Cheltenham Spa railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

serving Cheltenham in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. Situated on the Bristol-Birmingham main line, it is managed by Great Western Railway (despite most services being operated by CrossCountry, which does not manage any stations) and is about one mile from the town centre. The official name of the town is simply ''Cheltenham'', but, when the station was renamed in 1925, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway chose to add ''Spa'' to the station name. The station is a key regional interchange and is the fifth busiest rail station in South West England.

History

Cheltenham Lansdown Station geograph-2169613-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The first railway to Cheltenham was the

broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway (C&GWUR), authorised by

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

in 1836, and opened between Cheltenham and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

in 1840. In the same year, the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) opened its line between Cheltenham and Bromsgrove, whence trains ran on

mixed-gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to ca ...

tracks to

. Both railways had their own stations, but the B&GR station, which was then on the edge of the town and was named ''Lansdown'' after a housing development in that area, is the only one remaining. The buildings were designed by the architect

Samuel Daukes Samuel Whitfield Daukes (1811–1880) was an English architect, based in Gloucester and London. Family background Daukes was born in London in 1811, the son of Samuel Whitfield Daukes, a businessman with coal mining and brewery interests, who b ...

and the station was opened by the B&GR on 24 June 1840 as ''Lansdown.'' The C&GWUR was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1844, and the B&GR by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

in 1846. Within the town, there were three other passenger railway stations: '' Malvern Road'', ''

St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the d ...

'' and '' Cheltenham South and Leckhampton''; there was also '' High Street Halt'' and the '' Racecourse Platform'', open only on race days. From 1892 there was a route from Cheltenham to the docks at Southampton, via

Andoversford Andoversford is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England, about east of Cheltenham. The village is on the River Coln, parallel to the A40.The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 555. In 2019 ...

and the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

. The station was renamed ''Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown)'' on 1 February 1925 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and renamed again as ''Cheltenham Spa'' by British Railways at some point after 1 January 1948.

Stationmasters

*William Turnbull 1844–1872 (discharged for failing to report his ticket collector for fraud) *Joseph Vizard Bendall 1872–1900 (formerly station master at Harpenden) *Henry Ward 1900–1907 (afterwards station master at Bedford) *Horace E. Horne 1907–1909 (formerly station master at Harpenden) *Charles Williams 1910–1913 (formerly station master at Hay) *G.Preston Heggs 1913–1914 (afterwards station master at Sheffield) *Henry Pitt 1914-1918 (formerly station master at Rushden) *Arthur Ernest Chandler 1918–1928 (afterwards station master at Burton upon Trent) *John Richard Needham from 1956 (formerly station master at Lancaster Green Ayre)

Services

Cheltenham Spa station is served by approx 8 to 12 trains every hour during the daytime on Mondays to Saturdays (less frequent on Sundays). Great Western Railway operate approx hourly Cheltenham Spa – via services. Some (operated by Class 800s) extend through to , and

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...

. Great Western Railway also operates local services on the Bristol (

Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

/ Parkway) to Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa and Worcester Shrub Hill route. These serve Cheltenham every two hours each way, with some southbound services continuing onwards to and Weymouth. CrossCountry trains serve Cheltenham Spa on three routes, the to

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...

/ service, the longer-distance / – Cheltenham Spa – , with extensions to , and the Bristol Temple Meads – routes. All three of these services run hourly each way, giving a net half-hourly service to Bristol Temple Meads and three departures per hour to/from Birmingham New Street. CrossCountry also operate a morning service to as well as summer Saturday trains to .

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

operate approximately hourly with a

Maesteg Maesteg is a town and community (Wales), community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612. The English ...

via , Cardiff Central, and Chepstow to Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa service.

Redevelopment proposals

In early 2012 Cheltenham Council released a Railway Station concept statement, promoting various enhancements at the station. In March 2013 the Gloucestershire Local Transport Body (LTB) asked for bids from the local area for transport projects which could be funded in the period 2015 to 2019. A proposal to significantly enhance the station, with new passenger facilities and install a new south-facing bay platform enabling trains to reverse was put forward. During the development and optioneering phase of the submission, it was that two new bay platforms were required. This configuration formed the basis of a station regeneration proposal that was submitted to the Gloucestershire Local Transport Body for consideration in early March 2013. Following short listing to stage 2, a second funding proposal was submitted on 10 May 2013. Cheltenham Spa Station and the other various transport scheme proposals were all published for public consultation on the LTB website on 13 May 2013. In February 2014 the scheme was shelved after both

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and train operator

First Great Western Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Plans for two new platforms at Cheltenham Spa railway station controversially shelved
Maidment, J.R ; ''Gloucestershire Echo'' 4 February 2014; Retrieved 21 March 2015,

History

Stationmasters

Services

Redevelopment proposals

References

Further reading