The Midland and South Western Junction Railway

After the Midland Railway had gained the Birmingham and Bristol Company in 1845, the Great Western made it their policy to oppose any north-south project which appeared threatening. Yet three through routes came into being astride its territory:- the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton; the Somerset and Dorset, and the Midland and South Western Junction Railway, all of which eluded the Great Western's grasp.

The Midland and South Western Junction Railway ran from Andover to Andoversford Junction near Cheltenham via Swindon and Cirencester, using Cheltenham Lansdown Station. Despite initial Great Western opposition it secured a link at Rushley Platt on the outskirts of Swindon with the GWR Bristol line. However for the use of this facility the M&SWR had to pay exorbitant terms which even after reduction by arbitration were still a heavy burden. A shuttle service was introduced in February 1882 between the Swindon Town and Junction station, but was withdrawn three years later due to financial losses.

The line from Cheltenham to Swindon was secured by the 1881 Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Act, with authorisation for a branch from Fairford to Cirencester. The branch did not however materialise. despite trouble with tunnel cave-ins and agreeing terms with the Great Western for the use of Lansdown Junction at Cheltenham, the line was opened in 1891 much of it single track. The line branched off the Cheltenham to Banbury line at Andoversford and ran through Chedworth, Cirencester, Cerney and Ashton Keynes, then on to Swindon Town via Blunsden and Rushley Platt. The service given was very much a local one, an average of two trains a day running between Swindon and Cirencester ten years after opening. From the full opening of the line in 1891, three trains per day ran between Andover and Cheltenham, none of them reportedly to time. Indeed when Sam Fay, (later Sir Sam Fay of the Great Central) took charge in 1892 he insisted on punctuality, and this led to a series of complaints from passengers who had missed trains because they had been used to them running twenty minutes after the advertised time. In May 1892 a Southampton to Cheltenham service was introduced, and the following year it carried a through coach to Sheffield. The zenith of this line was the Edwardian age when crack north to south expresses ran cross country giving a credible service between Southampton and the north. The ninety four and three quarter miles between Southampton and Cheltenham were covered in 2hrs 36mins. The Northern terminals were Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield. In 1913 there were six through trains to Andover and one to Swindon. Boat train services also took this route, as did military traffic and the "beer trains" from Burton.

The M&SWJ experimented with a "Road Train" between Fairford and Cirencester. It was an attempt to gauge support for a possible rail link: between the two towns. The "Road Train" consisted of an oil-burning, steam driven motor van capable of carrying up to 3 tons and drawing a trailer for twenty passengers. It ran during the summer months only in 1898 and l899 when it was extended to Lechlade. The following year a horse bus took over the route. This was the first instance of a Railway bus service. Under the Railway Act of 1921 the line was absorbed into the GWR and this came into effect on 1st July 1923. The passenger service between the two Swindon stations was reintroduced in this year. In the early 1930s services began to deteriorate, until on the 6th April 1936, the Great Western introduced a diesel railcar ("Flying Banana") running a circular route on the M&SWJ to Swindon Junction then back to Cheltenham on the Stroud and Gloucester line. It provided a fast service, reaching 60 mph in places, but was soon withdrawn due to the lack of passengers. The line came back into its own during the Second World War when it was used extensively for troop and munitions movement.

Under British Railway's ownership the line became Western and Southern Region joint staffed, and the Southern Region locomotives ran once again into Cheltenham from Southampton. In 1958 the one Southampton train ran into St James station. Closure occurred in 1961 but the Swindon to Cirencester section remained open to goods until 1964.

Although it sat in the heart of its territory, the line can have had little effect on the revenue of the GWR. There was no reason to believe that the intermediate stations attracted much London traffic as the Swindon Station shuttle was so little used.