43020 slowly leads the 1A43 11:57 Cardiff Central to Paddington service from the up line onto the down line via the crossover at Bourton on 16 February 1984. It will now proceed 'wrong line' as far as Uffington. The Great Western Mainline is fully bi-directionally signaled, but this is one of the few times that I have seen it in use. The up line was closed for emergency repairs after a freight train derailment the previous day between the site of Knighton Crossing and Uffington. The fog had just started to lift, leaving all the trees and bushes covered in ice.

43020 John Grooms speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 8 September 2005. Although seemingly an everyday scene, such is the pace of change with First Great Western's liveries, that to get a complete train in one colour scheme can sometimes be something of a challenge, as it seems that no sooner do they get the whole fleet repainted into one colour scheme than they launch yet another variation!

43020 passes the footpath crossing near the site of Uffington station on 14 April 2008 with the 1L36 08:31 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. The wide trackbed here which marks the site of the former freight loops is already being invaded by the inevitable bramble bushes. No doubt Railtrack would like to close this little used footpath, which incidentally crosses a much earlier form of transport a short distance further on - the disused Wilts & Berks Canal.

Just before the lights went out! A really threatening black sky heralds an approaching storm as 43021 leads the 13:12 Great Malvern to Paddington 'Cotswold and Malvern Express' between Aristotle Lane and Walton Well Road, on the approach to Oxford on 22 April 1986. The relief lines here were laid during the second world war and both originally extended as far as Wolvercote Junction. The down relief has now been cut back to Aristotle Lane footbridge, visible in the background.

In superb golden evening light with Westbury White Horse standing out clearly on the hillside and dark clouds in the background, 43021 David Austin - Cartoonist passes Fairwood with the 1C87 16:06 Paddington to Penzance First Great Western service on 14 October 2009.

43021 David Austin - Cartoonist speeds past Baulking on 4 March 2011 with the 1C15 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. This location (on a public footpath) is adjacent to a small wood, and so is shaded for much of the time in winter.

43022 leads the 09:15 Paddington to Swansea service past the site of Challow station on 12 August 1980. Note how both platform faces have survived completely intact, due to the removal of the loops shortly after the station was closed. With the reinstatement of the relief lines in the 1990s, these overgrown remnants of the steam age were bulldozed into oblivion. In addition to the sadly missed original HST livery, the other thing that immediately identifies the era in which this picture was taken is the bizarre sight of lines of leafless tress in high summer. This is of course the product of Dutch Elm Disease which decimated the country's elm trees during the 1970s.

43022 speeds past Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 8 May 1987 with the 1C47 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads InterCity service. Apart from the fact that there are only two tracks, instead of the present four at this location, another feature that identifies this as a scene from times past is the lax attitude to health & safety. A rail contractor (one hopes!) wanders casually back to his Ford Cortina pickup truck, parked on the ballast next to the 125mph running line. This is obviously well before the era of high visibility clothing, as he is wearing a 'low visibility' black jacket!

There was a fashion for stick on 'headboards' for DMUs and HSTs in the 1980s, especially for the latter as fixing a conventional headboard is difficult. However, the downside is that they didn't come off very easily, leading to some inappropriate usage. 43022 passes Clay Mills (Hargate) on 15 May 1987 with a 'Cornishman' headboard, complete with happy surfer. Unfortunately this isn't the 'Cornishman'. Although presumably added to 43022 to promote the named train at the start of the summer timetable a few days earlier, this is in fact the 06:37 Plymouth to Leeds service, rather than the 'Cornishman' (07:30 Penzance to Newcastle), which would have passed by approximately 2½ hours later.

With compacted snow and icicles on the front end, 43022 heads through the snowy landscape at South Moreton (near Didcot) with the late running (not surprisingly!) 09:32 Swansea to Paddington service on 9 February 1991. It takes considerable effort to take pictures in these conditions, not just the treacherous road conditions whilst getting there, but also standing about for ages in freezing conditions!

43022 arrives at Charlbury with the 06:43 Hereford to Paddington 'Cathedrals Express' First Great Western service on 1 June 2007. The 'Cathedrals Express' has a long pedigree as a named train on the Cotswold Line, originally being introduced in 1957. Initially in steam days a headboard was carried, but when the name was re-introduced in 1985, the headboard only appeared on the first day. Of course, since the introduction of HSTs a headboard is not practical even if such things were still considered as a marketing tool. I had originally intended taking this picture at Finstock, but the location (which used to be fine in the days of the Class 50s) was completely overgrown, so a quick drive to Charlbury was needed.

