The theme of this year’s extremely successful and well-organised Cotswold Festival of Steam was Cheltenham and Gloucester Steam Days, recreating the halcyon days of the 1950s and 1960s over the 14-mile heritage line between Cheltenham and Broadway.
Cheltenham was the meeting place of both the Western and Midland region’s main lines from the West Midlands to Bristol and beyond, while routes from Southampton and Banbury also reached the former Cheltenham St James terminus. The theme recalled local scenes inspired by the huge variety of trains including fast expresses, inter-regional trains from lines long since closed, local workings and freight trains.
From Gloucester, services headed for South Wales, Bristol, the West Country, Swindon and London, and between the two there were once some 300 train movements – both passenger and
