MAIN LINE CONNECTION ‘NOT ON THE CARDS’ SAYS ‘GLOSWARKS’

Extending railway beyond Cheltenham or Broadway is unlikely in the near future, says chairman.

Reconnecting with the main line, either at Cheltenham or Honeybourne, is currently not on the horizon for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, says Chairman Richard Johnson.

The comments come in response to a proposal put forward by former GWSR Chairman Tim Bazeley, who proposes that the railway could re-establish a main line connection at the Cheltenham end of the line by building a 1,476-yard deviation across the fields north of the town, rather than using the old formation of the Cheltenham-Stratford line, which has undergone significant redevelopment at the Cheltenham end since the railway closed in 1976.

Mr Bazeley says: “The cost of extending south through Cheltenham to the main line at Lansdown would be prohibitively expensive, owing to several major breaches of the embankment, which would preclude any reconstruction of a High Street station.

“There would be no significant passenger demand from the only possible site much further north, 150m (164 yards) to the south of the GWSR boundary, thus rendering any form of southward extension economically impracticable.

“The simple answer is to construct a new 1,476-yard railway from just west of Cheltenham Racecourse station across open countryside to join up with the Midland line just north of Swindon Lane level crossing. This would require the purchase of three fields of 108 acres, of which 40 acres would be retained by the GWSR and 68 acres would be sold or leased back to the original or new landowners.

“Such a purchase would safeguard a future rail link between the GWSR and the main line, and the possible reinstatement of the Cheltenham-Stratford main line in the distant future.”

Mr Bazeley estimates the costs of acquiring the necessary land for the deviation would be £320,000, and building the line to be in the region of £600,000, not including Network Rail’s charge for a main line connection.

Richard Johnson, the volunteer chairman of GWSR plc, gave a cautious reaction to the proposal: “We have looked at it with interest, particularly as it affects the GWSR and the potential for a connection with the national network in the more distant future.

“However, the GWSR has plenty of other priorities in terms of managing and maintaining the present line, where passenger numbers are at an all-time high since we reached Broadway. Connecting with the national network – whether via this route (which I recognise does have merit) or northwards to Honeybourne

– is not on our horizon at present. Both would be a long way off in the future and I don’t see that either would improve the day-to-day offering to our visitors.

“The plans raise a number of questions, not least the capacity at Cheltenham Racecourse station – especially for race meetings. However, if others are able to plan, fund and execute such a southern ‘deviation’ to connect with the GWSR then we certainly won’t stand in the way.”