCity service. It's hard to believe now just how open this location once was, with Didcot Power Station just visible on the horizon. Now the horizon isn't visible at all, with the few bramble bushes seen here replaced by some quite large trees. Also, modern heath and safety obviously requires a handrail to be fitted to access points for track workers, so that now also impinges on the modern day view.

43190 runs alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal at Crofton on 16 May 1992 with the 1C20 09:35 Paddington to Paignton service. Unfortunately the stiff breeze has ensured that there is no trace of a reflection, unlike when I visited six years earlier.

43190 passes Baulking on 14 August 1994 with the 1A22 09:00 Swansea to Paddington InterCity service. A completely ordinary scene at the time, but now sadly gone forever. This always used to be an excellent spot for a few hour's photography, from a quite bridge in a peaceful Vale of White Horse village. The location is now lost under a sea of 25kV wiring and masts, and the once common HSTs are being replaced by Class 800 bi-mode units.

A brief burst of sunshine produces superb lighting conditions at Milton on 31 October 1994. 43190 heads westwards with the 1C34 12:15 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service, while in the background Didcot Power Station contributes both to global warming and the National Grid!

You don't very often get this kind of view of a HST power car on the mainline. 43190 engages in a spot of shunting at Feeder Bridge Junction, Bristol, whilst en-route to nearby St Philip's Marsh depot on 10 April 1997. I have very few pictures of power cars minus coaches, and then they are usually back to back or with a barrier vehicle. So this is very unusual in showing the admittedly not very photogenic 'blunt' end of a Class 43 actually out on the mainline.

43190 leads the 1B56 18:03 Paddington to Cheltenham service past the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham on 30 April 1997. During the late 1990s I was chasing all over the country photographing classic traction that would either soon be replaced by units, in the case of passenger services, or by the dreaded Class 66, in the case of freight. Therefore I slightly missed out on an interesting period livery wise on my local line. Great Western Trains took over the routes out of Paddington, and started painting their HST fleet in this attractive livery. Although of course I do have some pictures of this colour scheme, in retrospect, not as many as I would like, especially of complete uniform rakes, such as this.

43190 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 9 October 2003 with the 07:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service, with a solitary coach in the new livery spoiling an otherwise uniform rake. The signals here are at amber until a train is due, which is very useful for photography!

In a rare period of full sun, on an otherwise largely very hazy day, 43190 leads the diverted 1L46 09:21 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service past Fritwell on Sunday 7 April 2013. The routing of FGW HST's over the Chiltern Line was due to the closure of Reading station for major engineering works.

The stock for the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington GWR service had obviously recently had a wash on 23 September 2015. Immaculate 43190 leads the train through the shallow cutting at Bourton in perfect autumn light.

43190 approaches Steventon on 29 September 2015 with the 1A16 07:41 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. Luckily there is no sign of any palisade fencing yet at this location, presumably because it is remote from any road or public footpath.

43190 approaches Steventon on 9 December 2015 with the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service. This location is at the end of a long private farm track that runs alongside the line westwards from the village of Steventon.

The row of poplar trees make an ideal background for the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service, as it speeds past Challow on 11 February 2016, led by 43190. The bridge in the background is a modern replacement for the GWR's original girder bridge, which had got in a terrible state, due to Network Rail's unfamiliarity with basic maintenance, such as paint!

43190 speeds past Uffington on 5 May 2017 with the late running 1L42 07:30 Carmarthen to Paddington GWR service. This is the view from the recently erected footbridge. It offers a number of vantage points from the steps on the left, but this is the view from the top, which will be obstructed by wires, when Network Rail finally get around to completing the Great Western electfrication.

43190 passes Langford Lane, near Wendlebury, on 17 September 2017 with the diverted 1A13 09:41 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. Note how the line is built up on banking here, as the area is crossed with numerous small streams.

43190 passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, in superb light on 24 November 2017 with the 1B35 12:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. Despite the installation of the 25kV catenary, there is still a reasonable view from the road at this location.

Great Western on the East Coast! 43190 passes Scrooby on 23 February 2019 with the 5Z43 12:17 Hull to Peterborough crew training run. The short set (with 43010 on the rear) was on hire from GWR to Hull Trains in preparation for HSTs deputising for Hull's ailing Class 180 DMUs. 1970s technology to the rescue, and an upgrade for the passengers!

Back from its holiday in Yorkshire! 43190 passes Fiddington on 26 February 2019 with the 5V81 09:56 Hull Botanic Gardens to Bristol St Philips Marsh ECS. This short set (with 43010 at the rear) had been on loan to Hull Trains for several days for crew training, as pending the introduction of Hull's Class 802 DMUs, a GWR HST set will cover for one of their ailing Class 180s. I had already photographed this set on its outward journey, and also whilst on crew training duties on the East Coast Mainline.

43191 bursts out from under Wick Bridge (between Berkeley Road and Charfield) with the 06:50 Birmingham New Street to Paignton service on 7 July 1984. Split second timing was required to fire the shutter at exactly the right time for this shot, the idea being to use the bridge as a frame. The cast makers mark on the iron beam indicates that it was made by R. Crosland of Bradford.

Superb early morning light at Claydon (Gloucestershire) on 4 August 1987. 43191 works the 1E36 06:17 Bristol Temple Meads to Leeds InterCity service, the first northbound passenger train of the day. It would not be possible to take this kind of picture here today, as a row of conifers on the left now shade the line for much of the morning.

