Farewell to the GWR Castle Class HST!

Saturday 13th December 2025 saw the official withdrawal of the 4-car GWR 'Castle' Class HST sets from mainline service, marking the end of the sight of Class 43s on the Western Region. Originally introduced onto the region in 1976 as full-length HST sets, they served the area for decades on Intercity services to and from London Paddington until their withdrawal in May 2019.

However, some sets had a second lease of life as the HSTs were reformed into four-car sets and fitted with sliding doors, being renumbered Class 255s in the process. These sets then worked many local and regional services from Cardiff Central and Worcester in the north down to Penzance in the South-West and everywhere in between. The last year saw their usage limited to services west of Plymouth, with a single diagram taking the sets to Exeter St Davids, as the number of sets were wound down to just a handful by the time of their full withdrawal.

Whilst the future of these sets remain unclear, with some likely to be exported to Mexico and Nigeria, as has been the case with their classmates, HSTs haven't been fully phased out on the UK mainline just yet, thanks to a number of sets still operating with ScotRail for the foreseeable future.

This video shows the GWR Castle HSTs at a range of locations across Wales and the South-West of England, including some classic Western Region locations. Sit back and enjoy the sight and sound of the iconic train hard at work!