A journey on the GWR

The railway offers a 25-mile round trip between Laverton and Cheltenham Racecourse through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Cotswolds.

Going north from our station at Toddington, once a major fruit distribution centre, you emerge from a cutting to cross the 15-arch Stanway Viaduct from which Stanway House can just be seen. The line continues, soon entering another cutting which is spanned at one point by an aquaduct, before emerging at Laverton, the present northern extent of the line.

Going south from Toddington the train passes the workshops where our fleet of steam and diesel locomotives are maintained and restored. The journey then takes you past the village of Didbrook and the site of Hayles Abbey Halt which served the nearby Abbey (English Heritage). Good views of the Cotswolds can be seen from both sides of the train, before arriving at Winchcombe station, which is actually at Greet, about a mile from the town.

The station building here once stood at Monmouth Troy and was painstakingly dismantled, moved and rebuilt by volunteers. This is also the headquarters of our carriage and wagon department. Shortly after leaving Winchcombe the train enters Greet tunnel which, at 693 yards, is the second longest on a preserved railway. Emerging on to an embankment offering splendid views over the Vale of Evesham to the distant Malverns, the train passes the village of Gretton and hamlets of Stanley Pontlarge and Far Stanley. Not far away is the famous Prescott Hill Climb, home of the Bugatti Owners' Club.

After a long straight through Dixton cutting the train reaches Gotherington. The original station (closed 1955) is now a private home, but the owner has a number of interesting railway artefacts in his grounds, including the award-winning 'Gotherington West' - an original 'pagoda' Great Western iron-built halt (no public access). If you are alighting at the new platform which, with its stone-built shelter, was built by volunteers, please move to one of the first two carriages.

Leaving Gotherington, you may get a glimpse of Tewkesbury Abbey in the distance with the distinctive Malvern Hills beyond. Now the train descends over the extension completed in 2003 to Bishop's Cleeve - mature Scots Pine trees mark where the station once stood (closed 1960). Here, the train runs over what is believed to be the only continuously-welded section of line on a heritage railway. Note the absence of the 'clickety-click' from the wheels - a benefit for local residents! A housing estate now occupies what was the station yard.

As the line approaches Cheltenham Racecourse, views of Cleeve Hill (the highest point of the Cotswolds) open up. Passing under Southam Lane, the racecourse comes into view before entering the station, which was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in April 2003. There is a new platform level building here with toilet facilities (including facilities for disabled visitors). The original and unique Swindon-built pre-fabricated station building, reached by a ramp, is perched high above the track at road level. The station once again fulfils its original purpose - bringing race-goers for important meetings such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup.