The year of 1976 will long be remembered for its very hot summer, one of the hottest on record. Enthusiasts of the Class 52 ‘Western’ will also remember it as the final summer in which these highly esteemed locomotives remained in normal service. With time running out, therefore, I was determined to make one last pilgrimage to the West Country to photograph ‘Westerns’ in action whilst the weather remained good. It was already apparent that the class would not see another summer, So if I postponed my trip I knew the opportunity would be lost forever.
One long-held ambition was to travel the complete length of the West of England main line, from Paddington to Penzance, behind a Class 52. If I could achieve this, then there would be no better way of reaching the West Country. My only problem was, although I knew ‘Westerns’ continued to haul express passenger trains on the West of England route, I had no way of finding out which particular services they were diagrammed to work. Unfortunately in those days I had no contacts on the railway who could supply ‘inside’ information and so if I was to realise my ambition I was left with no option
