This train is an example of one of the many semi-fast and stopping services that worked on the GWR main lines, calling at intermediate stations where the faster express services did not stop.
The engine, GWR 4-4-0 No. 4100 “Badminton”, was the first member of the “Badminton” class of engines introduced in 1897. These engines were fast runners, capable of regularly recording speeds in excess of 80mph at a time when such performances were very much the exception.
The coaches are all Clerestory vehicles of what is termed the “Period III” design that the GWR produced during the final decade of the 19th century. At that time these would have been considered as prestige stock for express workings, but subsequent development of new and improved designs of coaches in the early decades of the 20th century led to the relegation of many Clerestory coaches into secondary services.