43191 passes Shrivenham on 10 December 1987 with the 1B28 12:00 Paddington to Swansea service. Bright winter sunshine in the foreground, but the background is lost in the mist. The concrete footbridge in the background marks the site of the former Ashbury Crossing.

Viewed from Langstone Rock, 43191 runs along the sea wall between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren on 29 June 2002 with the 1A33 07:30 Plymouth to Paddington First Great Western service. 205 miles to go, according to the milepost on the right.

Light and shade at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 19 November 2013. 43191 just catches the sun, as it heads towards the capital with the 1A16 12:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

43191 passes Grove in slightly hazy sunshine on 31 October 2014 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington First Great Western service. A little used public footpath crosses the line here, the route of which merely duplicates the nearby Grove to Denchworth road.

43191 passes Brimslade on 8 April 2015 with the 1C84 14:06 Paddington to Penzance First Great Western service. Winter and spring are obviously the best time to feature specimen trees in the picture, before the leaves cover the branches.

A wide view of the area around Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. 43191 heads westwards on 20 January 2016 with the 1C10 10:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. This is the only picture that I have taken from this particular spot, which includes not only Circourt Bridge, but also part of Upper Circourt Farm.

Viewed from the convenient farm track that runs for some considerable distance by the side of the line just to the west of Steventon village, 43191 heads west on 5 January 2017 with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service.

43191 passes Churchdown on 22 October 2017. Unfortunately I seem to have mislaid the information as to what this is. Normally there would not be a GWR HST passing here at 09:36 on a Sunday, so it is presumably a one off working. Any help with the details would be most appreciated.

43191 passes underneath the recently rebuilt Dunstall Bridge, near Moreton-in-Marsh, with the 1P57 13:32 Hereford to Paddington GWR service on 7 January 2018. Despite the recent work, the original rather decrepit wooden fence has been retained, and even repaired with some new posts. What a relief that Network Rail didn't feel the need to install their usual palisade fencing!

43191 takes the Swindon line at Standish Junction on 24 July 2018 with the 1L58 12:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. Not ideal lighting conditions, but possibly one of my last HST pictures at this location.

A contrasting pair of front ends at Oxford on 14 November 1985. The streamlined nose of 43192 is in marked contrast to the angular prototype second generation DMU 210001. Both were stabled, awaiting their next turn of duty, 43192 in the down carriage sidings, and 21001 in the up carriage sidings. The distinctive 1869 built St Barnabas church dominates the background.

43192 finds a brief burst of sunshine at Brockhampton on 29 July 1986, as it heads north with the 14:50 Plymouth to York service. I'm not sure why the cab roof has been partly cleaned. It almost looks like someone was reaching across from the platform to clean the windscreen (pre health & safety days!) and decided to do everything he could reach!

43192 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 8 May 1987 with the 1A47 13:10 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington service. The two track workers have stood aside to let the train pass. They had been busy placing detonators to warn of a recently discovered broken rail.

Rev up the Valentas! The driver of 43192 applies the power, as his train comes off the Paignton branch at Aller on 7 December 1988 with the 1E37 14:44 Paignton to Newcastle service. The houses of Kingskerswell can be seen in the background. The late afternoon winter light is picking out the InterCity liveried coaches nicely, and I particularly like the way the train is framed between the two large trees, one coniferous, one deciduous.

43192 City of Truro was one of the first HST power cars to acquire First Great Western's original version of their blue livery. This stylish colour scheme, with large areas of difficult to keep clean white, was unfortunately soon altered to the familiar bland all over blue livery. With the rest of the train still in 'fag packet' green livery, ex works 43192 leads the 1C52 14:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 23 December 2001.

Some autumn colour is beginning to show in the lineside bushes as 43192 City of Truro speeds past Shrivenham on 27 October 2003 with the 12:45 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This was once one of my favourite locations in the area, but the communications mast and the encroaching lineside bushes have altered that view - literally!

This long telephoto view of Dauntsey Bank clearly shows the steepness of the incline faced by eastbound trains on Brunel's Great Western Railway route from Bristol to London, a line not normally associated with steep gradients. 43192 City of Truro leads the 07:38 Paignton to Paddington First Great Western service up the incline on 9 August 2007, and is just approaching the point, at milepost 86, where the 1 in 100 gradient eases to 1 in 660. The picture is taken from the overbridge near Tockenham Wick. The name of the road (Trow Lane) refers to a previous form of transport in the area - the Wilts & Berks Canal.

43192 City of Truro has just passed the site of Shrivenham station, and is about to pass under the footbridge that marks the site of Ashbury Crossing. It is working the 1L34 07:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service on 27 August 2007. 43192 is looking surprisingly clean considering it is just a week away from being moved to Brush Traction for refurbishment. Once fitted with an MTU engine, it would be returned to the Western in the revised FGW livery.

43192 rounds the curve near Little Bedwyn on 22 May 2010 with the late running 1C74 08:18 Paddington to Exeter St Davids First Great Western service. The glancing light certainly shows up the imperfections in the power car's bodyside!

43192 passes Compton Beauchamp on 24 March 2014 with the 1A08 07:25 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service. No apologies for yet another picture at this location, as the Great Western electrification programme will soon make this viewpoint impossible. I always think that the rather bland FGW livery looks at its best against the early spring landscape, especially when the train is in a nice clean condition, as here.

43192 passes Uffington on 16 April 2014 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. Having the tree centrally placed in the frame is probably not the correct way of composing the picture, but it certainly makes for a bold foreground.

