The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's Cheltenham Racecourse station is to get its missing gates back - thanks to a Community Pride supporting grant from Cheltenham Borough Council.

The £590 award to the "Friends of Cheltenham Racecourse Station" is an important contribution towards the estimated cost of £900 to replace the Great Western Railway crowd control gates that were once attached to crush barriers (that still remain) and through which racegoers in their thousands once passed to catch their trains home.

The new gates, to be made in the original Great Western Railway style, will replace functional but ugly galvanised steel security gates that have been used since before the station was opened by HRH The Princess Royal, in 2003.

Explains Bob Stark, chairman of the GWR's Cheltenham Area Group: "Our volunteers have worked for 15 years to make the once derelict and badly-vandalised Cheltenham Racecourse station a local heritage visitor attraction for Cheltenham and the Cotswolds.  With the restoration of the very rare original timber-built booking office nearing completion, one of the finishing touches is to replace the missing station gates and help complete a historic landmark for the town.

"We're delighted with this award and replacing the gates we're using now with something similar to the originals will significantly improve the appearance and authenticity of the station.  This generous supporting grant and our own fund raising means that we can now press ahead and have the new gates made."

Cheltenham Racecourse station was first opened for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1912 and it was only ever used for important race meetings.  The last race trains from London used the station in 1976 and two years later, the line was officially closed.

Today the station is used every time the Cheltenham to Toddington heritage railway is operating and it is busier than ever.  It is also once again used to take racegoers from Toddington to the Cheltenham Festival in March and the Open in November.

The GWR plans eventually to restore the station's Platform 2 and install a footbridge.