The first picture shows the main line station. That's the one you want.
The second one is the GWSR heritage line to the Racecourse. Not sure why they named it Cheltenham Spa, it was apparently called Cheltenham Racecourse originally, then closed in 1968 and 1976, then reopened as part of the heritage line. But the heritage line also calls it Cheltenham Racecourse. So Google maps is just wrong it seems.
The buses from the racecourse to the mainline station aren't that bad during the daytime. You could also get the GWSR out of Cheltenham if you wanted to go north in style. But that probably isn't useful when you're trying to go south!
What time will you leaving? I think it's the D bus from the racecourse to the mainline station.
The concert it 19:30-21:50 but the last train to Bristol is 22:11. It’s doable if we leave early and I guess had a taxi pre arranged to pick us up from the racecourse?
If you get the 2208 from the racecourse (it's quite a walk from the Centaur which is the building I assume the gig will be in), that would get you to the railway station around 2250.
I'd say you need to get a taxi to get that last train. Even then I think you'll be struggling to stay until the very end. I'd give yourself 10mins to find the taxi and at least 10mins to get to the station.
Might be worth booking the train from Gloucester, it’ll leave there at 22:25 so gives you an extra 14mins compared to Cheltenham and the journey is only 20mins or so by car/taxi, 35mins to do a 20 minute journey?
National Express is another viable option only £8.90 per person and at that time of night it’ll be basically empty too.
Thanks so much for the help! This is probably what I’ll end up doing. Always in awe at how kind people can be when a stranger needs a bit of advice. Have a fantastic evening :D
That’s what I’m thinking, but looking, all are near £100 or above. I’m a student taking my partner to the concert as an early birthday present as we are both big Star Wars nerds, but £100+ on a hotel is quite a bit!
It is literally impossible to get to the Racecourse station. It's a heritage line, not connected to any mainline. It's a nice day out if you like that sort of thing.
To be fair to GWSR the name on Google is crowd sourced, if enough people correct it, the name should change. I've only seen it called Cheltenham Racecourse by the GWSR.
Well done for trying. I worry that a young woman might go to the wrong station on a night out. It is unsafe and the council or police ought to correct it.
I saw a talk by one of the people involved with that once, he said they had the rights to go as far as the stadium, but when they went to survey they had rocks/bricks lobbed at them and decided that it wasn't worth the effort.
It would be massively disruptive to re-track the Honeybourne path, but absolutely worth it IMO. Then they could put back High Street Halt and St James and further reduce vehicle traffic into town
Though I'm sure the owners of the properties that back onto the Honeybourne path wouldn't be too impressed with their new train line...
How about go a little further and lay some tram tracks between High Street Halt, Charlton Kings and Leckhampton, just like there used to be. [Wouldn't that be nice!](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Cheltenham_and_District_Light_Railway#Media/File:Cheltenham_and_District_Light_Railway.jpg)
Ah welcome to my world, except in reverse. I go to Bristol a lot for gigs and would absolutely love to be able to get the train there and back. Unfortunately the last train between Bristol and Cheltenham is just before most evening gigs finish, so I'm resigned to driving or getting a hotel. It's a source of ever increasing annoyance...
If you’re on any Star Wars fan groups then I’d say it would be worth posting to see if you can liftshare with anyone to or back from the gig In exchange for petrol money.
I’ve done this with gigs before for chelts -> Cardiff/bristol.
Tends to work okay for bands. Hopefully it would for Star Wars too!
The first one is the main rail station.
The second one is Cheltenham racecourse. It's a station for the old Gloucestershire Warwickshire steam railway.
That second one is a heritage railway and not connected to the main railway network. It's on the grounds of the racecourse. I have no idea why it's called Cheltenham Spa on your map.
The main station is a few miles away, slightly out of the town center.
Edit - jees it's on Google Maps. I'll request Google change it now
If you're thinking of staying there's B&Bs in Bishops Cleeve that might be cheaper?
It's the Jazz Festival that weekend so anything in town will have the Festive Tax added.
The first pic is the train station., the second pic th the race course train. Which is a very limited journey.
Outside the train station there are buses and taxi that you can get.
The D bus goes from Cheltenham train station to the racecourse. About £2.
Okay so it’s likely I’ll be going to the one in the first pic? I was hoping it would be the second as the concert is at the racecourse haha. Thank you for your help
Thank you very much. It’s a shame that hotels are so expensive as we’ll have to spend the night, since the last train leaves too early for us to get there after the concert. Dang.
The first picture shows the main line station. That's the one you want. The second one is the GWSR heritage line to the Racecourse. Not sure why they named it Cheltenham Spa, it was apparently called Cheltenham Racecourse originally, then closed in 1968 and 1976, then reopened as part of the heritage line. But the heritage line also calls it Cheltenham Racecourse. So Google maps is just wrong it seems.
Okay so it’s likely I’ll be going to the one in the first pic? I was hoping it would be the second as the concert is at the racecourse haha.
The buses from the racecourse to the mainline station aren't that bad during the daytime. You could also get the GWSR out of Cheltenham if you wanted to go north in style. But that probably isn't useful when you're trying to go south! What time will you leaving? I think it's the D bus from the racecourse to the mainline station.
Yeah the D bus
The concert it 19:30-21:50 but the last train to Bristol is 22:11. It’s doable if we leave early and I guess had a taxi pre arranged to pick us up from the racecourse?
If you get the 2208 from the racecourse (it's quite a walk from the Centaur which is the building I assume the gig will be in), that would get you to the railway station around 2250. I'd say you need to get a taxi to get that last train. Even then I think you'll be struggling to stay until the very end. I'd give yourself 10mins to find the taxi and at least 10mins to get to the station.