A field of oilseed rape provides a bright foreground to this picture of some old and new infrastructure at Cholsey on 28 April 2015. The new is the unwelcome (from a photographer's point of view) overhead electrification masts, while the old is the redundant coal fired Didcot Power Station in the background. Already three of its cooling towers have been demolished, and the other three, and the tall chimney will soon also be history, leaving only the two shorter chimneys on the left, which are part of Didcot B, the surviving gas fired plant. 43192 heads east past the scene with the 1P19 07:12 Charlbury to Paddington First Great Western service.

High summer at Chilson on the Cotswold Line, and even at 08:26 the shadows from the lineside bushes have long since disappeared from the track. 43192 heads towards London with the 1P26 06:42 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service on 31 July 2015.

43192 passes Steventon on 29 September 2015 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. In the foreground is one of the interesting two tone tubular sculptures that Network Rail have installed along the Great Western Mainline. Alternatively it is a steel pile that they have been unable to fully drive into the ground!

Well into 2016, and GWR's small batch of 'Bristol 2015 European Green Capital' liveried HST power cars are still with us. 43192 passes Compton Beauchamp on 5 May 2016 with the late running 1A06 06:20 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington service.

'Bristol 2015 European Green Capital' liveried 43192 arrives at Charlbury on 24 May 2016 with the 1P26 06:42 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. The mass of hawthorn blossom certainly adds to the picture, as otherwise at this time of year the landscape tends to be a monotonous sea of green.

My final mast free visit to Bourton. 43192 heads east in the last of the morning sunshine, as it faded out into high cloud on 3 November 2016. The train is the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service.

43192 approaches the public footpath crossing between Ascott-under-Wychwood and Shipton-under-Wychwood on 14 June 2017. It is working the 1W02 17:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. This was a location that I used to visit in the 1980s, but earlier in the day, and from the other side of the line. There were no trees around in those days!

43192 passes through Islip station on 7 May 2018 with the diverted 1C22 15:27 Paddington to Penzance GWR service. HSTs were being diverted via the Chiltern Line, and then south to Oxford via the new Bicester chord, due to Crossrail engineering works in London.

43192 passes the new housing estate at Moredon on 25 June 2018 with the 1L28 07:08 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service. Although obviously not an immediate problem, but we can't keep covering all of the countryside with houses. In the long term it is totally unsustainable.

Quick reactions required for this one! 43192 crosses the River Evenlode at high speed on 3 July 2018, as it passes Fawler with the 1P04 05:11 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington GWR service. This is the first up train of the day over the Cotswold Line.

43192 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 3 February 2019 with the 1A10 08:15 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington GWR service. I wasn't going to miss this last chance to photograph HSTs in snow in the Vale of White Horse, although unfortunately by this date most trains on the route are now operated by Class 800s

43193 Plymouth Spirit of Discovery passes the mixed upper and lower quadrant signals at Fenny Compton on 19 June 2000 with the 1M51 16:20 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly Virgin CrossCountry service. In addition the large white nameplate, there is a smaller cast plate proclaiming CrossCountry Trains.

A red train, passing red cliffs. 43193 Plymouth Spirit of Discovery passes the unmistakable red sandstone cliffs at Dawlish on 29 June 2002, as it works the 1E31 08:15 Paignton to Newcastle 'Devonian'. The following year 43193 would move from the Virgin CrossCountry fleet to Midland Mainline, where it operated in Virgin red for several months, before meeting the blue paintbrush.

43193 passes Finstock station with the 1P44 11:06 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service on 22 August 2008. This is not one of the trains that stops at this diminutive wayside station. In fact, only one train stops here in each direction. As the station is a good walk from either Finstock or the slightly nearer village of Fawler, and the car park is just a layby on the B4022 Witney to Charlbury road, it doesn't exactly encourage any greater use.

43193 passes Baulking on 27 October 2008 with the 1L51 10:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington Fist Great Western service. The Armco barrier in the background indicates the closeness of the Stanford-in-the-Vale to Baulking road.

An unusual manoeuvre at Moreton-in-Marsh on 15 August 2009. During the month long possession of the line from here to Evesham in connection with redoubling the line, First Great Western services terminate at Moreton, which requires the HSTs to shunt from the down platform to the up platform. Here we see 43193 heading slowly back to the station 'wrong line' on the up line after performing this operation. Note the long disused siding and the four semaphore signals, soon to be swept away with the route's modernisation.

43193 passes Denchworth on 24 March 2011 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Fist Great Western service. No apologies for yet another picture at one of my local locations, especially as it is taken at my favourite time of year for perfect photographic light.

43193 leads the 1C22 16:30 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare First Great Western service past South Moreton on 7 May 2013. The dead stems of last year's foliage indicates that this would be a much trickier photographic location later in the year!

43193 races past the site of Challow station on 27 February 2014 with the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. The clutter in the foreground is set to get worse with the onset of the Great Western Mainline electrification programme.

43193 passes the site of Challow station on 8 April 2014 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. The old station site is now completely covered with modern industrial units, a situation common to many closed stations.

A deliberately off centre composition at Baulking on 16 April 2014, in order to include the large flowering blackthorn bush in the picture. 43193 passes slowly by due to a temporary speed restriction, as it heads for the capital with the 1A15 11:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

43193 emerges from the bushes at Coates on 16 May 2015 with the diverted 1B69 17:45 Paddington to Carmarthen First Great Western service. The line crosses the A433 Fosse Way towards the rear of the train.

With the first class coaches unusually at the 'country' end of the train, 43193 leads the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service past Compton Beauchamp on the sunny morning of 12 October 2015.

