Cheltenham Leckhampton railway station

Cheltenham Leckhampton
Location
Place	Leckhampton
Area	Cheltenham
Grid reference	SO948204
Operations
Original company	Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	GWR
Platforms	2
History
1 June 1881 (1881-06-01)	Opened as Leckhampton
1 May 1906	Renamed Cheltenham South and Leckhampton
April 1952	Renamed Cheltenham Leckhampton
15 October 1962	Closed
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Cheltenham South and Leckhampton railway station in Gloucestershire served the village of Leckhampton and the southern outskirts of Cheltenham Spa.

History

A 1910 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Cheltenham South and Leckhampton

Railways around Cheltenham
Legend to Birmingham Cheltenham Racecourse Cheltenham High Street Halt Cheltenham High Street Cheltenham St James Cheltenham Malvern Road Cheltenham Lansdown Cheltenham Leckhampton to Banbury to Gloucester

The station opened in 1881 with the opening of the Bourton-on-the-Water to Cheltenham section of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway, which was operated and later taken over by the Great Western Railway.

From 1891 the station was also served by trains on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway line, which branched off the Banbury and Cheltenham line at Andoversford and formed a north-south link from Cheltenham to Swindon, Andover and the south coast. The M&SWJR had running rights over the GWR line.

The station was originally called Leckhampton, but acquired its longer name in 1906 when a through express train service between Newcastle upon Tyne and Swansea was routed along the Banbury to Cheltenham line: the express did not pass through any of the main Cheltenham stations, and the renaming of Leckhampton, where it called, was intended to show passengers that there was a Cheltenham service on the train. It was renamed Cheltenham Leckhampton in 1952.

It was a small station with a brick building. The line through it was particularly busy during the First World War and the Second World War with heavy troop and machinery movements on the M&SWJR. Traffic declined rapidly after the Second World War.

The M&SWJR line closed to passenger traffic in September 1961, and services on the Banbury to Cheltenham line were withdrawn on 15 October 1962, when the station closed. The site of the station is now occupied by Leckhampton Place, a residential development, and Liddington Park Industrial Estate; both accessed via Old Station Drive.

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Cheltenham Lansdown Line closed, station open		Great Western Railway Midland and South Western Junction Railway		Charlton Kings Line and station closed
Cheltenham (Malvern Road) Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway

References

• Mike Oakley, Gloucestershire Railway Stations, 2003, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, ISBN 1-904349-24-2, pp41–42