Cheltenham Spa Express
The Cheltenham Spa Express is a British named passenger train service from Paddington station, in London, to Cheltenham Spa, in Gloucestershire, via Reading, Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse and Gloucester. During the 1930s, when operated by the Great Western Railway, the service was more popularly known as the Cheltenham Flyer.
Even prior to the First World War the Great Western Railway ran a high-speed service between Cheltenham and London, covering the 91 miles (146 km) from Kemble Junction to Paddington in 103 minutes. After the war an additional stop was made at Swindon and the time for the 77 1⁄4 miles (124.3 km) to Paddington was scheduled at 85 minutes.
However, in 1923 the first batch of Charles Collett's GWR 4073 Class (also called Castle Class) 4-6-0 express engines entered service and this enabled a significant improvement in timings. The name "Cheltenham Spa Express" was given to the service, which reached Paddington in 75 minutes from Swindon, an average speed of 61.8 miles per hour (99.5 km/h).
Fierce rivalry between the four main railway companies during the 1920s and 1930s to run the fastest train in the country, and therefore in the world, led to further accelerations to the service. In July 1929 the scheduled journey time became 70 minutes, an average speed of 66.2 miles per hour (106.5 km/h). Two years later (1931) the train was again accelerated to an average speed of 69.2 miles per hour (111.4 km/h), and by now had acquired its popular nickname of the "Cheltenham Flyer", although this was never adopted officially.
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