43193 speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 20 January 2016 with the 1C09 10:00 Paddington to Paignton GWR service. I have taken thousands of pictures from the bridge in the background (and it predecessor), but not many down in this field!

The Great Western Mainline electrification marches on, although here, at Denchworth, the change is not so noticeable, as for many years a massive signal gantry has spanned the tracks. Also, as at most other spots, Network Rail have not yet installed the post next to the bridge. 43193 speeds westwards on 23 August 2016 with the 1B40 13:45 Paddington to Swansea GWR service.

Transition time at Uffington. Viewed from the newly erected footbridge, 43193 passes the equally new (but less welcome) electfrication masts, as it heads towards London on 5 May 2017 with the 1A12 10:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service.

43193 passes Lower Moor on 2 September 2017 with the 1P61 14:35 Great Malvern to Paddington GWR service. Although partly distorted by the HST's exhaust haze, what appears to be the crumbling remains of the scrapped car that was visible next to the container in the background a decade earlier, is still there!

43193 arrives at Moreton-in-Marsh station on 16 April 2018 with the 1W00 08:21 Paddington to Hereford GWR service. '90 Glorious Years' liveried 43027 is on the rear of the train. I had gone here specifically to photograph the Class 230 ex underground stock DMU working the 5Z01 09:40 Long Marston to Moreton-in-Marsh test run, but that only got as far as Honeybourne, before heading back to Long Marston, with the rest of the day's runs cancelled. The following day it did make it, but I didn't bother, as the weather was miserable.

43194 approaches Narroways Hill Junction on 16 April 1991 with the 1V48 10:25 Liverpool Lime Street to Plymouth service. It is just about to pass the brick abutment of the bridge that formerly carried the GWR's Montpelier to Mangotsfield line over the main line from the north.

43194 approaches Standish Junction on 1 May 1994 with the 09:41 Bristol Temple Meads to Newcastle service. As this is a Sunday, this is the first northbound InterCity train of the day, despite the time being 10:15. The Swindon lines on the left start to climb away from the Bristol tracks as the lines disappear around the corner.

43194 rounds the curve past the derelict shell of Aynho Junction Signal Box on 12 July 1999, as it heads north with the 1M41 17:20 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly Virgin CrossCountry service. A Class 165 DMU waits to follow it with the 18:18 Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill Chiltern Railways service.

Dramatic lighting at Uffington on 7 July 2011, as 43194 speeds westwards with the 1B22 10:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. It is a long walk to this location, made more difficult on this occasion by the nearly head height oilseed rape plants virtually obliterating the footpath. Naturally I had not come all this way on what is clearly a very dodgy day weather wise, purely for another picture of a HST. I had decided it was the best spot for the steam special, but thought it would be merely a record shot, as there seemed very little prospect of any sun. However, just at the right moment there was ten minutes worth of sunshine with black clouds in the background, before the inevitable rain.

Lovely early spring light at Bourton on 1 March 2012. 43194 heads west with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Wester service. Note the old signal sighting patch still visible on the bridge in the background.

A picture that required a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec and precision timing. I'm surprised that I managed to take it exactly in the intended position, centrally between the two largest gravestones. 43194 leads the 1B31 12:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service past Little Somerford on 6 March 2012.

43194 passes Shorthampton on 28 June 2012 with the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The verdant greenery by the lineside is fresh new growth, after the mass clearance for the installation of double track, a couple of years earlier.

43194 passes Compton Beauchamp on 21 June 2014 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The middle of the longest day is not the best time for photography, but at least the shadow from the tree on the right is not the problem that it usually is.

Not long before the lights went out! 43194 passes Uffington on 28 October 2014 with the 1L58 12:20 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. Amazingly, the edge of the cloud was directly overhead, and the view the other way was still completely cloud free!

43194 passes underneath the new road bridge at Challow on 18 February 2015 with the 1L32 06:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. This is the western end of the short four track section from Wantage Road, with the signal on the left controlling trains exiting the loop.

43194 speeds past Compton Beauchamp on 12 May 2015 with the 1B63 17:15 Paddington to Carmarthen First Great Western service. I was waiting for a sunny evening on which to take this picture, as it requires it to be light enough in the evening for the sun to be on the north side of the line, but early enough in the season so that the stinging nettles in the foreground haven't had much chance to grow. Just look how high the dead stems from last year are! Directly in front of the power car is the marked out site for one of the new electrification masts. Note the vintage rustic fence on the left, and the perilous state of the semi-derelict farm building on the right. It looks like it would only take one of the cows in that field to be a little too vigorous while using the roof support as a scratching post, to have the whole roof collapse on top of it!

Passing what seems to be the permanently flooded field at Farleaze, 43194 leads the 1L48 09:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service towards Hullavington on 28 January 2016. In the background is a recently replaced bridge on the Fosse Way, which at this point is little more than a minor road. Typical of a lot of the new bridges on the Great Western Mainline, it seems to have been deliberately designed to be as intrusive in the landscape as possible - a huge white eyesore that can be seen for miles!

43194 passes Challow on 11 February 2016 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. There has been extensive lineside vegetation clearance here, but unfortunately that is because the Great Western Mainline electfrication is coming!

A slightly different viewpoint at Compton Beauchamp on 8 May 2016. Neatly framed between a couple of bushes, 43194 speeds westwards with the 1B69 17:37 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. The new fence replaces a very decrepit one that was still in place the previous year, when coincidentally I also photographed 43194 here.

43194 leads the 1L34 07:28 Swansea to Paddington GWR service past Compton Beauchamp on 16 May 2016. As is often the case, a sunny early morning is about to succumb to clouds rolling on from the west. Note the recently relaid track on the down line.

