L401 Cholsey 31 January 1987

There is still a little of the previous week's snow lying next to the tracks at Cholsey on 31 January 1987, as L401 (51375, 59485 & 51333) rattles along the up relief line with the 14:21 Oxford to Paddington Network SouthEast service. This train would run non-stop from Oxford to Didcot, and then become an 'all stations' service for the rest of its journey, taking over two hours to reach the capital. In contrast, the Class 50 hauled express services at the time did it under an hour!