25 Places with two stations: 5 Windsor

Saturday 8th March 2025

1849 was a good year for railways in Windsor. It was the year when both the town’s termini opened. What’s now called Windsor & Eton Central opened first, on 9th October, by the Great Western Railway and what is now, South Western Railway’s station in Datchet Road (now called Windsor & Eton Riverside), began life just two months later on 1st December.

Sadly Great Western’s terminus is now a faint shadow of its former past glory days when Queen Victoria would be among its passengers travelling via Slough into London from what must have been one of the grandest stations outside of central London.

You get a sense of the splendour as you wander around what is now a repurposed retail and restaurant complex…

… but at one time would have welcomed thousands of passengers on steam trains which, once the Metropolitan Railway opened the world’s first underground line between Paddington and Farringdon, provided through journeys from Windsor to Farringdon using the same tracks in central London, including, initially, adapted to take GWR’s original broad gauge.

More than that, for a couple of years in the 1880s, the District Railway also ran a service from Mansion House to Windsor using its tracks to Ealing Broadway and then the Great Western main line.

But that’s enough history, this blog is more about what passengers have available today, and at Windsor and Eton Central, as far as trains are concerned, it’s ‘not a lot’.

An ungated one platform, two ticket vending machine and a contactless card reader and help point affair with an electronic departure screen and that’s about it.

There is a rather splendid retro looking ticket office…

… perhaps trying to ape the style of the original which is still in situ within one of the coffee shop/restaurants in the complex.

Another nod to the past is this rather fine full scale replica locomotive. It’s a copy of GWR Achilles class 4-2-2 locomotive No 3401 used to pull the six new carriages of the Royal Train and withdrawn from service in 1912.

It stands proudly opposite the ticket office becoming the background to many photographs taken by tourists travelling through the station…

… as are the two K6 telephone kiosks alongside the platform.

Passengers travelling to Windsor & Eton Central have to change at Slough on to the shuttle service which runs consistently every 20 minutes from 05:30 to just after midnight (with a slightly later start on Saturdays, 06:00, and Sundays, 08:22).

It’s an intensive operation for the Class 165 train with a six minute journey time between Windsor and Slough and a four minute turn around at each end.

Just enough time for the driver and guard to walk from one end of the train to the other and get the many passengers who use the service in the peak tourist season off and a fresh train load boarded at either end.

As you can see, a footpath runs alongside the platform which is at an elevated level and gives convenient access to a car park at a lower level.

It takes less than 10 minutes to walk from Windsor & Eton Central around the perimeter of the famous Castle on Thames Street to the town’s other station, Windsor & Eton Riverside.

As its name implies, this station is sited at a lower level just a stone’s throw from the River Thames.

It’s another station without a totem pole and sign, although it does have a nice double arrow and name plate on the outside of the building so there’s no doubting this is where trains depart.

Like its compatriot, much of the building has been repurposed to other activities with the front central part of the building now a coffee shop and ‘live’ music venue open between Thursday and Sunday evenings …

… with new offices added to the northern facade.

The southern boundary of the station (above) with its rather tall brick wall continues for around 150 yards incorporating a number of double doors from platform 2…

… which must have been used at one time for various comings and goings.

The lighting on the platform by these doors is rather distinctive and attractive…

…as are the smart floor tiles on the concourse…

… a coffee kiosk…

…a five bay gateline and two ticket machines (and contactless also now available).

There’s a one window ticket office located in the narrow access corridor…

… to and from the street.

South Western Railway operates a half hourly service via Staines, Feltham, Twickenham and Richmond to Clapham Junction and Waterloo from the station’s two platforms. The first train leaves at 05:53 (Sundays 07:01) with the last train from Waterloo arriving as late as 00:26 in the week and 00:57 Saturday night/early Sunday mornings with Sunday evenings at 23:48.

The line sees Class 450 trains but these are gradually being replaced by SWR’s new Arterio branded Class 701 trains with the first finally entering service on extra journeys from January 2024.

Journey time to Waterloo with SWR is 56 minutes…

… compared to 30 or 40 minutes with GWR to Paddington (depending on connection time at Slough). However, in the morning peak hours most connections are with the Elizabeth line which makes for a 48 minute journey time albeit Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and Farringdon are conveniently just a few minutes beyond that.

Ticket prices are similar with an Anytime Day Return to Waterloo being £24.80 (£17 off-peak) and to Paddington slightly less at £23.70 (£14.60 off-peak).

Windsor provides an interesting contrast in every way.

Roger French

Did you catch the four previous blogs in this series? 1: Hertford; 2: Canterbury. 3: Wigan, 4 Dorchester.

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