Windsor & Eton Central railway station

Windsor & Eton Central station is one of two terminal stations serving the town of Windsor in Berkshire, England. Although a small part still functions as a railway station, the station structure has largely been converted into a tourist oriented shopping centre, known as Windsor Royal Shopping. It is situated on the High Street, almost immediately opposite Castle Hill, the main public entrance to Windsor Castle.

Originally named simply Windsor, the station was renamed twice: first to Windsor & Eton on 1 June 1904; and then, following Nationalisation, to Windsor & Eton Central on 26 September 1949.

The station is served by a shuttle service of trains from Slough operated by First Great Western and is the terminus of its Windsor Branch. It should not be mistaken for the nearby Windsor & Eton Riverside station, which is the terminus for the South West Trains service from Waterloo.

History

 * See also: the Windsor Branch line

The station opens
It is thought that the branch was built for Queen Victoria's convenience travelling between Windsor Castle and London.

The Windsor Station opened on 8 October 1849, on the completion of the branch line from Slough, but only after considerable opposition from the powers at Eton College, who were convinced that the proximity of a railway would lead the Eton boys astray.

At one time. trains ran to various destinations including Basingstoke and Paddington.

The Metropolitan and District railways
When, in 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground railway, between Paddington and Farringdon Street in the City of London, the Great Western Railway ran regular through services to Windsor from Farringdon (initially these were broad gauge trains, as the original Metropolitan was laid for mixed standard and broad gauges, and, for some months, the engines and coaches were hired from the GWR). By 1865, there were ten trains daily on this route.

Not to be out-done, the Metropolitan District Railway was expanding its services to the west of London as fast as it could. Hence, on 1 March 1883 they started a service to Windsor from Mansion House, using the GWR mainline. These trains were not popular — possibly because of the unsuitability of using four-wheel coaches for the non-stop section between Ealing Broadway and Slough, and possibly because Windsor was too affluent and too far from the City (at the time) to make commuting an attractive proposition. The service was discontinued on 30 September 1885.

The structure
The station is approached by a 2035-yard brick viaduct and Windsor Railway Bridge, Brunel's oldest surviving railway bridge. The original building was little more than a glorified train shed. This was completely rebuilt by the GWR for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, with a much grander frontage and an interior reminiscent of Paddington. Two island platforms and a bay on the south side were provided.

The goods yard
To the north of the station, a large goods yard was laid out between the station and the River Thames at 'ground level'. Since the station was built on a viaduct at the same height as the Castle, the yard had to be reached by a steep incline, which limited the number of wagons that could be transferred to and from the sidings in one go. In addition to serving the populace of Windsor and surrounding area, the yard provided a connection to Windsor Gas Works; a siding was laid through one of the bridge arches in order to supply the works with loads of coal, and remove loads of coke and tar.

Decline
On 17 November 1968 platforms 3 and 4 were taken out of use, and on 5 September 1969 platform 2 was also decommissioned. Later on, the remaining platform was also truncated, twice — at each rebuild of the station.

The Tussauds years
In 1982 British Rail and Madame Tussauds restored the station, creating an exhibition called Royalty and Railways. (It was later renamed Royalty and Empire). A full-size replica steam engine The Queen was built at Swindon Works, and this was combined with an ex-LBSCR tender (in later life, a sludge tanker at Guildford loco depot) and a couple of Pullman carriages, to form a replica of the Royal Train — a major feature of the attraction.

The exhibition closed in the late 1990s, and almost all of the exhibits were taken away. Locomotive The Queen was too expensive to remove, and so, rather than being cut up, it was instead incorporated as a feature of a restaurant on the concourse. The tender — the only original (and historic) part of the replica engine — was sold to a scrap dealer and cut up, although the springs and axleboxes were salvaged for use in the replica LBSCR Atlantic project at the Bluebell Railway, and part of one side was rescued by the Slough & Windsor Railway Society, where it is now on display.

The station today
After the exhibition closed in the 1990s, the station was turned into a shopping complex called Windsor Royal Shopping. The single platform was truncated still further, and can now handle no more than a three-coach train.

When freight services were stopped in the 1960s, the goods yard and incline were removed. The yard is now a coach park, but on the side of the viaduct it is still possible to see where the incline was sited.

In film
Being within close proximity of Pinewood Studios, Central station was extensively used in Carry On Loving, one of the Carry On films. The film was released in 1970, at which time much of the original station was still intact. In the opening sequence, the station doubles as 'Much-Snogging-On-The-Green', where Terry Scott's character boards a British Rail DMU. Later in the film, the taxi rank and approaches to the station are used as Sidney Bliss (Sid James) boards a taxi after being followed into the toilets by Charles Hawtrey in disguise.

Services
Windsor & Eton Central station is served by a First Great Western operated shuttle service from Slough station. At Slough, connection is made with the same company's stopping and semi-fast commuter services between London Paddington and Reading. The shuttle service runs every 20 minutes. The journey to or from Slough takes 6 minutes, and typical journey times to Reading and Paddington are 20 and 30 minutes respectively.