THE Traction and Rolling Stock section of the February 1996 edition of the Railway Observer reported:“HST Power car No. 43190, from the Maidenhead fire, returned to traffic on December 5.”
This was a postscript to a serious incident on September 8, 1995 when fire broke out on the 18.30 Paddington to Swansea. By this time, HSTs had been in service for 15 years or more, suffering the occasional derailment or minor collision, but fortunately nothing more serious.