43002 Radley 5 May 2016

43002 Sir Kenneth Grange approaches Radley on 5 May 2016 with the 1P39 11:01 Oxford to Paddington GWR service. The immaculate blue and grey power car does look slightly odd with a rake of GWR's blue 'wavy line' coaches, but unfortunately the repainting of a matching set of stock was never really likely to happen. However, the 1970s retro liveried loco has become an instant hit, and is quite rightly photographed everywhere it goes. I've been saying for years that at least one power car should be repainted into this iconic colour scheme, and so I'm really pleased to see the first production power car honoured in this way. It's funny how few people gave it a second glance when it looked like this (minis nameplates) 40 years ago!