January 2026: Intercity Poster

Happy New Year and welcome to our first Object of the Month for 2026.  This month we are focusing on a new acquisition, a poster, that was donated from GWR (the current train operating company).

The poster, produced in 1977, features an Inter-City 125 high speed train (HST) with its iconic streamlined nose and classic yellow and blue livery .  It is advertising the route from London to Bristol and South Wales.  The poster was produced as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee year and uses a silver background in honour of this occasion.

HST number 253 041 waiting at Platform 1, Paddington Station in the 1980s.

HSTs were built between 1975 and 1982 by British Rail Engineering Limited and designed by Sir Kenneth Grange.  The trains comprised of two Class 43 power cars either end and between seven or eight Mark 3 coaches.  They ran on the current GWR’s mainline network until May 2019 when they were withdrawn from service on these high speed routes.  A small number of power cars with two to four carriages were kept on for West Country (Devon and Cornwall) lines and rebranded as the Castle Class.

Last month these Castle Class HSTs were finally retired from all GWR services.  It marked the end of an era for these hugely popular and successful trains on the western network.

Preserved HST Class 43 Power Car, Sir Kenneth Grange, on display outside STEAM in July 2019 prior to its final resting place at the National Railway Museum in York.