With the town of Wotton Bassett visible on the horizon, 43022 passes Callow Hill on 1 September 2007 with the 1B25 10:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. The M4 motorway can be seen cutting across the picture in the distance.

43022 passes the site of Patney & Chirton station with the 1C85 14:06 Paddington to Penzance First Great Western service on 11 May 2009. Note the reconstructed bridge in the background, with its inelegant concrete parapet atop a vintage brick arch. Presumably all the Armco barriers on the road date from the time of the bridge rebuilding.

43022 arrives at Evesham on 29 October 2009 with the 1W00 08:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The centre pivoting semaphore signal in the foreground will soon be swept away once the complete resignalling of the line gets underway, while the post to its right has already succumbed to the local vegetation. There seems to be a surprising amount of evening primrose plants growing on the cutting sides and even on the edge of the ballast - not your average trackside weed!

This HST is certainly well off the beaten track! 43022 slowly approaches St Andrews Road station, on 25 September 2010 with the Pathfinder Tours 'Brunelian' railtour, at this point running as the 1Z44 13:45 Swindon to Portbury Dock (via Avonmouth). The tour had earlier started from Paddington as the 1Z43 09:15 departure for Swindon, traveling the long way round via Newbury and Melksham. The lines of stabled coal hoppers on the right are for working off the nearby Avonmouth terminal, principally to Didcot Power Station.

You don't get many HSTs here! 43022 gingerly negotiates the Portbury Dock branch on 25 September 2010 with the Pathfinder Tours 'Brunelian' railtour, at this point running as the 1Z44 13:45 Swindon to Portbury Dock (via Avonmouth). This view from the M5 Avonmouth Bridge shows the line near its destination, with the houses of Lodway in the background. Note the houses built in the flood plain of the River Avon, with only a minimal earth bank for protection! The railtour had earlier started from Paddington as the 1Z43 09:15 departure for Swindon, traveling the long way round via Newbury and Melksham.

Very unusual lighting conditions at Challow on 25 September 2010. HSTs pass this spot with monotonous regularity, but they are not usually booked to move onto the normally freight only relief line. Therefore, despite the late hour, I wanted a picture of 43022 leading the Pathfinder Tours 1Z46 18:14 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington 'Brunelian' railtour. Just before it was due the setting sun was shining straight into the lens with no possibility of a picture, but at the booked time the sun had actually set, leaving a pink glow in the sky. Luckily the train was on time, as there was only a few minutes of these conditions before the colours vanished and it became pitch black! Incidentally, although obviously this picture has required considerable work in Photoshop, the sky colour has not been enhanced at all, and the strange halo effect around the trees is not the result of some incredibly amateurship Photoshop work, but is purely the result of the lighting.

A photographic technique that I have rarely employed, but which can be very effective in conveying speed is panning. By using a slow shutter speed and following the train in the viewfinder the result is a pin sharp train against a blurred background. This doesn't tend to work that well with slab fronted diesel locos, but HSTs with their streamlined front ends look very effective. Also, choice of location is important, with an uninterrupted foreground and a plain background preferable. 43023 County of Cornwall speeds past South Stoke with the 18:45 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service on 10 July 1990.

The cows graze contentedly in the filed as 43023 sweeps past Rodbourne on 6 August 1992 with the late running 1B38 16:00 Paddington to Swansea service. This particular viewpoint, being on the north side of the line, is only really of any use on late summer evenings, and even here the sun isn't far enough over for the perfect picture.

Something you very rarely see nowadays - a HST power car running under its own power on the main line with just a barrier vehicle for company. On 27 October 1982, 43024 passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth en-route from Bristol to Old Oak Common. At this time the power cars still carried their set numbers (253012 in this case), but they soon came to be regarded as individual locos rather than multiple units, with consequent mixing of various set formations.

