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Great Western Main LineThe Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
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SloughSlough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is served by local services operated by First Great Western from to and intercity services on the Great Western Main Line, the original line of the Great Western Railway...
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ChalveyChalvey is a former village which is now a suburb of Slough in the unitary authority of Slough in Berkshire, England. It was transferred to Berkshire from Buckinghamshire in 1974....
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M4 motorwayThe M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
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Jubilee RiverThe Jubilee River is a hydraulic channel in southern England. It is 11.6 km in length and is on average 45 metres wide. It was constructed in the late 1990s and early 2000s to take overflow from the River Thames and so alleviate flooding to areas in and around the towns of Maidenhead,...
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EtonEton is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The parish also includes the large village of Eton Wick, 2 miles west of the town, and has a population of 4,980. Eton was in Buckinghamshire until...
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River ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
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Windsor Railway BridgeWindsor Railway Bridge is a wrought iron 'bow and string' bridge in Windsor, Berkshire, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It carries the ex-GWR branch line from Slough to Windsor into Windsor and Eton Central station...
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Windsor and Eton CentralWindsor & 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...
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The
Slough to Windsor & Eton Branch Line is a railway line, some two and a half miles long, in
BerkshireBerkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Trains run between {{Rws|Slough}} and {{Rws|Windsor and Eton Central}} stations. The branch is connected at Slough to the
Great Western Main LineThe Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
, but no service trains now use the connection.
Services
A 20 minute service interval in each direction is operated by
First Great WesternFirst Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
using the dedicated bay platform 1 at Slough. Onward rail travel requires a change despite which the 'Western' route is quicker, at some thirty to forty minutes, between Windsor and London Paddington than the
South West TrainsSouth West Trains is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight...
service from {{Rws|Windsor and Eton Riverside}} to London Waterloo via Staines which takes about an hour for the direct, but stopping, journey.
Rolling stock
No First Great Western lines west of {{Rws|Hayes and Harlington}} are
electrifiedRailway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...
and all trains on the Windsor Branch are diesel-powered.
Services are provided by
Class 165The British Rail Class 165 Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple units , originally specified by and built for British Rail, the then United Kingdom state owned railway operator. They were built by BREL at York Works between 1990 and 1992...
and
Class 166The British Rail Class 166 Turbo Express is a fleet of diesel multiple units , originally specified by and built for British Rail, the then United Kingdom state owned railway operator. They were built by ABB at York Works between 1992 and 1993...
2- and 3-car
diesel multiple unitA diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...
s.
In the 1970s and 1980s, 'First Generation' DMUs such as the
Class 117The British Rail Class 117 diesel multiple units were built by Pressed Steel from 1959 to 1961.When first introduced, these three-car units were all based with the similar Class 121 single carriage units on British Railway's Western Region for suburban work out of London Paddington, as well as...
and
Class 121Sixteen Class 121 single-car driving motor vehicles were built from 1960, numbered 55020–55035. These were supplemented by ten trailer vehicles, numbered 56280–56289 . They had a top speed of 70 mph, with slam-doors, and vacuum brakes...
('Bubblecars') were used.
History
The line opened, despite opposition from
Eton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, on 8 October 1849. It was built as a broad gauge line but
dual gaugeA dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
track was laid in 1862.
For a period from 1863,
Metropolitan RailwayThe Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...
trains served the line. Between 1 March 1883 and 30 September 1885 the branch was also served by the
Metropolitan District RailwayThe District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
.
The Junction
The junction at Slough was a triangular junction connecting to the mainline in both eastbound (London) and westbound (Reading) directions. It is not known whether it was used for turning complete trains; a turntable was available at Slough Shed for turning locomotives up to a certain maximum length.{{Clarify|date=February 2009}} The layout of the junction was complicated as the east curve ran between sidings of the Slough Locomotive Shed (BR shed code 81B).
Most service trains accessed Slough station by the eastern chord, which remains in use. It is double track, with the "outer" track to the bay platform used by branch-line trains at Slough, and the "inner" track, connected to the mainline, used by ECS (empty stock) workings, but rarely by timetabled traffic.
The western chord, known as the "Royal" or "Queen's" Curve, was little used except by excursion traffic and royal trains, (whence its nickname}. It was closed through lack of use in 1964, and was used for a time to stable carriages, after which the track was lifted.
All land west of the eastern chord was sold for housing, and there is little evidence of the junction at the site now although aerial photographs show the curving line of the western tracks.
Chalvey Halt
The only intermediate stop on the branch line was {{stnlnk|Chalvey Halt}}, 47
chainsA chain is a unit of length; it measures 66 feet or 22 yards or 100 links . There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains...
(945 m) south of Bath Road Junction. The halt was authorised on 24 February 1929, at an estimated cost of £840, and opened on 6 May 1929. It comprised both "up" and "down" platforms, built from heavy timbers to the standard GWR design for halt platforms. There were also waiting shelters, and steps down to the nearby road.
After only 14 months of operation, Chalvey Halt closed on 7 July 1930. A note in the GW Engineer's Department minutes of 19 October 1930, records that the materials from Chalvey Halt had been used to build {{Rws|Cashes Green Halt}} on the
GloucesterGloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
to
SwindonSwindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
"
Golden Valley LineThe Golden Valley Line is a railway line from Swindon to Cheltenham in the UK.The line was originally built as the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway in the 1840s...
", between {{Rws|Stroud}} and {{Rws|Stonehouse}}. The short siding beside the halt was used by the
MoDThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, until it became redundant in 1944 and was lifted shortly afterwards. A further track section just down line from Slough was cut back.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}}
External links
{{Commons category|Slough to Windsor Line|
Slough to Windsor & Eton Line|position=left}}
{{Railway lines in South East England}}
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