Slough to Windsor & Eton Line
| Slough-Windsor & Eton Line |
| Stations (from north to south) |
The Slough to Windsor & Eton Branch Line is a short railway line between the towns of Slough and Windsor in Berkshire, England. Trains run from a dedicated bay platform at Slough to Windsor and Eton Central Station. At Slough, the branch is connected to the Great Western Main Line, but no service trains currently use this connection.
Contents
Services
The Slough to Windsor & Eton Branch Line is a short railway line from the Great Western Main Line at Slough to Windsor and Eton Central Station at Windsor in Berkshire, England. Trains along this line are operated by First Great Western and run every 30 minutes in each direction for most of the day, increasing to roughly every 20 minutes in the peaks.
All services terminate at Slough and passengers wishing to travel to onward stations should change there. Despite the need to change, passengers taking this 'Western' route enjoy considerably faster journey times between Windsor and London than those using the 'Southern' line between Windsor and Eton Riverside and London Waterloo (between 30-40 minutes compared almost an hour's duration for the direct, but stopping, South West Trains service via Staines). Trains along this line are operated by First Great Western and run every 30 minutes in each direction for most of the day, increasing to roughly every 20 minutes during peak periods.
Rolling Stock
As with all other First Great Western railways west of Hayes and Harlington railway station, the Windsor Branch is not electrified and all trains are diesel-powered.
Services are currently provided using Class 165 and Class 166 2- and 3-car diesel multiple units.
In the 1970s and 1980s, 'First Generation' DMUs like the Class 117 and Class 121 ('Bubblecars') were used.
Like the rest of the Western Region, the Windsor Branch has not (yet) been electrified and all trains are diesel-powered.
Services are currently provided using Class 165 and Class 166 2- and 3-car diesel multiple units.
In the 1970s and 1980s, 'First Generation' DMUs like the Class 117 and Class 121 ('Bubblecars') were used.
History
The line opened, despite opposition from Eton College, on 8 October 1849. It was built as a broad gauge line but dual gauge track was laid in 1862.[1]
For a period from 1863, Metropolitan Railway trains served the line. Between 1 March 1883 and 30 September 1885 the branch was also served by the Metropolitan District Railway.
An intermediate halt was opened in Chalvey in 1929, but closed in 1930[2].
Chalvey Halt
There was only ever one intermediate stop on the branch line, a halt in Chalvey,[3] [4] 47 chains (945 m) south of Bath Road Junction.[5] The appropriately named Chalvey 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. Also provided were waiting shelters, and steps down to a nearby road.[6]
After only fourteen months of operation, the 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 Cashes Green Halt, on the Gloucester to Swindon "Golden Valley Line", between Stroud and Stonehouse.[7] The short siding beside the halt was utilized by the MOD in World War 2, until it was made redundant in 1944 and lifted shortly afterwards and another one just down line from Slough was cut back.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ Windsor Branch workings in the Postwar Years, abstracts from Great Western Railway Journal Volume 4. Accessed 10 February 2007
- ↑ p53, Around Slough in Old Photographs, Judith Hunter & Karen Hunter, Alan Sutton Publishing 1992, p69, The Changing Face of Slough, Slough Museum, Breedon Books, 2003
- ↑ Around Slough in Old Photographs, p53, Judith Hunter & Karen Hunter, Alan Sutton Publishing (1992)
- ↑ The Changing Face of Slough, p69, Slough Museum, Breedon Books (2003)
- ↑ Quayle, H.I.; Stanley C. Jenkins (1980). Branch Lines into the Eighties. David & Charles, pp30-32. ISBN 0-7153-7980-1.
- ↑ Robertson, Kevin (1990). Great Western Railway Halts (Volume One). Irwell Press, p51. ISBN 1-871608-17-1.
- ↑ Robertson, p48
Further reading
- Mitchell, Vic and Smith, Keith (2002). Branch Lines to Henley, Windsor and Marlow. Middleton Press. ISBN 1-901706-77x.
External links
- The Railways at Windsor. The Royal Windsor Web Site. Retrieved on July 15, 2007.
 | This United Kingdom railway-related article is a stub]. You can help Spotting World by expanding it. |