Preliminary work for the redoubling of the Cotswold Line is underway at Mickleton on 6 March 2009, as 43024 passes by with the 1W02 10:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. At least work was going on a few minutes before, but as this is just after midday, I presume all the workers are eating lunch in their van, which can just be seen in the background! The tractor was employed in vegetation clearance, while the new concrete troughing for the signal cables can be seen stacked up on the left.

43024 pulls away from Charlbury station on 9 May 2009 with the Cotswold Line Promotion Group's 1Z30 06:30 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paignton 'Cotswold Torbay Express' excursion. Unfortunately unlike the CLPG's previous tours, the use of a HST and consequence difficulty of fitting a headboard means that this just looks like any other passenger train on the Cotswold Line. This probably explains the constant station announcements warming 'normal' passengers not to board it!

43024 passes through the long closed station at Oaksey in the drizzle on 14 November 2009 with the 1G21 10:15 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service. As can be clearly seen here, both platforms survive at Oaksey, complete with their coping stones. This of course is purely because the track was singled and realigned into the centre of the formation, well away from the former platform faces.

43025 accelerates away from Kingham station, on the Cotswold Line with the 15:51 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill First Great Western service on 5 April 2007. The train is crossing the Bledington to Kingham footpath crossing. When up close like this, it is noticeable how quiet the re-engined HST power cars are when accelerating hard, compared with the ear splitting whine from the original Paxman Valentas.

43025 The Institution of Railway Operators heads westwards with the 1C14 12:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 2 February 2012. It is pictured near to the site of Wantage Road station at the remote but delightfully named Butterfly Lane Crossing (merely a footpath crossing).

In superb late evening light, 43026 approaches Moreton-in-Marsh on 20 April 2009 with the 1W07 17:22 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service. The newly cultivated field in the foreground contrasts markedly with the bright green spring foliage and the blue livery of the train to make an excellent picture. This was always one of my favourite locations for pictures of northbound trains in the evening on the Cotswold Line, but unlike virtually all the other formerly used locations on the route, it is still an excellent spot.

The First Great Western 10:05 Pembroke Dock to Paddington 'Pembroke Coast Express' led by 43027 departs from Pembrey & Burry Port on 15 July 2006. The lines in West Wales still retain many period features, including semaphore signalling as seen here. Most services over this line are operated by Arriva Trains Wales, with only a couple of daily services provided by First Great Western and utilising HSTs.

In superb late afternoon autumnal light, 43028 speeds through Radley station on 8 October 2009 with the 1P61 14:34 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service. At some point in the journey it has picked up a non fare paying passenger, but I don't think the pheasant stuck to the leading bogie is in any position to pay the penalty fare!

43029 passes the long disused and weed choked Malago Vale carriage sidings in Bristol with the on 10:25 Liverpool Lime Street to Plymouth service on 5 April 1990. The yellow speck in the distance is 31276 & 31217 with the 7M53 Bridgwater to Sellafield nuclear flasks. I don't usually seek our urban locations, but have used this spot a number of times, as it offers good views in both directions from a quiet footbridge with easy parking nearby.

43029 heads through the dappled shade of the Golden Valley as it passes Chalford with the diverted 12:00 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service on 21 April 2002. This is the first version of First Great Western's purple livery, with large areas of white paint which were evidently considered too difficult to keep clean. Unfortunately I haven't got many pictures of this version of the livery, as after so many livery changes I got rather blasé about taking pictures, until they had all disappeared.

The low winter sun shows up the rust on the bridge at the site of Challow station as 43029 speeds through with the 1C12 11:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 6 December 2008. The large bank of earth in the foreground marks the site of the down platform. The huge signal gantry that can be seen looming above the bridge effectively prevents photography of westbound trains from the bridge, except with a very long lens.

Not quite the picture I was intending to take, but an interesting comparison of 125 mph train designs. I know which one I prefer! On 10 September 2009, 43030 Christian Lewis Trust leaves Oxford with the late running 1P56 13:11 Hereford to Paddington First Great Western service, while 220022 arrives with the 13:45 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly CrossCountry service. Strangely the HST had arrived off the Cotswold Line exactly to time but then sat in the station for ten minutes! Ironically the Voyager was bang on time, resulting in this unplanned passing shot

A storm is brewing at Uffington on 28 August 2010, as 43030 Christian Lewis Trust heads west with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. It wouldn't be long before it was time to put the camera away and start the long walk back to the car!

