Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Great Western

I took this on New Year's Eve, after getting to Cardiff in the nick of time to meet my friends. I took several other cameraphone shots along the way, although nothing to speak of. I originally had hoped to get the number of this unit, but again I was using a cameraphone, so the exposure from the headlights was too much. This had been my first trip on Great Western after it reverted to its pre-1948 name, after having operated as "First Great Western" (in reference to First Bus) since privatization, and the creation of the train operating companies (TOC's) in 1996.

This was after our arrival at Cardiff, a few minutes early if memory serves. I didn't actually time the train this time.

Whenever I visit Wales, the final leg is on the old Great Western Mainline from London Paddington. This was my train, and I noted the number of one of the power units, 43134, something I hadn't done in a number of years (I'm usually too exhausted for railfanning by the time I get to London). #43134 is actually unnamed, although presently and historically, many Class 43 (formerly Class 253) power units have been, both recently and historically.

This is the first of a series of short railfan videos that I took out of train windows while traveling from Cardiff to Prague. "Railfan" is an important qualifier here. I didn't expect any of these videos to be spectacular by themselves, Instead, they're aimed primarily (maybe only) at railfans who like to watch high-speed train videos. Technically, in modern terms, these Intercity 125 diesel trains, introduced in 1976, aren't high-speed in the modern sense. This is because their maximum legal speed is, and has always been, 125 m.p.h., or about 200 km/h, while the threshold for modern high-speed trains is about 210 km/h, set by the Japanese Series 0 bullet trains in 1966. However, the Series 0 bullet trains ran at 200 km/h from 1964 to 1966, and when the Intercity 125 diesel trains were being developed by British Railways in the 1970s, they were referred to as, literally, "High Speed Trains," or HSTs. Today, they're still often called HSTs, and remain some of the fastest diesel trains in the world, 39 years after being introduced to regular service.

This train appears to be a C-Stock train, which is a 4-rail EMU (like all modern London Underground trains). I didn't see the builder plates on this one (looking on the doorsills also helps), but these were built in two batches in 1977-1978, and 1990-1994. These trains are too tall to use on the newer "tube" underground lines that have been bored 200 feet below the streets since 1890. Instead, they operate on the former steam, or "widened" lines.

This photo, shot in the opposite direction from the previous one, shows a section open to the sky.

This is the Paddington Underground station, which actually dates to 1863. This would make it one of the first subway stations in the world, as the original London Underground line was the Metropolitan, opened from Faringdon to Paddington in that year. Surprisingly, it was steam operated until the early 20th Century, which was achieved through ventilation, plus many stations that were open to the sky. Here you can see the remains of that, covered by a trainshed. The steam operation was probably chosen for lack of better technology at the time. The tunneling technology was similarly simple, being cut-and-cover. Essentially, the street was dug up to form a trench, the tracks were installed, and a stone structure was constructed above them to support the new streets, and the utilities, which even in those days were already being installed. Usually they were situated between the tunnels and the streets.

This was the lead unit on our Intercity 125, #43004.

When I got to Paddington, I got another look at the trainshed, which is impressive. The oldest parts of the current station date to 1854, and this includes the trainshed. Although many impressive projects had already been built at that time, it must have been one of the largest structures in the world at the time. Although Isambard Kingdom Brunel (founder of the Great Western Railway) was still alive at the time "Brunel's Paddington" usually refers to the earlier station built in 1838.

This is the entrance to the station, which is, as far as I know, up on that bridge to the right. The sculpture on the wall looks really 1970's, even Communist, although in this location that would be virtually impossible. In truth, a lot of similar artwork existed in America at the time. However, I know next to nothing about its actual origins.

This visit to Grangetown was completely unplanned. I was running an errand with one of my friends, and just spotted this BR-era "barbed wire" station sign. To avoid confusion, perhaps, most of these signs have survived, not only in situ, but also on maps, and the logo also still appears on tickets and in timetables. Grangetown is located south of Cardiff, and is often counted as part of the city, although the maps I've seen are confusing so I don't know if it technically is Cardiff.

This was my train, still worked by an Intercity 125 after all these years. These trainsets date to 1976, but in some respects they're still the most advanced diesel passenger trains in the world. At the moment, I'm also unaware of anything faster than them, although some DMU's and ICE-TD variants can match them.

I took this on my way to Cardiff Central Station. The old Great Western Mainline is on that viaduct you can see on the right, and you can see a steam-era water tower on the left. I've taken shots from this angle several times before. This wasn't actually a sunset, but a sunrise, as I had to get a train very early in the morning in order to get the Eurostar in London.

Temple Meads is frequently used for charters, steam excursions, and so on, so it's not uncommon to see steam-era coaching stock there. This train appears to be either ex-Great Western or BR Mk.I, but with Western Region livery. In truth, BR Mk.I stock was based on the designs used on the private railways in 1947, so it's often hard to distinguish from genuine pre-1948 stock without a careful examination. One way or another, this is BR Western Region livery rather than GWR livery.

Although I was an avid railfan when I lived in Britain, I rarely visited Temple Meads until recently. Now I go there regularly when I'm in Britain. This is the front entrance, with the taxi rank. The station dates to the days of the GWR, although as far as I know it isn't original. Although the site dates back to 1840, most of the present station dates to 1870, when it was redesigned by Francis Fox to accomodate more traffic.