First Great Western

I recently made a one way trip from London (Paddington) to Exeter on a high speed First Great Western express. The 16.05 from Paddington takes just over two hours to cover the distance (at one point the train had covered 125 miles at an average speed of 83 mph, including one stop and two signal delays). I sat in First Class for a change (Chiltern doesn't even have first class) and the experience was pleasant enough.

The scenery is exceptional, particularly as the journey followed a sojourn in West Africa and an overnight flight into Heathrow followed by a day working in London. I would normally have dozed off under such circumstances but the route continually delighted me with fresh scenes of rural England.

After a stop in Reading the train went non-stop to Taunton and I never saw a significant settlement between the two stations. I did see a white horse carved into a chalk hillside and I did notice a few small rivers and streams but the majority of the scenery was simply pastoral, green, sunny and lovely.

By Taunton the train was running 10 minutes late due to the signalling stops. Unlike Chiltern Railways with its lax timetables that usually mean the faster trains arrive early at each station, First Great Western may have been set some formidable goals for timekeeping.

The High Speed 125 train sets are beginning to show their age and will need to be refurbished or replaced as some facilities are either tired or non-existent. But they do go quite fast!