Dramatic lighting at Uffington on 23 November 2010, as 43030 Christian Lewis Trust speeds west with the 1B42 14:15 Paddington to Cardiff Central First Great Western service. The dark clouds had gradually been building up over the Didcot area, but just a little way further west where I was stood only the odd cloud was interrupting the sunshine.

43030 Christian Lewis Trust speeds past Denchworth on 24 March 2011 with the 1G38 13:48 Paddington to Cheltenham First Great Western service. The Christian Lewis Trust after which 43030 is named is a children's cancer trust set up in memory of Swansea cancer victim, Christian Lewis. The power car was named at Swansea station in July 2000.

On 15 August 2009, 43031 pulls out of the down platform at Moreton-in-Marsh and runs 'wrong line' to the crossover, where it moves onto the up line. A few minutes earlier it had arrived with the 11:21 First Great Western service from Paddington, which would normally carry on to Great Malvern. However, the line from here to Evesham was closed for engineering works in connection with reinstating the double track, and a connection was being provided by buses. After the HST had moved onto the up line, it then proceeded back to the station (with 43193 leading), ready to form the 13:48 departure for Paddington.

43031 heads south from platform 2 at Banbury on 2 January 2011, running 'wrong line' out of the station with the 1B20 08:15 Paddington to Carmarthen First Great Western service. The driver had just changed ends after arriving from the south via the Chiltern Line. These lengthy diversions were the result of an engineering blockade at Reading, which saw the line closed for most of the Christmas and New Year period.

With the appropriately named Brunel House (a former orphanage), dominating the background, 43032 leads the 1E30 06:30 Plymouth to York service past Horfield on 13 March 1989. As can be seen by the wide trackbed, this was once a four track mainline, the track having been rationalised just a few years before this picture was taken.

43032 The Royal Regiment of Wales leads the 1A57 12:45 Paignton to Paddington service past Teignmouth on 25 May 1996. It was generally a dull day, but just as this train appeared it brightened up slightly, before the clouds in the background turned the lights out again! The sea wall here is an ideal location to photograph eastbound trains, however you are a little too close to westbound trains, and it isn't advisable to try to get more to the side, as its a long drop into the sea!

43032 The Royal Regiment of Wales passes Chilson, on the Cotswold Line with the 06:09 Abergavenny to Paddington First Great Western 'Cathedrals Express' service on 10 August 2007. Note the use of a hired in set of Midland Mainline coaches, used to augment the FGW fleet while their coaches are being refurbished. Unfortunately one element of this refurbishment is an increase in the seating density, somewhat detracting from the HST's quality image.

Naturally after all three railtours had passed Goring on 12 April 2008, the lighting was at its best, with the cutting free of shadow, and dark clouds in the background. However, unlike a lot of photographers, who only seem to take pictures of freight and special workings and ignore the commonplace, I am not averse to taking pictures of HSTs, especially when they are in clean condition, such as this example. 43032 leads the 06:29 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service past Goring in perfect light.

43032 passes the site of Yarnton Junction with the 10:42 Paddington to Hereford First Great Western service on 7 December 2008. The former Fairford Branch Line joined the Oxford to Worcester route just behind the tree on the right. About the only real clue to the existence of a station on this site now is the presence of the Scots Pine trees visible behind the train, a characteristic feature of Great Western station sites.

43032 heads west near Uffington on 10 February 2009 with the 1B28 11:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service. Despite the overnight rain there was still a surprising amount of snow lying about, particularly in the fields away from the gritted roads. Although it entailed a long trudge through the snow, I decided to visit this spot near Uffington, as it is one of the very few  locations in the area I had not previously visited, despite it being in view from other visited spots.

43032 leans into the reverse curves at Wootton Rivers on 20 October 2010 whilst working the 1A76 05:05 Penzance to Paddington First Great Western service. Next stop Reading on this train's five hour journey from the West Country to the Capital.

On a damp, misty 10 September 2005, 43033 Driver Brian Cooper 15 June 1947 - 5 October 1999 accelerates away from Cheltenham station and passes Up Hatherley with the 09:30 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. This picture is taken from the footbridge linking Hollis Road with Reddings Park.