43194 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 December 2016 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington GWR service, just as three workers head off down the track, each carrying two of the now standard blue drain covers.

My first picture of 43194 in its dark green GWR livery. Despite initially saying that only one complete trainset would be repainted, this is now the company's fifth power car in this unpopular colour scheme. It is bringing up the rear of the 1G21 09:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa service at Little Haresfield on 18 April 2017. Mismatched 43170 is leading.

43194 emerges from Sapperton Tunnel on 18 April 2017 with the 1L58 12:36 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington GWR service. I had photographed this a little earlier at Little Haresfield, and as this location was on my way home, I waited for this second picture. Even the local farmer stopped his tractor on the bridge and watched it pass!

43194 arrives at Charlbury on 14 June 2017 with the 1P21 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington GWR service. It still seems like something of a novelty to me to have a HST service commencing from Moreton-in-Marsh, a location that was always the terminating and starting point for the local DMUs in the old days!

Green power car, blue train. 43194 brings up the rear of the 1C06 08:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service, as it speeds past Challow on 28 November 2017. Note the rippling effect of the upper bodyside.

Just two minutes into its journey, 43194 leads the 1P26 12:01 Oxford to Paddington GWR service past Hinksey Yard on 7 February 2018. This service has got a temporary upgrade, as previously it was worked by either a Class 165 or 166 unit. However, as the HSTs are destined to move away from the area, the improvement is only short-term!

43194 approaches Standish Junction on 24 July 2018 with the 1G21 09:36 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. Note that on the left the vegetation clearance gang have just started to attack the decade's worth of uncontrolled lineside growth. Presumably this viewpoint will soon be opened up once again.

With Brent Knoll dominating the background, 43194 Okehampton Castle brings up the rear of the 2U22 15:13 Taunton to Cardiff Central GWR service at Puriton on 22 August 2023. 43155 Rougemont Castle is at the front of the train.

43195 passes Defford on 10 August 1995 with the 1M38 15:50 Exeter St Davids to Sheffield service. The bales and the stubble field in the foreground certainly improve the composition, by adding some colour contrast. The wooded slopes of Bredon Hill dominate the background.

The two gasholders at Washwood Heath catches the early morning sun on 20 November 1999, as the 1E28 07:04 Bristol Temple Meads to Newcastle Virgin Cross Country service passes by with 43195 leading. Typical of many of the Virgin HST sets at this time is the mix of ex-works Virgin liveried coaches with very tatty Intercity liveried power cars.

43195 passes Marshfield on 4 March 2006 with the 1B20 09:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. A completely uniform liveried train, which didn't happen for long, as it seemed that no sooner had FGW repainted all of its green liveried vehicles, than it started on the second version of their purple colour scheme.

43195 slowly departs from Portbury Dock and passes under the lofty M5 Avonmouth Bridge on 25 September 2010. It is heading back to Bristol with the Pathfinder Tours 'Brunelian' railtour, now running as the 1Z45 16:05 Portbury Dock to Bristol Temple Meads. It had arrived a few minutes earlier as 1Z44, with 43022 leading.

With a closing speed of 250mph, two First Great Western HSTs pass each other at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 4 July 2011. 43195 leads the 1A16 12:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington service, while 43143 brings up the rear of the (coincidentally) 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads train. Not only was I extremely lucky with the positioning of these two trains, but also this was one of the last bursts of sunshine, before a blanket of thick cloud encroached from the south.

In preparation for the Great Western Mainline electrification, a lot of lineside vegetation has been trimmed back, opening up the view at various viewpoints. Baulking has benefited from this, and while the tree cutting in no way restores the view to the completely open cutting that existed in 1980, at least it is an improvement on what it looked like in 2007. With the site of Uffington station visible in the background, 43195 passes Baulking on 29 March 2014 with the 1A14 11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service.

The early morning mist is still lingering a little in the background, as 43195 passes Compton Beauchamp on 20 April 2015 with the late running 1A07 06:48 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington First Great Western service.

Shortly before this classic location was ruined forever by the installation of electfrication masts, 43195 leads the 1A11 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service past Bourton on the gloriously sunny morning of 28 January 2016.

43195 passes Thingley on 19 June 2017 with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. The houses of the ever expanding town of Corsham can just be seen amid the trees in the distance.

43196 passes Ashchurch on 6 May 1989 with the late running 1V34 06:22 Derby to Bristol Temple Meads InterCity service. If anyone is thinking of planting a nice row of Leylandii for a hedge, let the result of nine years growth be a warning!

43196 The Newspaper Society Founded 1836 brings up the rear of the late running 1E39 15:27 Swansea to Newcastle Virgin Cross Country service at Spetchley on 30 April 1999. Waiting at the red signal in the background are 20309 & 20311, which had just arrived in the loop with the 7M53 13:58 Bridgwater to Sellafield nuclear flask.

Superb, but very brief, lighting at Portway on 9 August 2000. 43196 The Newspaper Society Founded 1836 passes the fields of ripening wheat with the 1V51 12:08 Newcastle to Plymouth 'Devonian'. Over three years after acquiring the franchise, Virgin CrossCountry had still not got around to repainting their entire fleet, although it wouldn't be long before 43196 would be covered in red paint. However, it didn't stay red for long, moving to the Midland Mainline, and then First Great Western.

43196 passes Rangeworthy on the glorious evening of 2 June 2001 with the 1V60 13:43 Newcastle to Swansea Virgin CrossCountry service. Just beyond the roadbridge in the background is the 1401 yard long Wickwar Tunnel.

