Photo Class 43151 First Great Western Intercity 125 Train St Austell 2016

First Great Western Train Class 43151 Intercity 125 

Photo: Charles Moorhen

An early evening photo of UK trains First Great Western trains, Class 43151 HST Intercity 125  express passenger train, waiting at St. Austell station, Cornwall, before heading towards Paddington station, London.

In 1988, Class 43151 Intercity 125 carried the name, 'Blue Peter II'.

While on the subject of Class 43 motive power, it is interesting to note that the first-built production High Speed Train power car, 43002 (also numbered 253001) Sir Kenneth Grange, now stands in its new home - the National Railway Museum.

The iconic Victorian lattice-work iron station bridge which had deteriorated over the decades, a small section of which can be seen in top left corner this photo, was removed in February 2019 and re-homed at the Helston Railway, Cornwall. 

The Present and The Past

Express train, Class 43151 Intercity 125, is a far cry from the type of passenger trains once seen on the Great Western Railway back in the days of steam.

Back then it would have been possible to have witnessed a Castle class steam locomotive, such as 4-6-0 Castle class 5010, at St. Austell station, Cornwall.

4-6-0 Castle Class 5010 'Restormal Castle'         Photo: fromoldbooks.org

4-6-0 Castle Class 5010 'Restormal Castle' was built at Swindon Works in July 1927.  It was withdrawn from service in October 1959 and subsequently scrapped.
Incidentally, a sister locomotive of the same class, 5004 'Llanstephan Castle', appeared in the 1949 Ealing Studios film, 'Run For Your Money'.

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