The FGW service I took from Bristol to Taunton today was 20 mins late due to signalling problems at Reading, and this meant we crawled over Cogload Junction flyover and were held at the signal there for ages to let another HST go past from the Castle Cary line. It was great to see the bridge close up at such a slow speed, although I wish I'd taken my camera! Seeing the other HST approaching from the curve to the left of the train, passing underneath, and then alongside out of the right hand windows was interesting too
My train then crawled along until we met a green signal at Creech, where the driver floored it! I'd had my head out the window since Cogload (well I wasn't going to miss the chance to see the junction from a unique perspective!) so I got to hear the scream of the Paxman's opening up, see the difference in gradients between the embankment leading up to the flyover (it's pretty damn steep from that angle!), and also had the chance to look ahead for a long time...something that you can't do at over 100mph!
