Railway Herald
Prior to the introduction of the HST fleet in 1976 the Western Region (WR) of British Railways required the running of a high speed test train between Paddington and Cardiff in connection with dipped rail-joint testing. This resulted in the hiring of Deltic Class 55 No. 55003 Meld for the test and the WR elected to run it as a charter for enthusiasts to make the test more realistic with a loaded train. The test train ran on 12th October 1975 and is seen at the platform awaiting departure for Cardiff as passengers crowded the platform to photograph this rare event of an AECML locomotive on a high speed GWML service.
Fred Kerr