Watched over from the top of one of Hinksey Yard's tall lights by one of the ever present gulls, 43196 heads south with the late running 12:06 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington First Great Western service on 30 December 2008. Although still OK for a late winter afternoon picture, this location is not as good as it used to be, as the shadow from the tall noise screen fence gradually creeps across the running lines late in the day.

Before the wires went up, Baulking used to be one of my favourite photographic spots on the Didcot to Swindon line. 43196 heads west on 24 March 2009 with the 1B31 12:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service.

With the newly installed double track due to be commissioned in mid 2011, there seems very little evidence it will be ready on time from this picture at Shorthampton on 19 March. 43196 passes by with the 1P37 08:43 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. New sleepers and cable ducting are in evidence, but apart from some rails on the other side of the bridge and a short length of newly laid track around the corner, there is much to do.

43196 passes between the flowering blackthorn bushes, as it approaches Oaksey on 8 April 2011 with the 1L58 12:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. Note the kink in the track in the background, where the single line moves from one side of the former double track formation, to the other.

43196 passes Milton on 13 September 2012 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. The trees on the left now completely hide the large Milton Industrial Estate from view.

43196 passes the site of Bletchingdon station with diverted 1B40 12:30 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service on Sunday 7 April 2013. Despite only being early afternoon, the sun had all but disappeared into high cloud, so despite the fact that these HST diversions via Banbury were carrying on throughout the day, I thought it was time to head home!

43196 passes Baulking on 30 March 2015 with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service. The bridge in the background, by the site of Uffington station, was at this time closed for work in connection with the Great Western Mainline electrification. Note the severe double incidence of ballast 'pumping', where water underneath the ballast causes the track to move under passing trains, pumping up dirty water that then gets spread along the line in the direction of travel.

43196 passes an oilseed rape field near Uffington on 22 April 2015 with the 1B42 14:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. The yellow provides a nice colour contrast to the rather drab dark blue HST livery.

43196 leads the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service through the hideous overhead electrification ironmongery at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 December 2016. The East Coast Mainline's slim catenary looks almost elegant compared with this mess!

A view through the partially constructed electfrication catenary at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 24 January 2017. 43196 heads for London with the 1A13 10:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. Once the wires are attached, this view will be lost.

43196 approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 13 March 2017 with the 1C16 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. Note the unusual inclusion of a first class vehicle, one coach from this end of the train. This is in addition to the normal two first class coaches at the other end of the train.

Dunstall Bridge, near Moreton-in-Marsh, was replaced in late 2016, as the original stone arch bridge had started to sag noticeably in the middle. 43196 approaches the work site (now complete with the inevitable Network Rail notice) on 15 March 2017, as it prepares to call at Moreton-in-Marsh with the 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service.

43196 passes underneath the brick road bridge near Compton Beauchamp on 13 May 2017 with the 1C25 18:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service. A perfect late spring evening scene, only slightly marred by the tops of the two electfrication masts poking above the top of the bridge.

43196 brings up the rear of the 1W01 10:22 Paddington to Hereford GWR service at Cassington on 18 April 2018. This location has recently been cleared of vegetation, but only up to a certain distance from the track, which explains why the bushes have been left at the top of the shallow cutting.

With the River Evenlode in the foreground, 43196 passes Lyneham on 18 April 2018 with the 1P39 15:14 Hereford to Paddington GWR service. This location, on the narrow road that leads from Lyneham to Milton-under-Wychwood, offers a number of different 'train in landscape' type viewpoints.

43196 passes underneath the bridge that leads to Cornbury Park, and approaches Charlbury station on 20 June 2018 with the 1W31 15:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. I wonder if the Scots Pines are anything to do with the real Great Western Railway? They were noted for planting them at numerous locations.

43196 passes Great Bedwyn on 2 July 2018 with the 1C92 18:03 Paddington to Penzance GWR service. This was almost blocked out by 59005 Kenneth J Painter coming the other way with the 6L21 13:23 Whatley Quarry to Dagenham Dock Mendip Rail stone train, running over three hours late.

After four decades of taking pictures of HSTs at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, this is my final picture of one of these iconic trains at this location. 43196 heads towards London on 12 April 2019 with the 1A12 07:48 Paignton to Paddington GWR service. By this date this was one of the very few HST operated trains amid a sea of Class 800/802 units. This location has changed out of all recognition during the last 40 years, with electfrication being the final disfigurement. The line has been re-quadrupled, the bridge has been replaced, and a wood has grown up in the background.

43196 brings up the rear of the 5D94 07:17 Laira to Long Marston ECS, as it enters the compound for storage on 3 February 2020. The driver of the leading power car (43071) had to sound the horn to bring his train's attention to the Long Marston depot staff, as when he arrived nobody was around, and the gates were shut.

Rail privatisation folly. With parts of the national network suffering from severe overcrowding, numerous perfectly good trains were being put into store at Long Marston, after their ousting from GWR services by Class 800 & 802 EMUs. With sidings full of HSTs in the background, the latest addition joins the off lease vehicles at Long Marston on 3 February 2020, as the 5D94 07:17 Laira to Long Marston ECS, with 43196 nearest the camera pauses briefly on the arrival road, before heading off to join its fellows in the background. The sign in the foreground has knocked 120mph off the train's permitted speed! Note the ex-underground vehicle on the right, part of Vivarail's project to convert the obsolete units into Class 230 DMUs.

