Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road railway station was a station in the town of

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

History

The station was opened by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

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 driveway provided the main means of public access. Unlike the other stations on the line, Malvern Road had a single

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

, long on the Up side and on the Down side, which was reached by means of a covered footbridge leading from the booking office. The platform served both main running lines, together with a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

at the north end into which local branch

railmotor Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it. Steam railcars Overview In th ...

services to and from reversed before returning to the St. James terminus, which was much closer to Cheltenham town centre. Malvern Road did not have a resident stationmaster, and it was placed under the responsibility of the St. James stationmaster who also took charge of and stations. Stone from the Cleeve Hill quarries was used in the station buildings, while the platform copings were sourced from

Pontypridd () (colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng (Trallwn) and Treforest (). The ...

. Regular through services from Birmingham Snow Hill to the

West of England West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan N ...

via Stratford and Malvern Road commenced on 1 July 1908 upon the opening of the

North Warwickshire Line The North Warwickshire Line (also known as the Shakespeare Line) is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It runs from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, now the southern terminus of the line, al ...

. These services covered the distance in just over 2½ hours, but did not run to St. James to which a connecting service was provided by Honeybourne locals or the services to and . By April 1910,

The Cornishman ''The Cornishman'' is a weekly newspaper based in Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom which was first published on 18 July 1878. Circulation for the first two editions was 4,000. An edition is currently printed every Thursday. In early Fe ...

express Express or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid Music * ''Express'' ...

was calling at Malvern Road as part of its

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

to service. The suspension of long-distance services for a period towards the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

led to the temporary closure of Malvern Road as an economy measure between 1 January 1917 and 7 July 1919. Not long after reopening, the station was renamed ''Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road'' on 1 February 1925. To the west of Malvern Road lay several loop sidings serving a two-road

engine shed The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

and coaling stage. Access to these facilities was controlled by two

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

es - Malvern Road East to the north, and Malvern Road West to the south. The East box was opened on 15 July 1906 and had 49 levers; it had replaced the Bayshill signal box which had controlled access to a locomotive shed demolished when the line was extended to Honeybourne. The West box was open by June 1908 and had 37 levers; it replaced a temporary box dating from August 1906. The station saw very little goods traffic as most were handled at St. James; a 15-ton

weighbridge A truck scale (US), weighbridge (non-US) or railroad scale is a large set of scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire rail or road vehicles and their contents. By weighing the vehicle both emp ...

was nevertheless provided in the yard. High-speed services between

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 ...

and Birmingham on the Birmingham to Gloucester line led to a decline in traffic on the Honeybourne line which closed to local passenger services from 7 March 1960. Malvern Road closed on 3 January 1966 to goods and passengers. The Cheltenham to Honeybourne stretch remained open for passenger trains until 1968 and occasional freight traffic until 25 August 1976 when the derailment of a coal train at caused damage to the Down line which was considered uneconomic to repair. Malvern Road West Signal Box had closed on 5 June 1966, with the East Signal Box lasting until 3 November 1970.

Present day

, the site is now a housing estate of some 100 homes. A long-term goal of the

Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWR, GWSR or Gloucs-Warks Steam Railway) is a volunteer-run heritage railway which runs along the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border of the Cotswolds, England. The GWSR has restored and reo ...

is to extend their services towards the present station at Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown) (with the intention of offering interchange with rail services on the

Cross Country Route A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

History

Present day

Route

Notes

References

Further reading