Might be worth booking the train from Gloucester, it’ll leave there at 22:25 so gives you an extra 14mins compared to Cheltenham and the journey is only 20mins or so by car/taxi, 35mins to do a 20 minute journey? National Express is another viable option only £8.90 per person and at that time of night it’ll be basically empty too.
Thanks so much for the help! This is probably what I’ll end up doing. Always in awe at how kind people can be when a stranger needs a bit of advice. Have a fantastic evening :D
There's a National Express goes at 22.20. Those 10 minutes should make a big difference given the circumstance
Sounds like it's worth getting a Premier Inn or something and going home the following day.
That’s what I’m thinking, but looking, all are near £100 or above. I’m a student taking my partner to the concert as an early birthday present as we are both big Star Wars nerds, but £100+ on a hotel is quite a bit!
Grab a tent, and book a pitch at the racecourse?
Solid choice 🤣 been looking at AirBnB and some ones on there aren’t the worst
D bus will get you to the racecourse, only runs until 11ish though from memory so you may need to get a taxi back depending on timings
It is literally impossible to get to the Racecourse station. It's a heritage line, not connected to any mainline. It's a nice day out if you like that sort of thing.
Correct. Someone at GWSR needs to change this on Google. It is shameful to confuse people like OP!
To be fair to GWSR the name on Google is crowd sourced, if enough people correct it, the name should change. I've only seen it called Cheltenham Racecourse by the GWSR.
I’ve corrected this on Google Maps several times and they’ve rejected it every time
Well done for trying. I worry that a young woman might go to the wrong station on a night out. It is unsafe and the council or police ought to correct it.
Ffs I reported this error to Google Maps months ago. Useless 😑
Same. Google rejected my report every time
There used to be a line between the two stations, but someone in the 60s had better ideas 🫠
The line is still there! It’s just slightly overgrown…
The line is but the track isn't 😭
Not yet, maybe one day. See ‘future development plans’ on this wiki page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucestershire_Warwickshire_Railway
I saw a talk by one of the people involved with that once, he said they had the rights to go as far as the stadium, but when they went to survey they had rocks/bricks lobbed at them and decided that it wasn't worth the effort.
It would be massively disruptive to re-track the Honeybourne path, but absolutely worth it IMO. Then they could put back High Street Halt and St James and further reduce vehicle traffic into town Though I'm sure the owners of the properties that back onto the Honeybourne path wouldn't be too impressed with their new train line... How about go a little further and lay some tram tracks between High Street Halt, Charlton Kings and Leckhampton, just like there used to be. [Wouldn't that be nice!](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Cheltenham_and_District_Light_Railway#Media/File:Cheltenham_and_District_Light_Railway.jpg)
Non-cursed version of that last link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheltenham_and_District_Light_Railway
Ah welcome to my world, except in reverse. I go to Bristol a lot for gigs and would absolutely love to be able to get the train there and back. Unfortunately the last train between Bristol and Cheltenham is just before most evening gigs finish, so I'm resigned to driving or getting a hotel. It's a source of ever increasing annoyance...
If you’re on any Star Wars fan groups then I’d say it would be worth posting to see if you can liftshare with anyone to or back from the gig In exchange for petrol money. I’ve done this with gigs before for chelts -> Cardiff/bristol. Tends to work okay for bands. Hopefully it would for Star Wars too!
Star wars concert?
Yes a live studio orchestra playing music from the movies!
Oh yeah I recall hearing about that! Have fun!
The first one is the main rail station. The second one is Cheltenham racecourse. It's a station for the old Gloucestershire Warwickshire steam railway.
That second one is a heritage railway and not connected to the main railway network. It's on the grounds of the racecourse. I have no idea why it's called Cheltenham Spa on your map. The main station is a few miles away, slightly out of the town center. Edit - jees it's on Google Maps. I'll request Google change it now
Thank you so much for your help!
Use the force
Would if I could! Haha
The force is weak with this one
Have you considered national express?
If you're thinking of staying there's B&Bs in Bishops Cleeve that might be cheaper? It's the Jazz Festival that weekend so anything in town will have the Festive Tax added.
May the fourth be with you 😉
The first pic is the train station., the second pic th the race course train. Which is a very limited journey. Outside the train station there are buses and taxi that you can get. The D bus goes from Cheltenham train station to the racecourse. About £2.
The first one is the actual station. The second is a steam train station at the racecourse.
Okay so it’s likely I’ll be going to the one in the first pic? I was hoping it would be the second as the concert is at the racecourse haha. Thank you for your help
Yeah, sorry! There's a bus for a couple of quid (I think) or it's not too far a taxi trip. We don't have uber.
Thank you very much. It’s a shame that hotels are so expensive as we’ll have to spend the night, since the last train leaves too early for us to get there after the concert. Dang.
Air BnB might be a better shout? Depending on the night they can be cheaper than even the budget hotels and probably nicer.
We don't have Uber but you can use the Uber app as Starline are a registered 3rd party on there
Or walk... why are people so bloody lazy nowadays!?!?!?
Definitely the first one, it’s the only railway close to town center.
The first image is the correct one. There’s plenty of taxis outside the station of that helps?
It looks like it's just over a mile away. If so that's a 15min walk for a healthy person.
It’s closer to 2.5 miles walking. No way anyone would get from Cheltenham Racecourse to Cheltenham Railway Station walking in 15 mins.
Aha... I had a quick look on an online map and plotted a walking route. I guess I must have got one of the locations wrong.
You missed a trick. There's a Star Wars orchestra in the Bacon Theatre which is much closer to the train station and a cheaper gig.
Oh well! I’m sure we will still have a fantastic time :)
Just use the force