7th July 1999

First Great Western power car no. 43017 is on the front of this complete "fag packet" liveried HST at platform 2. This is an unrecorded Paddington to Cardiff train, pausing at 10.28. Being an ex-newsagent I guess the nickname referred to the branding on a pack of John Player Superkings, which had similar striping. The company's colours later changed over to a blue-based scheme, but of course it has now come back around to dark green, with "GWR" branding. 43017 is, at the time of writing in 2019, in store at Ely, pondering its future.