Cheltenham Racecourse railway station is a railway station serving Cheltenham Racecourse

Cheltenham Racecourse

Cheltenham Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing events, located at Prestbury Park, in the suburban village of Prestbury on the outskirts of the English town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire...

 on the outskirts of Cheltenham

Cheltenham

Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

 in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire 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....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

It is located on the former Cheltenham to Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...

 line, which was opened by the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 in 1906. The station itself was opened in 1912 specifically to serve the new racecourse at Prestbury Park, home of the famous Gold Cup meeting. The platforms were extended at some stage to accommodate trains of up to 14 carriages. The station was only opened on race days and so facilities were rudimentary, but it continued to serve racegoers travelling 'by rail to the races' (as contemporary advertising put it) until the March 1976 Cheltenham Festival.

Although most of the stations on the line closed in 1960 the line itself remained open for non-stop passenger services until 1968. . Special trains on racedays only served Cheltenham Racecourse station until 1976. The line was also used as a diversionary route with no scheduled passenger services until 1976 when a freight train derailed at Winchcombe and damaged the track. The line was officially closed in 1976 and the track was (by 1979) lifted shortly afterwards.

Cheltenham Racecourse (described by the Great Western Railway as Cheltenham Race Course) is currently the southern terminus of the currently 10-mile long heritage

Heritage railway

thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...

 Glous-Warks Steam Railway

Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a volunteer-run heritage railway on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire Borders that has reopened the closed railway line between Laverton Halt and Cheltenham Racecourse railway stations in Gloucestershire/Worcestershire., it currently...

. Reopening of the line has been a drawn out affair, given that the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway is run entirely by volunteers. The line trackbed itself was bought in 1984. The track from Bishop's Cleeve

Bishop's Cleeve

Bishop's Cleeve is an urbanised village in the Borough of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, near Cheltenham. The village lies at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds.- History :...

 to the racecourse was relaid in late-2001, but the line did not reopen for tourists until April 2003. The station was re-opened by HRH The Princess Royal on 7 April 2003.

The station itself is very attractively situated. It and is mostly in a cutting fringed by Corsican pine trees. Its northern end, where it emerges from the cutting, affords magnificent views towards Cleeve Hill

Cleeve Hill

Cleeve Hill is the highest point both in the Cotswolds hill range and in the county of Gloucestershire, at . It commands a clear view to the west, over Cheltenham and the racecourse, over the River Severn and into Wales; and to the north over Winchcombe. It is a conspicuous outcrop on the edge of...

. The original station booking office is of historic interest in that it is believed to be the only remaining example of a Swindon-built 'flatpack' prefabricated building that was brought by train and assembled on site. It is perched at the top of the cutting, next to the A435 roadbridge and just three minutes' walk from the main entrance of the racecourse. It has been well restored despite the efforts of local vandals over the years and there is an interesting collection of artifacts housed within it. A gentle slope through well-tended landscaping gives access to the platform where there is a new station building with a canopy, toilets and waiting room. Currently, only one platform of the station is in use. The second platform has been removed but will be rebuilt at a later date. The station has two tracks, one adjacent to the platform and the other to allow locomotives to run around the train. A new signal box

Signal box

On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...

 was opened in 2005 to control the signals and point work around the station.

Access to the station by car is only via the main racecourse entrance (follow brown signs to racecourse). There is a large free car park. A bus service runs from the Network Rail Cheltenham Spa station, through the town centre to the Racecourse Park & Ride, about 10 minutes walk from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway station.

Possible Extension Towards Cheltenham Spa

The line originally continued beyond the racecourse station via the old Cheltenham Malvern Road

Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road railway station

-History:The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 30 March 1908, as Cheltenham Malvern Road. It was provided so that trains along the line to would not have to start and terminate at , which involved a reversal. The station took its name from the road to the north from which a long...

station site towards the mainline station at Cheltenham Spa. A section of track has already been relaid through the tunnel at Cheltenham Racecourse, but it is currently impassable. While the track bed is mostly complete and intact, the remaining line is still in need of extensive reconstruction. This would also involve replacing a non-rail bridge near the site of the old St James's Station as it would not be strong enough to carry the line.