Windsor & Eton Central  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The truncated Platform 1 with the towers ofWindsor 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 | ||||
| Platforms | 1 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | WNC | ||||
| Classification | DfT category D | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 8 October 1849 | Opened as Windsor | ||||
| 1 June 1904 | Renamed Windsor & Eton | ||||
| 26 September 1949 | Renamed Windsor & Eton Central | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  1.936 million | ||||
| Interchange |  39,657 | ||||
| 2020/21 | 0.393 million | ||||
| Interchange | 11,536 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.982 million | ||||
| Interchange | 22,209 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 1.580 million | ||||
| Interchange | 31,942 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 1.757 million | ||||
| Interchange | 30,621 | ||||
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| |||||
Windsor & Eton Central station is one of two terminal stations serving the town ofWindsor, Berkshire, England. It is situated on Thames Street, almost immediately opposite Castle Hill, the main public entrance toWindsor Castle. The station is the terminus ofa branch line fromSlough operated byGreat Western Railway.
Originally namedWindsor, the station was renamed twice: first toWindsor & Eton on 1 June 1904; and then toWindsor & Eton Central on 26 September 1949.[1]
A significant portion of the station has been converted into ashopping complex namedWindsor Royal Shopping;[2] a ticket office and truncated platform remain for services on theSlough–Windsor & Eton line.
The station is 400 metres (0.25 mi) from Windsor's other station,Windsor & Eton Riverside, the terminus for services fromLondon Waterloo.
Windsor Station opened on 8 October 1849[1] on the completion of the branch line fromSlough but only after considerable opposition from the leadership atEton College, which was convinced that the proximity of a railway would lead the Eton boys astray.[3]
An extension of the branch was planned in 1871–72 to connect to the south via Dedworth and Ascot. It was planned to diverge west from the viaduct, just to the south of the river bridge. Despite reaching an advanced stage of design and with some property purchased plus the construction of a possible station building, the plans were never completed and were abandoned completely by 1914.[4]
When, in 1863, theMetropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground railway, betweenLondon Paddington andFarringdon Street in theCity of London, theGreat Western Railway ran regular through services to Windsor from Farringdon. Initially these werebroad gauge trains, as the original Metropolitan was laid for mixedstandard and broad gauges and, for some months, the engines and coaches were hired from the GWR. By 1865, there were ten trains daily on the route.[3]
Later theDistrict Railway expanded its services to the west of London. On 1 March 1883, it started a service to Windsor fromMansion House, using the Great Western main line. The trains were not popular, possibly because of the unsuitability of using four-wheel coaches for the non-stop section betweenEaling Broadway and Slough and possibly also because Windsor was both too affluent and too far from the city to make commuting attractive. The service was discontinued on 30 September 1885.[3][5][6][7][8]
The station is approached by a 2,035-yard (1.861 km) brick viaduct andWindsor Railway Bridge, the last surviving wrought iron bridge designed byIsambard Kingdom Brunel.[9] The original building was little more than a glorified train shed. This was completely rebuilt by theGreat Western Railway forQueen 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. A royal waiting room existed on platform 4. Having last been used during the funeral ofGeorge V in January 1936, in 1950 it was converted for use by theBritish Transport Police.[10][11]
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To the north of the station, a large goods yard was laid out between the station and theRiver 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 shortheadshunt, 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 Windsorgas works, receiving loads of coal and removingcoke andtar.
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.
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.
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In 1982British Railways andMadame Tussauds restored the station, creating an exhibition calledRoyalty & Empire (initiallyRoyalty & Railways). The exhibition recalled theDiamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, using displays of wax models and an audio-visual show featuring earlyAudio-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.
A full-size replica steam locomotive,GWR 3031 ClassThe Queen, was built atSteamtown, Carnforth, and this was combined with an exSouth Eastern & Chatham Railwaytender and fittings from a GWR tender. The locomotive'sbogie 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 theRoyal Train. Directly behind the loco was No. 229, a replica coach mounted on an ex-British RailwaysBG 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 inAberporth, Wales.[14]
After leaving the platform, visitors could see the restored royal waiting room with figures ofQueen Victoria and thePrince andPrincess 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 Ascotlandau. More than seventy wax figures of soldiers of 2nd BattalionColdstream 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 locomotiveThe 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 replicaLondon, Brighton & South Coast Railway Atlantic project at theBluebell 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 theMuseum 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.
In 1997,Axa bought the station buildings and enlarged and remodelled them as a shopping complex calledWindsor Royal Shopping.[2] The single platform was truncated still further, and can now handle no more than a four coach train.
TheWindsor Link Railway was a 2009 proposal for a new railway connecting theGreat Western andSouth West Trains franchise areas and potentially linking both toHeathrow Airport. Windsor & Eton Central andWindsor & Eton Riverside railway stations would have been replaced withone through-route station in the Windsor Goswells.
The proposal was rejected by the government in December 2018.[19]
Being not far fromPinewood Studios, Central station was extensively used inCarry On Loving, one of theCarry 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', whereTerry Scott's character boards a British RailDMU. 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 byCharles Hawtrey in disguise.[citation needed]
The station has been used as a location in several other films, includingLease of Life (1954),Two Way Stretch (1960), andThe Lovers! (1973).[20]
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, toReading and London Paddington.[21]
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Great Western Railway | |||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Terminus | Great Western Railway | Line open, station closed | ||
| Historical services | ||||
| Preceding station | LUL | Following station | ||
| Terminus | District line | Slough towardsMansion House | ||
