HST railtours have never been particularly common due to the high utilisation of the sets, which leaves little spare capacity for such one off trains. The train pictured here is certainly one of the earliest tours - the 'Ian Allan Limited' from Paddington to Newcastle via Carlisle on 26 June 1982. 43056 is seen leading the tour past Compton Beauchamp (between Didcot and Swindon) in gloomy weather. Although at first glance looking exactly like the HSTs that traversed this line every few minutes (except for the large stick on headboard!), this is in fact an Eastern Region eight car set, and 43056 would have been more at home pounding up and down the East Coast Mainline, having only recently taken over from the Deltics.

43056 University of Bradford slows down for the Wellingborough stop on 12 December 1985 whilst working the 09:30 Nottingham to St Pancras service. With a forest of semaphore signals and masses of disused sidings, to say nothing of a pair of relief lines, this scene is largely unaltered since the last days of steam. The same view today shows considerable rationalisation!

Clearly showing the interim National Express East Coast livery consisting of a white stripe applied to the former GNER colour scheme, 43056 speeds past Gateforth with the 1E10 07:53 Aberdeen to Kings Cross service on 14 March 2008. Not a bad location for an electrified line, especially as you can take the picture while sitting on the Armco barrier at the side of a not very busy country road! This was one of the final sunny shots of the day, as can you can see from the background, the cloud was rapidly building up.

43061 leads the iC21 08:28 Leeds to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service past Kibworth Harcourt on 25 June 2008. The railway line here actually divides the village of Kibworth Harcourt from Kibworth Beauchamp, which perhaps explains why the Midland Railway just called their station Kibworth! 43061 carries the former Midland Mainline livery minus all branding.

In miserable misty drizzly weather, 43064 slows down for a photo stop at the derelict Winslow station on the Bletchley to Oxford line. It is working the Hertfordshire Railtours 07:50 St Pancras to Matlock 'Midland Peaks' railtour on 13 February 1993. Note that some effort has gone into identifying the station with several nameboards, including replica totem signs. Although I was on my own as the train arrived, soon there were people swarming everywhere as the passengers got their pictures of this most unlikely motive power at this rural location. Just as well they did because the station building was demolished shortly afterwards.

To mark the end of Paxman Valenta engined HSTs, East Midlands Trains ran a special from Leicester to Scarborough on 26 July 2008, using 43064 & 43081. These were named 125 Group & Midland Valenta respectively the previous day, especially for this tour. In crisp morning light, the 1Z25 09:00 Leicester to Scarborough 'Valenta Venturer' is pictured passing Barkby Thorpe (just north of Leicester) with 43064 leading. I was rather surprised to see a traditional 'steam age' headboard, which looks very strange on the pointed nose of a HST!

43065 leads the 16:50 Kings Cross to Bradford Interchange 'Bradford Executive' service towards Peascliffe Tunnel (near Grantham) on 14 June 1986. As can be seen, the East Coast Mainline was in the early stages of electrification at this time, with just the masts in position. Without any wires to tension them, the posts seem to be far from vertical in this picture. This was the era of mixed HST liveries, and indeed the other HST seen here on this day was the exact opposite of this one - InterCity liveried coaches and original liveried power car.

43069 passes Uffington with the 13:30 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service on 12 February 2008. The straw in the foreground is the result of recent heavy rains washing the loose straw and stubble off the field down into this low lying corner. It covered a large area and was well over a foot thick!

It was miserably dull day on 15 April 2006, but the prospect of two different liveried HST power cars on a rake of Midland Mainline stock on the Heartland Rail 1Z27 08:00 Gloucester to Penzance railtour was too good a chance to pass up, especially as it turned out it would be the only picture I would get of either of these unique liveried machines. Cotswold Rail silver liveried 43070 is pictured at the head of the train approaching the site of Stonehouse station, with the long disused siding disappearing into the undergrowth in the foreground. If you think this livery is unusual, it's nothing compared to what was on the back.

43070 leads the 1C17 14:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service towards the site of Wantage Road station on 6 November 2007 amid some glorious autumn colours.  6C48 (59004), 6B24 (60042), 4D12 (66067) and 6B33 (worryingly 66237 instead of the booked Class 60) had all passed me in poor light, and I had to wait until the very end of the afternoon before the clouds finally cleared away. The low sun certainly brings out the colours, and to prove how much difference the lighting and the time of year makes to a picture, look at the same location on an early spring afternoon.

43071 accelerates away from Wellingborough and passes Finedon with the 16:35 St Pancras to Nottingham service on 21 May 1989. Note the old steam shed in the background and the lines of redundant HTV hoppers being stored in the sidings. Since the picture of 43056 was taken a few years previously from the bridge just out of sight around the corner, the semaphore signalling has been replaced by colour lights, but major track rationalisation has yet to take place.

43071 speeds past Acton Turville with the 13:45 Paddington to Swansea First Great Western service on 27 March 2007. At this time the whole FGW HST fleet had just about been repainted into this livery, only for yet another livery to be launched! It almost seems that that a new livery is launched as soon as the final vehicle has been painted in the previous colours!

Strange happenings at Uffington on 12 February 2008. 43071 has just received an amber signal near Uffington whilst working the 13:00 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads First Great Western service. It passed me at slow speed, coming to a stop at the next signal, where it waited for 15 minutes! Whether this had anything to do with 66145 on the preceding train is not clear, but it was certainly strange to see an HST stopped in open country, right over the minor road bridge to Uffington, with the driver walking around outside, between conversations with the signalman!

An interesting working occurred on the former Great Western Mainline on Bank Holiday Monday 27 August 2007. Instead of one of the usual First Great Western HSTs on this route, this is a Midland Mainline set hired to Virgin Trains! Running 25 minutes early, 43072 Derby Etches Park leads the 5Z53 07:10 Laira to Reading ECS past Shrivenham, prior to working the 1Z53 11:45 Reading to Leeds Virgin Trains special in connection with the Reading Festival. It originated from Laira due to having worked the 1V49 09:41 Newcastle to Newquay Virgin service two days previously. For the record 43060 was the rear power car. Unfortunately what started out as a sunny morning rapidly deteriorated into a cloudy day, but luckily I just got this in a small patch of sun.

43074 passes Beighton on 25 November 2008 with the diverted 1C29 11:18 Sheffield to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service. Due to the three month closure of Bradway Tunnel, on the Sheffield to Chesterfield line for essential engineering works, all passenger trains were diverted via the normally freight only route via Tinsley and Beighton Junction. The section of line pictured here is subject to a severe speed restriction, and although accelerating slightly once over the crossing, trains seemed to be approaching the signal box in the background at little more than walking speed.

43075 is pictured at Sharnbrook on 4 May 1987 working the 15:15 St Pancras to Sheffield service. As was common at the time both power cars are in the InterCity Executive livery, whilst the coaches are still in the original blue and grey colour scheme The two relief lines visible on the left at a lower level have since been replaced by a single bi-directional line.