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Original Text (Annotation: EPR000395 / 1059917)
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Cheltenham Spa St James. This station was opened by the GWR on the 9th September 1894. This was the second station here as an earlier one had been built a little to the east, opening on 21st October 1847. St James station closed the 3rd January 1966 and today is the site of a Waitrose Supermarket opening in 2002.
It was from St James that the worlds fastest steam train departed - The Cheltenham Spa Express, or as it was commonly called the Cheltenham Flyer. Although the LNER steam locomotive Mallard broke the world record in July 1938 attaining a speed of 126 mph, this was a one off, whereas The Cheltenham Flyer ran a daily schedule of 77.5 miles between Swindon and London Paddington at an average speed of 71.3mph. With the speed of trains today it doesn't sound much but then (1930's) express trains usually ran at an average of 45-50mph. '