IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Horton Road, GLOUCESTER, GL1 3QA

Possibly a former pin factory of 1897. Now home to the Gloucester and District Irish Club.

View eastward, towards Cheltenham, also Birmingham and the North on both the ex-GW and ex-Midland routes (shared to Cheltenham Lansdown Junction); to the right is curving the ex-GW loop to Gloucester South Junction, Swindon, Bristol etc.

View eastwards, towards Cheltenham, Birmingham etc. (left) and the loop to Gloucester South Junction, Swindon and Bristol etc. (right): the Class H freight is on the southbound Slow line and crossing the Loop. The locomotive is Collett '5205' class 2-8-0T No. 5230 (built 6/24, withdrawn 7/64). (For route details, see other scenes at this location).

View NE, towards Cheltenham, Birmingham etc.; ex-GWR & Midland Joint main lines from Cheltenham, Birmingham etc., joining the ex-GWR main line from Swindon, London, Bristol etc. The 'Cornishman' was 09.00 from Wolverhampton (Low Level) via Birmingham (Snow Hill), Stratford-on-Avon, Cheltenham (Malvern Road) to Penzance via Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth; for a few years around this time (1962) it came into Gloucester (Eastgate) and took the ex-Midland loop to rejoin its earlier route at Tuffley Junction. After Summer 1962 the name 'Cornishman' was transferred to a Sheffield (Bradford from 1967) - Penzance service running down to Bristol by the ex-Midland main line; after closure of the Eastgate loop this and all other trains on the NE - SW route had to reverse at Gloucester Central. The locomotive on this occasion was 4-6-0 No. 7026 'Tenby Castle' (built 8/49, withdrawn 10/64).

View NW towards Gloucester Central station at the busy road crossing and railway junction next to the ex-GWR Horton Road Shed. The 12.35 for Cheltenham St James is headed by '5101' class 2-6-2T no. 5105 (built 11/29, withdrawn 10/58).

People wait for a train to pass at the Horton Road level crossing east of Gloucester station. Photographed at 19:29 BST on the evening of a fine summer day. The building in the background is the Gloucestershire Irish Club.

View westward, towards Bristol (left) and the Great Western main line to South Wales (right). At this critical and busy junction between the main lines of the ex-Midland (Birmingham - Bristol) and ex-GW (Swindon/Birmingham - South Wales), there was a busy road level-crossing: constant shunting movements as well as main line trains kept two men occupied continuously working the gates and controlling the motor and pedestrian traffic - but it was a splendid place for the Train-Watcher. On the right is the ex-GW Horton Road Locomotive Depot, from which a small 0-6-0 Diesel shunter is emerging. Gloucester Cathedral can be glimpsed in the left background: the ex-LMS Eastgate Station was off the left and the ex-GW Central Station straight ahead. The engine shunting is LMS 3F 0-6-0T No. 47417.

View northward at the busy Tramway Junction. The locomotive is Collett 56XX class 0-6-2T no. 5697 (built 1/27, withdrawn 4/63).

A new First County Lunatic Asylum Chapel (later Horton Road Hospital Chapel) was built in Horton Road in 1873. The chapel remained in use until the early 1980's when it was converted into offices. Now part of the Chapel House Care Centre. The cathedral city and county town of Gloucestershire, Gloucester lies on the River Severn and is linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the river’s estuary. Founded by the Romans in AD 97, the city gained its first charter in 1155. In the Middle Ages there were a large number of monastic establishments including St Peter's Abbey founded in 679 - later Gloucester Cathedral. Until the construction of the Severn Bridge in 1966, Gloucester was the lowest road bridging point on the River Severn. The city has a long association with the aerospace business, including the Gloster Aircraft Company.