Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road railway station

Cheltenham Spa (Malvern Road)
The station in 1959
Location
Place	Cheltenham
Area	Cheltenham
Grid reference	SO936223
Operations
Original company	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway Western Region of British Railways
Platforms	3
History
30 March 1908 (1908-03-30)	Opened as Cheltenham Malvern Road
1 January 1917	Closed
7 July 1919	Re-opened
1 February 1925	Renamed Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road
3 January 1966	Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

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

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 30 March 1908, as Cheltenham Malvern Road. It was provided so that trains along the line to Stratford-upon-Avon would not have to start and terminate at Cheltenham Spa St. James, 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, 860 feet (260 m) long on the Up side and 702 feet (214 m) 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 at the north end into which local branch railmotor services to and from Honeybourne 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 Cheltenham High Street Halt and Cheltenham Racecourse stations. Stone from the Cleeve Hill quarries was used in the station buildings, while the platform copings were sourced from Pontypridd.

Regular through services from Birmingham to the West of England via Stratford and Malvern Road commenced on 1 July 1908 upon the opening of the North Warwickshire Line. 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 Kingham and Gloucester. By April 1910, The Cornishman express was calling at Malvern Road as part of its Wolverhampton to Penzance service. The suspension of long-distance services for a period towards the end of the First World War 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.