@@steveharvey2001 Just as long as they give me heads up to get well away from the place first!! (I live in it's shadow, in nearby Langley, though try to ignore it's depressing existence).
@@comicus01 It’s just that Slough is one of the grimmest towns on the planet. Even the name inspires images of skin falling off animals! So the thought of it being too tempting is just the height of irony. I did go for an interview there once - I looked on the internet for the best pub in Slough to meet in. The two guys I was meeting were a little surprised, they wanted to play safe and meet by the station so they could make a quick getaway. But we walked into the depths of some housing estate in Slough and to a grim looking pub. It really was one of those places where everyone suddenly stopped talking as three strangers walked in!! We had a quickie and left!!!
People may already know this, but just in case... If you've ever been to Cornwall you might have noticed all the palm trees here. Well that's down to GWR too. At the height of railway mania, GWR were very keen to promote Cornwall as an English Riviera. If you check out some of the contemporaneous posters you'll see how Cornwall is just horizontal Italy. And in fairness we do officially have a sub-tropical climate. But to promote the idea GWR bought a load of palm trees (they're actually a New Zealand species) and stuck them along the platforms at stations. They also gave palm trees to local hoteliers, or indeed anyone who asked. The palm trees thrived and now you can't move for them. I have one outside my window. GWR still keep up the flora tradition. The local stations can be quite pretty horticulturally. Although now they tend to go more for flowers.
Rather than just a curve into Slough from the south at the top end, it used to be part of a rail triangle. This allowed specials (and freight) to run to run from Windsor to out west. This triangle was used for 'turning' visiting longer tender locomotives, that the short turntable at Slough shed couldn't handle. Thought you'd like this bit of rail trivia from an old Slough resident.
When you call the track configuration triangle, I am assuming the North American term is "WYE", pronounced WHY. Now someone explain the British "loop" as opposed to siding. Thank you.
@@delurkor A loop is a short section of double track to enable trains to pass each other on what is mainly a long section of single track. That's how I understand it to mean.
@@zigzogoid4591 On a double, or more, track railway a loop is a short length of additional track which can allow a train to be passed by more important trains.
One of your best. A remarkably restrained discourse that, in a way, sums up pretty well all of the last two hundred years of British History. I would have given it both barrels.
The Boris pic made me laugh out loud! When I visited the castle years ago, I wondered why there is not a direct train from London. Now I know! Also amazes me that this station isn't better served being auch a touristy destination!
@@blameless_hyperborean8638 ahh thanks! Some years ago I had ro change in Slough. But I didn't buy the ticket so not sure if there was that alternative.
It would make a logical western terminus for some Elizabeth Line trains, but the Slough track layout precludes it. GWR and Western Region were never very commuter-orientated; Windsor, Marlow and Henley are served by branch trains and you have to change. The Southern Railway put in flyovers so you get direct electric services from London to places like Hampton Court, Chessington/Epsom, Cobham, Kingston/Shepperton ... and Windsor.
I wonder what Victoria would've thought if she could've seen about 150 years into the future, with jumbo jets on approach to Heathrow passing almost right over the castle. Probably would've found trains rather peaceful by comparison.
Great video, Jago, loaded with trademark wit, sarcasm and irony. And a subject like this would be difficult to approach without those attributes. A royal station now turned into a tourist attraction and retail park, with the odd "cringing" DMU just to keep it real. And Eton college still holding the whip hand (no allusions there, honest) of the country's governance, as it is.
The roof at the station can be seen from quite a distance outside the town centre. As a boy, I imagined that the station would see lots of express trains hauled by Warships and Westerns. Quite disappointed to find that there was only one platform and just a DMU pottering on a single track line to Slough.
An interesting story that encapsulates so much of British industry and life, NIMBYism, "rationalising" (which is so much easier than building and increasing trade) and general negativity.
When I first moved up to London in the late 70's & before we owned a car, my wife & I did travel to Windsor by rail for a day trip. I must say I had delusions of grandeur when we arrived at the station, having been aware of its Royal connections !! 😎😱
Wow, I thought I knew all there was to know about this section of line but I knew almost none of this!! Fascinating, and sooo glad Windsor remained as it was a key line for me for half my life!! Never knew it had more than 1 platform, makes so much sense 😂😂
But actually I worry they're running it down again, the trains used to be incredibly regular: 6 mins each way, and it would only wait at each station for 5 or so minutes, so would run every 15-20 minutes. Last time I used it I assumed nothing had changed, and was furious to realise that now its more like ever FOURTY minutes!! Of course, I'd JUST missed a train so felt the full brunt of the change... why reduce something so popular?!?! Its always busy!
