First Train Journey Between Bristol and London

Chuffing Fast Trains!

Where would we be without them? Well you could ask any of the disgruntled passengers who regularly try to take Southern Rail services, but we wouldn’t advise it. Those people can be quite testy. But today was a great day in train and training history as it was on October 4th 1976 that the first commercial Inter-City 125 journey took place between Bristol and London. This new new High Speed Train service reached the giddy speeds of 125mph, though had managed to hit 140mph during test runs, making it the fastest diesel powered train on the planet.Even though this was such a momentous day, British Rail didn’t bother to mark the occasion and so many of the passengers leaving Bristol on the 8.05am service didn’t realise they were making history. Though they might have noticed when they reached their destination remarkably quickly and that the buffet car now had one of those new fangled ‘microwaves’ in it. And despite being around for 40 years, refurbished 125s still run on many routes. Or don’t, if you’re in the Haywards Heath area.