Broadway Museum exhibition wins Heritage Railway Association Award

Broadway Museum and Art Gallery has won the Heritage Railway Interpretation Award.

The prize is for the ‘Journey through Steam’ exhibition currently running at the museum in partnership with the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway.

The Journey through Steam exhibition was intended to run until May but due to its popularity, its stay has been extended until November, 2023.

Director of the museum, Anona van Lawick, said: “I’m so thrilled that we, the museum and the railway, have won this award and it has been such a joy to curate and host this exhibition and seeing the results of the team’s hard work reflected so positively in our visitors’ comments and smiles as they leave. 

“It fits with the Museum’s ethos perfectly: telling the story of historic Broadway, how the village developed from the earliest settlements, its growth and prosperity built on the wool trade, through growth and decline of the coaching era to the to the present day."

The exhibition's stay has been extended until November, 2023 (Image: Jack Boskett)

The winner of the award was decided by the editor of Heritage Railway, Robin Jones, who added: “I was so impressed by the exhibition and the way it interprets the vital contribution the railway made to the community.

“Using explanations and photographs as well as historic artefacts such as uniforms, signalling equipment, locomotive name and number plates, historic train tickets and much more no-one could be in any doubt about why the railway and the coming of Broadway station, had such an impact on local people and businesses.” 

Journey through Steam tells the story of the building of the Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham Railway and Broadway station.

As road transport improved, the stations closed, including Broadway in 1960, and the line shut completely in 1976.

GWSR then began the long task of rebuilding what was popularly known as the ‘Honeybourne Line’ in 1981.

Broadway Station was rebuilt by GWSR volunteers and reopened in 2018.

GWSR chair Richard Johnson said: “I’m so thrilled for the team that put this imaginative exhibition together. 

"It’s so important that we expand our story beyond simply taking a train ride. 

“When the GWSR was formed in 1981, British Railways had lifted all the track and demolished most of the buildings."

Broadway Railway Station reopened in 2018 (Image: Jack Boskett)

The Journey through Steam exhibition was intended to run until May but due to its popularity, its stay has been extended until November, 2023.

GWSR has also been shortlisted for three other Awards: ‘Young Volunteer’ for the work done on the railway by Alex Caulfield; Environmental Innovation for landscape management of the wildlife corridor which is the railway’s 15-mile route between Cheltenham and Broadway and Marketing Communications. 

The winners will be revealed at the Heritage Railway Association Awards ceremony on March 11 in Birmingham.

The exhibition is open now (Image: Jack Boskett)