Author guest post from Tim Hillier-Graves.

After fifty years of service the lives of the HST 125s are now drawing to a close. Some remain to remind us of the extraordinary impact these trains had on British Rail’s operations over so many decades, but their number is dwindling fast. A long goodbye, but a goodbye nonetheless.

With their days numbered, now would seem to be the time to consider the achievement of the design engineers who created them and the service they rendered across Britain’s rail network, aided by so many others. It is a story that might never have been told if BR’s plans for its Advanced Passenger Train had reached fruition more quickly. But delay upon delay meant that there was pressing need for a fast modern passenger less technically advanced substitute to fill the gap. The 125s were the result and very quickly they showed what they could do, and would continue to do wherever BR, or the privatised companies that followed in the 1990s, operated them.

This book pays homage to these exceptional trains and all those who were involved in their design, construction and day to day operation.

THIS BOOK CELEBRATES FIFTY YEARS OF THE HST 125’S OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO BRITAIN.

• AS A STOPGAP, IN SUPPORT OF BR’S MUCH DELAYED APT PROGRAMME, IT FAR EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS AND, UNDOUBTEDLY, HELPED SAVE AN AILING NETWORK.

• AS THEIR LIVES FINALLY DRAW TO A CLOSE THIS RICHLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK (300 PLUS PICTURES) LOOKS CLOSELY AT THEIR EVOLUTION AND THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROJECT’S SUCCESS.

• THE AUTHOR THEN GOES ON TO CONSIDER WHAT DROVE THE PROJECT FORWARD AND THE WAY THESE TRAINS SO EFFECTIVELY SERVED BOTH BR AND THE PRIVATIZED COMPANIES THAT FOLLOWED.

• IN MANY WAYS IT IS A STORY WITHOUT PARALLEL IN BRITAIN’S RAILWAY HISTORY AND IN TELLING IT THE AUTHOR DRAWS UPON PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL PLUS HIS OWN LARGE COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS.

Title released on 30^th June 2026 and contains more than 400 photos most in colour.

Preorder here.