In superb crisp early morning light, 43034 arrives at Kemble leading the 08:30 Cheltenham to Paddington service on 27 October 1994. An unusual survival at this quiet Cotswold station is this fine GWR water tower, which for many years supplied water to Swindon Works, 14 miles away. Kemble was once a double junction, with branch lines going to both Tetbury and Cirencester. The bushes in the background mark the course of the Tetbury line. Kemble is now a very busy commuter station, with direct trains to London such as this as well as purely local services.

43034 The Black Horse emerges from Ardley Tunnel on 5 November 1994 with the Chiltern Railways 08:10 Paddington to Chester '125 Awayday' railtour, with 43042 still deep inside the tunnel on the rear. HSTs were (and still are) very scarce on the Chiltern Line, and it is ironic that nearly sixteen years later I was back at the same location for another rare visit of the class. Incidentally, in 1994 there was obviously more spare capacity in the HST fleet, as there was another railtour running on this day - the Hertfordshire Railtours 'Coast to Coast', using 43063 & 43076.

One of the few remaining unrefurbished First Great Western HST power cars, 43034 The Black Horse races past the site of Shrivenham station (between Didcot and Swindon) with the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare service on 15 November 2007.

With the threat of rain in the background, 43034 TravelWatch SouthWest (not my capitalisation and word spacing!) speeds past the site of Uffington loops on 27 August 2008 with the 1L52 10:29 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service.

Not so much the Golden Valley, but more like the Green Valley at Frampton Mansell on 20 June 1987. Rightly famed for is display of golden foliage in the autumn, the line through the valley of the River Frome is a little less colourful in high summer. 43035 leads the diverted 1C14 09:00 Paddington to Swansea service down the gradient, having just crossed over that well known local landmark - Frampton Mansell Viaduct (hidden behind the bushes beyond the vintage tractor). Some of the houses in Frampton Mansell village can just be seen on the extreme right.

43036 takes the Westbury line at Fairwood Junction on 20 April 1988 with the 07:30 Plymouth to Paddington service. The complete train is in the second livery applied to the class, the so called 'executive' livery, which was applied from 1983 onwards. This was the last livery to use the 'InterCity 125' branding, and when in clean condition looked particularly smart and suited the trains well, particularly bearing in mind some of the colour schemes they have had to carry subsequently! 43009 was pictured at the same location three years later in the next variation of this livery.

The weak setting sun provides some backlighting for 43036 as it passes South Marston on 24 June 1999 with the 16:30 Swansea to Paddington First Great Western service. This viewpoint has changed considerably since this picture was taken. On the right the first preliminary earthworks for the rail connection into the Keypoint Railfreight Terminal & Honda car plant can be seen. A rail junction with the mainline now occupies this site.

43036 in original First Great Western livery leads a rake of new liveried stock on the 12:45 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads service on 9 October 2003, seen here passing Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. Just visible in the background, the signals by Denchworth Bridge are showing all three aspects. Red on the up relief as 47799 had just passed by light engine, and was obviously waiting at Wantage Road, green on the up main as 43129 was approaching with an up train, and amber on the bi-directional down main, as it is always like that!

Ideal winter photographic conditions at Uffington on 10 February 2009 as 43036 leads the 1C13 12:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service through the snowy landscape. The Longcot to Uffington footpath passes under the small bridge below the third coach. A deliberately wide viewpoint was chosen here to show plenty of snow in the foreground, after all you don't get many opportunities to take this kind of picture. Although obviously a tractor has been across this field since the last snowfall, needless to say I was the only walker to trek the long distance from the nearest road to get to this spot!

43036 glistens in the severe backlighting at Challow on 16 July 2011, as it heads towards the capital with the 1L67 15:00 Cheltenham to Paddington First Great Western service. I wouldn't normally bother with such a backlit picture, but the brief burst of sunshine amidst the dark clouds has highlighted the rippling bodywork of the power car, making for a slightly different and interesting picture.

43037 bursts out from under the bridge at Hay Lane near Swindon on 15 September 1979 whilst working the 13:45 Paddington to Weston-super-Mare service. Hay Lane was once the site of a temporary terminus for the Great Western Railway during the course of its construction between London and Bristol, nearby Swindon being only an insignificant village at the time. Between 17 December 1840 (when the line was extended from Challow) and 3 May 1851 (when the extension to Chippenham was opened) this remote spot was a hub of railway activity.