The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR) has won the top accolade of the heritage railway movement with the Heritage Railway Association's (HRA) Annual Award. This follows the Ian Allan Independent Railway of the Year Award, won by the GWR in December.

Presented at the HRA's annual awards ceremony in Peterborough, on Saturday 31st January, it recognises 'outstanding contribution to railway preservation'.

The award trophy - a magnificent coat of arms that once decorated the locomotive of the royal train on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway - was accepted by Bob Stark, chairman of the GWR from Dame Margaret Weston DBE, President of the HRA.  The trophy is loaned by the National Railway Museum and will be held by the GWR for a year.

Comments John Jeffrey, chairman of the HRA awards committee: "The GWR was a clear winner this year," he says. "The judges were impressed with the high standard of work put in on the railway's three-mile extension from Gotherington to Cheltenham Racecourse and for restoration of Cheltenham Race Course station itself, which was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in April last year.

"What we thought particularly praiseworthy was that all this was achieved entirely by volunteers. Indeed the railway is entirely volunteer-run which, for a major undertaking like this, is remarkable."

At the award ceremony a delighted Bob Stark said: "This award means an enormous amount to our volunteers and it crowns our best-ever year. That we have been chosen out of hundreds of worthy heritage railway projects by representatives of the preservation movement itself is especially rewarding."

This win represents a remarkable double for the GWR. In December the railway won the Ian Allan Independent Railway of the Year Award. The historic HRA trophy will be on display to the public at Toddington station during the 2004 season.