Cheltenham Racecourse railway station

Cheltenham Racecourse railway station is a railway station serving Cheltenham Racecourse on the outskirts of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England.It is located on the former ex-GWR Cheltenham to Stratford line, which was opened by the Great Western Railway 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 from 1971 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 at present the southern terminus of the currently 12-mile long heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The line has been reopened in stages given that the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway is run entirely by volunteers. The line trackbed itself was bought in 1984. The track from Gotherington to the racecourse was relaid in late 2001, The line was reopened as a heritage railway by HRH The Princess Royal on 7 April 2003.