VISITORS are being offered a rare opportunity to travel on a High Speed Train (HST) on the West Somerset Railway (WSR) next week.

HSTs were introduced by British Railways more than 40 years ago and remain the fastest diesel-powered trains in the world.

They were replaced by Inter-City Express Trains (IET) which can run on both electricity and diesel power.

The WSR has been storing two HST sets for Great Western Railways on its heritage line since last year, comprising power cars 43155 and 43154.

Now, it will be running the trains on the 20-mile line between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard on Saturday, July 5.

Running times can be found online on the WSR timetable page, which also has details of the Flying Scotsman steam locomotive visit.