43196 brings up the rear of the 0V20 08:48 Burton upon Trent Wetmore Sidings to Long Marston at Bretforton on 13 April 2021. The other power car is 43086, and the pair are being hauled by 66748 West Burton 50.

43197 Railway Magazine Centenary 1897-1997 passes Marshfield on 27 August 1998 with the 1V42 07:32 York to Swansea service. This, and the returning 1E39 15:27 Swansea to Newcastle were the only daily appearances of a Virgin CrossCountry HST in South Wales at the time.

The bright but cold afternoon of 6 January 2009 sees 43197 leading 1G38 13:48 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service the through the Vale of White Horse near Kingston Lisle. You will not see this location in many photographs, as it requires a long walk from the nearest road.

Unfortunately this viewpoint does appear to give 43197 a tall non-standard brick chimney! However it records the very unusual occurrence of a pair of First Great Western HSTs in Banbury station. 43197 has just started moving with the 1A10 08:11 Weston-super-Mare to Paddington service, while on the left, 43005 brings up the rear of the 1B25 09:15 Paddington to Swansea train, which had just arrived behind 43138. These diversions via Oxford and the Chiltern Line were the result of Reading station being closed for extensive engineering works over the New Year holiday period. The date is 2 January 2011.

With the early morning frost still clinging to the grass in the shadows, 43197 speeds past Compton Beauchamp on 14 March 2013 with the 1L24 06:28 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. After over three decades of taking photographs at this excellent and very secluded location, it looks like 2013 will be the final year, as impending electrification will ruin this viewpoint forever. Normally the only sound between trains here is the incessant cawing of the rooks in the nearby trees!

43197 passes Grove on 8 September 2014 with the 1A12 07:40 Paignton to Paddington First Great Western service First Great Western service. The road bridge at Denchworth can be seen in the background, behind the signal gantry.

43197 passes Challow on the sunny morning of 18 February 2015 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington First Great Western service. Unusually the first class vehicles are at the far end of the train.

43197 passes Denchworth on 7 September 2015 with the 1L38 07:58 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. Visible to the right of the train, and in the background, are the steel piles for the forthcoming electrification. Some have been partly inserted into the ground, and others lie on the trackside. They have now been there so long that this year's vegetation is almost starting to hide some of them! Network Rail's plan to electrify the route is over a year behind schedule and massively over budget. Let's just hope they are not asked to organise a celebration in a brewery!

Superb light at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 1 October 2015, with the sunny foreground contrasting with the dark sky in the background (the remnants of the clearing fog). 43197 heads for the capital with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington GWR service.

43197 speeds past Denchworth on 9 October 2015 with the 1B31 12:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service. This is an excellent location to show off the varied autumn colours in the lineside bushes. These bushes have increased considerably since Railtrack, and later Network Rail's, total abandonment of lineside vegetation control.

Not quite the ordinary GWR HST service that it first appears to be. Rather than racing along the up main as is usual, 43197 is trundling slowly along the up relief line at Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 23 December 2015 with the 3Z83 09:56 Bristol St Philips Marsh to Paddington ECS. Quite why this was routed along the relief line is not clear, as despite being briefly checked by a red signal near the next roadbridge, nothing overtook it, and it rejoined the up main at Wantage Road.

43197 passes Woodborough loops on 11 October 2016 with the 1A81 08:44 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. This photo was taken from a recently installed footbridge, which seems to have very little point, being only a few yards away from a roadbridge.

43197 approaches Thingley Junction in crisp early morning light on 19 June 2017 with the 1A08 05:09 Plymouth to Paddington GWR service. Within a few days of the longest day, it is only at this time of the morning that the lighting is any good for photography, so an early start is required!

43197 passes underneath one of the massively over engineered 25kV electfrication cross spans at Challow on 28 November 2017, as it heads towards London with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service.

43197 passes Wellhouse Bay (near Purton) on 28 June 2018 with the diverted 1B76 18:14 Paddington to Swansea GWR service. With numerous trains running late due to the heatwave causing excessive rail temperatures, I was relived to find that this was only eight minutes late, as the shadows were advancing towards the line at an alarming rate!

43197 approaches Finstock on 5 July 2018 with the 1W31 15:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service. Extensive lineside clearance has recently been completed here, although only near the track, leaving the bushes and trees at the top of the cutting untouched. For this reason perhaps it was fortunate that the sun disappeared just before this train was due. Although the shadows were not completely covering the line, had the sun been out there would have been a large area of blackness on the right of the picture!

43197 approaches Whitehill (between Combe and Finstock) on 14 December 2018 with the 1W27 13:22 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street GWR service. What a pity this set wasn't the other way round, as the much more photogenic 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange can just be seen on the back.

Running 47 minutes late due to an early fatality in Devon, 43197 passes Wolfhall on 17 January 2019 with the 1A82 09:00 Penzance to Paddington GWR service. Unfortunately long distance passengers from the West Country will soon have to put up with an uncomfortable journey on the inadequately padded seats of the Class 800 DMUs, that are replacing these iconic HST sets.

The late running 0C20 12:41 (13:28 actual) Long Marston to Laira comes to a stand at Honeybourne, as it waits for a path along the Cotswold Line to Worcester. Former GWR power cars 43197, 43193, 43087 & 43056 are being hauled by 66748 West Burton 50.

43198 leaves Bristol Temple Meads station on an exceedingly dull 28 December 1991. It is working the late running 1V36 06:05 Leeds to Plymouth InterCity service. Directly above the power car, the bay platform occupied by a single coach (two lines to the left of the Class 08 shunter) was the setting for the scene in the 1953 Ealing film 'Titfield Thunderbolt', when the locomotive Lion arrived at 'Mallingford' station, after completing the inspector's proving run over the line from Titfield.

