REGARDING your feature about the 25th anniversary of the high speed trains in our region (May 8), I should like to mention as a matter of interest that the Western Region had already been running a high-speed service for two years previous.

I travelled from Paddington to Bath in 1977 on a HST 125 train on the day Western Region were celebrating the first anniversary of their high speed service. Staff at Paddington handed out pieces of birthday cake to passengers.

B F Kenyon,

Ganton Place,

Dringhouses, York.

Updated: 10:38 Thursday, May 29, 2003