Windsor & Eton Central railway station

Last updated

Windsor & Eton Central
National Rail logo.svg
Windsorcentral.jpg
The truncated Platform 1 with the towers of Windsor Castle visible in the background
General information
Location Windsor
Windsor and Maidenhead
England
Grid reference SU966769
Owned by Network Rail
Managed by Great Western Railway
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeWNC
Classification DfT category D
History
Original company Great Western Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
8 October 1849Opened as Windsor
1 June 1904Renamed Windsor & Eton
26 September 1949Renamed Windsor & Eton Central
Passengers
2018/19Increase2.svg 2.024 million
 Interchange Increase2.svg 38,800
Windsor & Eton Central railway station
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Slough to Windsor & Eton Line
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River Thames (Windsor Railway Bridge)
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Headshunt
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Goods yard [12]
lifted 1960s
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Incline
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Central station
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Gas Works
demolished 1980s

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 somewhat higher up, the yard had to be reached by a steep incline built against the side of the viaduct. It sloped down towards a short headshunt, near the river bridge, which allowed switchback access to the yard sidings. This arrangement 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 depot for Windsor gas works, receiving loads of coal and removing coke and tar.

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

Decline

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

Royalty & Empire

In 1982 British Railways and Madame Tussauds restored the station, creating an exhibition called Royalty & Empire (initially Royalty & Railways). The exhibition recalled the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, using displays of wax models and an audio-visual show featuring early Audio-Animatronic figures.

After entering the exhibition via the ticket office, visitors would be greeted by a scene on the platform depicting the arrival of the Royal Train, complete with figures of station staff and a full size replica train.

3041 The Queen, replica Dean Single 3041 The Queen.jpg
3041 The Queen, replica Dean Single

A full-size replica steam locomotive GWR 3031 Class named The Queen was built at Steamtown, Carnforth, and this was combined with an ex South Eastern & Chatham Railway tender and fittings from a GWR tender. The locomotive's bogie and rear wheels are also from another GWR tender, but the large driving wheels are only half complete (the lower half) and they do not sit directly on the rails. This allowed the locomotive to be rolled into position when the exhibition was built. The replica was completed in December 1982 and delivered by road in January 1983. Two mobile cranes hoisted it onto the viaduct, then it was rolled into position on temporary track. [13] Tussaud's fitted smoke and steam generators so that steam was emitted from the cab, whistles and safety valves, and smoke from the chimney. A sound unit was also fitted.

Two carriages were used to form a replica of the Royal Train. Directly behind the loco was No. 229, a replica coach mounted on an ex-British Railways BG Full Brake underframe and containing waxwork figures of various members of the Royal Family. The second coach was the original Royal Day Saloon No. 9002 that was rescued for the exhibition from a cliff top in Aberporth, Wales. [14]

Royal Parade tableau Royalty & Empire.jpg
Royal Parade tableau

After leaving the platform, visitors could see the restored royal waiting room with figures of Queen Victoria and the Prince and Princess of Wales, before entering 'The Royal Parade' area. A walkway was constructed up and around the canopy, allowing visitors to view figures of the royal party exiting the waiting room and the queen boarding her Ascot landau. Over seventy wax figures of 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards formed part of this scene. [15]

The last part of the exhibit was the 'Sixty Glorious Years' audio-visual show. The show outlined the growth of Great Britain using slides and projections, before the screen sank to reveal moving animatronic figures of some of the great personalities of the Victorian age, including Queen Victoria herself. [16]

The exhibition closed in the late 1990s and almost all of the exhibits were taken away. The locomotive The Queen was too expensive to remove, so, rather than being cut up, it was incorporated as a feature of a restaurant on the concourse where it remains today. [17] 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 London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Atlantic project at the Bluebell Railway, and part of one side was rescued by the Slough and Windsor Railway Society, where it is now on display. The original Royal Saloon No. 9002 is preserved at the Museum of the Great Western Railway. [18] It is not known what happened to the replica coach. The Royal Waiting Room is part of a restaurant on the concourse.

Present day

The station as a shopping mall Windsor-central-stn-shops.jpg
The station as a shopping mall

In 1997, Axa bought the station buildings and enlarged and remodelled them as a shopping complex called Windsor Royal Shopping. [1] The single platform was truncated still further, and can now handle no more than a four coach train.

The Windsor Link Railway was a 2009 proposal for a new railway connecting the Great Western and South West Trains franchise areas and potentially linking both to Heathrow Airport. Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor & Eton Riverside railway stations would have been replaced with one through-route station in the Windsor Goswells.

The proposal was rejected by the government in December 2018. [19]

Being not far from 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.

Railway scenes in the Robert Donat film Lease of Life (1954) were filmed at Windsor & Eton Central station.

The interior of the station was used for scenes in the 1973 Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox film The Lovers! . [20]

Services

Windsor & Eton Central station is served by a Great Western Railway operated shuttle service from Slough. The journey takes six minutes each way, and return trips run every 20 minutes. At Slough, there are semi-fast and stopping services, operated by Great Western Railway and the Elizabeth line respectively, to Reading and London Paddington. [21]

Preceding station National Rail logo.svg National Rail Following station
Terminus  Great Western Railway
Windsor branch
  Slough
Historical railways
Preceding station Underground no-text.svg London Underground Following station
Terminus District line Slough
towards Mansion House
Terminus  Great Western Railway
Windsor branch
  Chalvey Halt
Line open, station closed

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References

  1. 1 2 "Centre Information". Windsor Royal Shopping. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 252. ISBN   1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. 1 2 3 Wolmar, Christian. The Subterranean Railway. ISBN   1-84354-023-1.
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  9. Design, Green Jersey Web. "Heritage Locations - South East - Berkshire - Windsor Railway Bridge". www.transportheritage.com. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  10. Royal Waiting Rooms, Windsor The Railway Magazine issue 595 November 1950 page 722
  11. Windsor Royal waiting-room condemned The Railway Magazine issue 747 July 1963 page 512
  12. "Britain from Above". English Heritage. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  13. George, Hinchcliffe (March 1983). Slater, John (ed.). "Gentlemen - 'The Queen'". The Railway Magazine . Vol. 129, no. 983. Sutton: IPC Transport Press. pp. 91–92. ISSN   0033-8923.
  14. Slater, John, ed. (March 1983). "Windsor's Royal Welcome". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 129, no. 983. Sutton: IPC Transport Press. pp. 88–89. ISSN   0033-8923.
  15. Royalty & Empire. London: Madam Tussauds. pp. 10–11.
  16. Royalty & Empire. London: Madam Tussauds. p. 30.
  17. "Madame Tussauds Royal Train Exhibition at Windsor in 1994". Youtube. BritishRailwayTV. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  18. "Rolling stock". STEAM. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  19. Smale, Katherine (7 December 2018). "Exclusive - Windsor to Heathrow rail scheme 'rejected outright'". New Civil Engineer .
  20. "The Lovers!". ReelStreets.com. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  21. "Buy train tickets and check train times - Great Western Railway". www.gwr.com. Retrieved 11 November 2019.

51°28′59″N0°36′36″W / 51.483°N 0.610°W / 51.483; -0.610