Broadway as it was – and how it will be? The character of a country station epitomised in this 1960 picture of the brick-built Broadway station. The train is a local Cheltenham-Honeybourne Junction local service (known as the ‘Coffee Pot’), a single auto-coach being propelled by 14xx 0-4-2T no. 1420 of Cheltenham. The station closed in 1960 and was soon after bulldozed. The future GWR station could look much like this – although would be much busier! Do you recognise yourself as the lad with a satchel trying to attract the attention of the guard and station master? If so, and you will be in your mid 50s now, let us know and a free train ticket is yours. (Photograher unknown, from a post card. Courtesy of the Railway Archiving Trust)  

After some years of speculation, the GWR has decided not to pursue the option to acquire the former Bourton-on-the-Water station building and move it to Broadway.

The building replaced an earlier structure and was completed in 1936. It is built of smooth Cotswold stone blocks and has a Cotswold stone-tiled roof and has an art-deco style, particularly inside. It is owned by Gloucestershire County Council and has latterly been used for storing road signs and is remarkably complete, although in poor condition. It is the last tangible sign that the Kingham-Cheltenham line, which closed in 1962, once served Bourton-on-the-Water.

The GWR has explored the cost, which is likely to be up to £100,000, and practicality of moving this building as well as considering other options, bearing in mind the future requirements at Broadway.

Explains Malcolm Temple, finance and commercial director of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway: "We are facing considerable costs associated with the northern extension, just one of which is to provide a permanent station building.

"In years to come, it is likely that Broadway will become the railway's principal station and the Bourton building is probably too small to serve these future needs. Apart from the usual station facilities, the new building will need to provide a shop and refreshment rooms."

The railway's favoured option is now to replace the original Broadway station with something similar, but possibly larger, than the original. The main stations on the Honeybourne to Cheltenham route were all built to the same pattern and most, including Broadway, were built of brick (Toddington station is the only original survivor). It is likely that the new building will be constructed using genuine Great Western bricks salvaged from a disused station.

Malcolm adds: "This wasn't an easy decision but given the circumstances, we feel a new building, constructed of real Great Western bricks and to a design similar to the original Broadway station, is the most practical, flexible and cost-effective way forward. At the same time, it is historically appropriate.

"I realise that many people at Bourton have an emotional attachment to their old station and I am sorry that our decision is causing disappointment. But we must put our own future interests and the interests of our members and shareholders first and ensure that the facilities we provide fully provide for the development of our railway.

"But I do hope that a way is found to preserve Bourton station, even if it's moved to a different site elsewhere in the town."

Gloucestershire County Council have closed their Highways depot at Bourton and plan to build a 75-bedroom care home on the site. The station building is at present, earmarked for demolition.