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes the site of Ashbury Crossing, Shrivenham, on 4 February 2009 with the 1C11 11:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. Some sun would have been nice, but pictures in the snow are always worth taking, whatever the light.

Although the snow has gone from the railway embankment, the field is still completely covered, as 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes Uffington on 10 February 2009 with the 1G29 11:48 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa First Great Western service.

The final production HST power car, 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 leads the 1L51 10:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington First Great Western service past Uffington on 29 September 2011. 43198 left Crewe Works in August 1982, thereby completing production the of the most successful diesel locomotive type ever produced in this country.

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes Denchworth on 16 February 2013 with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This is on the four track section of the Great Western Mainline that extends from Wantage Road to Challow.

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 approaches Circourt Bridge, Denchworth, on 2 September 2013 with the 1A09 07:12 Taunton to Paddington First Great Western service. With autumn approaching, there is some relief from the all pervasive green of high summer.

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 is in the heart of its namesake county, as it passes Oxford North Junction on 12 July 2014 with the 1P26 06:17 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service. Behind the train is the course of the former down relief line, which is being brought back into use.

After just avoiding Didcot via the east curve, 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 weaves across from the up relief to the up main line at South Moreton (Didcot East) on 19 December 2014. It is working the 1P39 11:01 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western service.

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes Bourton 17 March 2016 with the late running 1B37 13:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central GWR service. The Oxfordshire 2007 name is appropriate here, as Bourton is now in Oxfordshire (just - being one of the most westerly parishes), but prior to 1974 it was in Berkshire.

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes Tockenham Wick on 19 July 2016 with the 1A10 09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington GWR service. I dont' know why, but I have taken very few pictures from this location. Too late now, as the electfrication masts can already be seen behind the bridge in the background.

A decade after its naming, and even then in the bit of Oxfordshire that some people still consider Berkshire, 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 approaches Steventon on 5 January 2017 with the 1L46 09:55 Cardiff Central to Paddington GWR service, passing the final mast before the village. The section from here to the other side of the road bridge is still completely devoid of any masts.

With a nameplate that is geographically correct, but a decade wrong as far as the date is concerned, 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes Whitehill (between Combe and Finstock) with the 1W23 11:22 Paddington to Great Malvern GWR service on 15 June 2017. Note how the reflection of the lineside foliage is giving a green boost to GWR's drab dark green livery.

Gloucestershire 2017 or Oxfordshire 2007? 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 passes Badgeworth on 22 October 2017 with the 1G14 08:27 Paddington to Cheltenham Spa GWR service. The mix of green and blue liveries is becoming more common than complete sets in one colour, and this definitely looks better than a complete train in GWR's dreary dark green colour scheme!

43198 Oxfordshire 2007 brings up the rear of the 1C08 09:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads GWR service at South Marston on 27 October 2017. It didn't take long for the green and blue stock to get mixed up!

The final HST? 43198 Oxfordshire 2007 is certainly the final production power car, and it can't be long before the final HST traverses the Swindon to Gloucester 'Golden Valley' route. The green liveried power car brings up the rear of the 1G14 09:38 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa GWR service at Westley Wood (between Frampton Mansell and Chalford) on 30 December 2018. 43161 has already passed underneath the impressive Jackdaw Bridge, and is leading the train down the valley of the River Frome, towards Stroud.

43198 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 passes Baulking on 1 June 2019 with the GWR 'Flying Banana' railtour, a mega mileage tour covered as much as possible of the former Western Region, to mark the end of these iconic trains. This is the 1Z22 05:24 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington section of the tour. Later in the day I photographed the 1Z23 07:37 Paddington to Carmarthen, 1Z24 13:49 Carmarthen to Paddington, and finally the 1Z25 18:57 Paddington to Plymouth.

43198 Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 brings up the rear of the GWR 1Z23 07:37 Paddington to Carmarthen 'Flying Banana' railtour at Moreton-in-Marsh on 1 June 2019. The signal box is hiding the much more attractively liveried 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, which was leading the train. Until the first appearance of a preserved HST (surely inevitable eventually?), this will be my last picture of one of these iconic trains on the Cotswold Line.

43198 Driver Brian Cooper 15 June 1947 - 5 October 1999 passes Great Bedwyn on 1 June 2019 with the very last standard length GWR HST operated train, the 1Z25 18:57 Paddington to Plymouth 'Flying Banana' railtour. This power car is named Driver Stan Martin 25 June 1950 - 6 November 2004 on the other side. The naming commemorates the two drivers killed in the Ladbrooke Grove, and Ufton Nervet crashes respectively. 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange is bringing up the rear. Although the sun was just starting to come out from behind some cloud, it wasn't until I was driving back though Marlborough that it came out fully. At least it was brighter than it had been for the previous half hour!

43198 Driver Brian Cooper 15 June 1947 - 5 October 1999 approaches Standish Junction on 3 September 2023 with the 2E36 10:37 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester GWR service. It would return half an hour later with the 2T35 11:41 Gloucester to Bristol Temple Meads train, with 43029 Caldicot Castle leading.

The perfect train in the landscape picture. The 1C06 08:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington First Great Western service passes through the picturesque Vale of White Horse on 5 April 2008. As this picture is taken from over two miles away, on the top of White Horse Hill, it is not surprising that I was unable to read the number of either power car! The village of Longcot can be seen in the background, with the wooded slopes of Badbury Hill in the distance.