THE first of 18 mini-buffet cars for First Great Western’s High Speed Trains is due to start in May.

The coach is under conversion from a standard class passenger carriage at workshops in Derby after the train operator abandoned plans to provide a trolley refreshment service on some long-distance express services, including those running on the Cotswold Line via Oxford.

Fourteen seats are being removed to make way for the buffet counters. In addition, eight more of FGW’s existing buffet-restaurant cars will be given an interior facelift to match the rest of the firm’s HST fleet.