Gold Cup special on the Cotswold Line

Cheltenham’s famous Gold Cup on Friday, 14 March 2025 saw a total of four extra GWR services run from London Paddington via Stroud and the Golden Valley route, while for really well-heeled punters there was the luxury Northern Belle Pullman service that ran via the Cotswold Line to Evesham.

That made the perfect excuse to take a trip ahead of the special as far as Moreton-in-Marsh, for the chance to photograph the Class 57-powered train passing some of the semaphore signals, before heading on to Honeybourne to capture the empty stock as it arrived in the sidings there.

Train 1Z53 had left Paddington at 08.45 and was scheduled to pass through the charming Cotswold town at 10.57 before depositing its passengers in Evesham at 11.11. From there they would be taken to nearby Broadway to join a steam-hauled train on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) for the 16-mile trip to Cheltenham Racecourse station.

While some people have complained about the recent rise in national rail fares, that was clearly not a problem in the case of 1Z53, where there was a “basic” fare of £699, or £799 including Club Enclosure admission to the racecourse, and champagne add-ons that could have put another £195 on the basic ticket price. These eye-wateringly expensive fares had not put race-goers off and the train was a sell-out.

As I have written in previous features, Moreton-in-Marsh is a delightful place to watch train, with two great vantage points being the London Road (A44) over-bridge just south of the station and a foot crossing of the line that is half a mile south of the station and close to down outer home signal MM2.

There are a total of seven semaphores controlled from the 40-lever frame within the 1883 Great Western Railway signal box at Moreton-in-Marsh, and having decided to head for the foot crossing to capture the Northern Belle meant the chance to see it passing both MM2 and then inner home signal MM3, as it approached the station.

Semaphores controlling the up direction are starter MM37 and section signal MM36, the southernmost up signal that can also be seen from the foot crossing. The two other semaphore arms are MM10 controlling exit from a refuge siding on the down side of the line and MM27, which allows up trains to depart from down platform 1.

Taking a ten-minute trip west to Honeybourne, my aim was to now capture the Northern Belle empty stock as it arrived in the sidings at 11.46, then would be spending the day here for cleaning and re-stocking, before heading on back to Evesham to form 1Z54 for London Paddington, departing at 20.46 and due to reach Paddington at 23.25 – it actually arrived at 22.59.

Honeybourne might one day become the interchange for race-goers, if the GWSR can ever re-build the missing 5-mile link between here and Broadway, but for now remains a pleasant and increasingly busy calling point on the Cotswold Line, and junction for a 3-mile rail link to the important Long Marston rail storage site.

Returning to Moreton-in-Marsh aboard a delayed service (1P26) for Paddington meant a chance to photograph that service and the next down train (1W21) departing the station and passing the semaphore starting signals MM37 (up) and MM5 (down direction).

Having time to kill before my return train to Reading meant the chance to take a short walk to Moreton’s attractive High Street and pay another visit to the Black Bear Inn, where I am pleased to say that the Donnington BB (3,6%/£4.20 a pint) was as good as ever.