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Gl;oucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust at Rail Live
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway at ‘Rail Live’
- Stand run by charitable Railway Trust
- Opportunities for industry partnership
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust, the charity that supports the award-winning Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR), is taking a stand at Britain’s largest rail exhibition: Rail Live, Long Marston, 17-18 June 2026.
The railway, which runs 14 miles between Cheltenham and Broadway, is much more than just a heritage railway. It is an operational line that maintains a developing infrastructure complete with signalling, rolling stock, stations, governance, people and skills.
Although largely operated and maintained by volunteers, it is highly professional in the way that it delivers outcomes to the high standards of safety and reliability within the regulatory framework. It works with the rail industry providing testing, operational training and strategic planning opportunities without the inherent access restrictions of the national network.
Industry opportunities include using the GWSR:
- As a learning environment for track, structures (bridges, viaduct, tunnel), signalling, operations, earthworks, rolling stock or governance;
- For innovation and trials for equipment, rolling stock, technology, infrastructure and operational evaluation.
Philip Young, chairman of Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust (GWRT) commented: “This is a real railway offering real opportunities for industry.
“It is a significant contributor to the local tourism economy and one of the region’s leading tourist attractions, operating heritage train services through the Cotswolds. It is constantly developing its offer both for visitors enjoying a day out and to rail organisations looking for opportunities to partner with the railway for a range of training and testing environments.”
Professor John Dora, Chairman of GWSR Plc said: “This railway is comparable with the national network and is similarly regulated. As with national railways, it features stations, continuously-welded and jointed track, major earthworks and drainage, tunnels, bridges and a viaduct, as well as communications and signalling on what was once a main line.
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“The railway’s well-managed volunteer teams are involved with all of this, as well as track and infrastructure renewals; civil engineering; line maintenance and upgrades; bridge, drainage and earthworks management; rolling stock restoration, maintenance and operation; and strategic planning and governance: all to the highest professional assurance standards.”
The railway won the Infrastructure Award at the 2026 Heritage Railway Awards, for its innovative ‘Predict and Prevent’ strategy, a whole-railway asset management approach to infrastructure resilience in the face of climate change.
Added Prof. Dora: “The railway is also interested in hearing of any experienced railway professionals who could volunteer to act as directors, Trust managers, in management and operational roles, as well as strategic advisers and project sponsors.”
For more information visit https://gwsr.com/about/training-and-testing/
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Media contact: Ian Crowder, Press Officer: 07775 566 555 or press.officer@gwsr.com
About the GWST and GWSR:
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) is a heritage railway running 14 miles through glorious Cotswold countryside, between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway. It operates over part of the former Great Western Railway’s main line between the Midlands and Bristol. The link between Stratford-upon-Avon and Cheltenham via Honeybourne opened in 1906 and was closed in 1976, the track and infrastructure being removed in 1979/80 The railway’s volunteers have since 1981 rebuilt the railway, reinstated stations and established locomotive and rolling stock engineering facilities, winning several notable awards for their work. Today it is one of the leading tourist destinations in the Cotswolds carrying well over 100,000 passengers per year. The railway is operated by GWSR Plc and supported by the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust (GWRT), a registered charity. It has over 900 volunteers giving freely of their time in a wide range of operational, engineering, trading and infrastructure roles.
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