What has been done in the name of progress: recently I mean. Ernest Marples commissioned Dr Beeching to do a hatchet job on the railways that has set the country back, causing many problems as Motorways were not the answer & have brought congestion & pollution rather than the "freedom of the open road" One day enlightened people will realise that railways & trams should be paramount in the 21st Century
First time I have heard Marples declared as corrupt - well said, he most certainly was but got away with it. Makes the current bunch look like amateurs.
While it’s fair to say I have less interest in rail than I do in the underground (but always interested in Jago’s content) this one knocked it out the park. Absolutely fantastic script! There are parts bordering on poetry!
Knew you were on my home turf, JH, when you stuck up a couple of Windsor photos on Instagram (I'm Langley/canal based and often head into Windsor, by power of foot). Despite local history being my big thing, I had never consciously realised Eton's opposition to the railway - when I saw the video title I wondered/assumed if it was similar to how the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal was originally planned to go considerably further and even join with the Thames at Windsor, but it was the vast pockets of land owned by Eton College on all sorts of technicalities (for that read: "Old school tie brigade") which prevented it. Then again, Eton College seems to have always maintained a them-and-us, "we look after ourselves" closed doors attitude with adjoining areas throughout the ages - friends in high places quite literally. (Plans to indeed join the canal with Windsor occasionally resurface to this day, but given all the stuff in the way nowadays, it's exceptionally unlikely IMO). Either way I do find the Windsor line a charming and quite "old fashioned" feeling little route (even if, on my first job working in Windsor, it used to take best half of an hour to train it from Langley to Windsor thanks to the change at Slough and the half-hourly run train needed for the connection always scheduled to leave four minutes earlier than the connecting train was timetabled to reach the station...!), and have always found it odd more isn't made of the line (and potentially very charming station) nowadays to incorporate it with the main line out of Paddington, given Windsor's tourist-driven status being so high that many/most "walks in London" guide books include Windsor by default!
Thus,if you're where the Slough Branch comes off the Grand Union Canal and you want to go to Windsor by boat it'd have to be via Brentford (places along the way include Hayes,Southall,Hanwell with its rapid descent of locks,Syon Park + House,Kew Gardens,Twickenham,Teddington,Kingston,Hampton Court,Shepperton,Chertsey,Staines,Runnymede).
@@pjgathergood6987 haha,yes. Heading downstream there's that long,long stretch without any locks from Cowley to Norwood Green - and then 12 of them close together in the last bit before the canal feeds into the Thames including those 6 in a row at Hanwell,with that big,tall old brick wall running alongside,the outer bound of the Victorian hospital that used to be an asylum. Having first travelled that way on my father's boat as a child,I number them 1 to 12 going downstream,making them numbers 3 down to 8,and I heard the dozen of them called the Bull Locks though they might have been jesting there. The 9th or 10th ones are called the Osterley Locks,before the couple of dual ones beneath Brentford High Street and just before the exit into the Thames. At the top of the Hanwell Flight there is a piece of engineering and architecture I've always admired: the meeting of three bridges at one point,carrying road,rail and waterway coming from different angles,intersecting and going their separate ways again. Apparently it was one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's accomplishments.
@@rjjcms1 I know it well - I'm based in Cowley and often enjoy the walk up to Brentford and back; or Paddington if feeling a bit more urban. Boat-trips wise we generally take people in the other direction into the Colne Valley as it's a bit more picturesque ... lesser shopping trolleys. :)
@@pjgathergood6987 We don't have a boat any more,unfortunately,but in the mid-70s our was moored first at Harefield Boat Yard and then,by 1976,outside the Swan & Bottle pub in Uxbridge,where my sister and me would put some of our pocket money in the fruit machine. We travelled up to Batchworth,and later to Croxley,Watford's Cassiobury Park and a bit beyond past the paper,etc. mills. In the other direction we went up the Thames nearly as far as Henley,mooring overnight at an island that had cows on it before turning back on our way home (2 day dash after 12 leisurely days). I managed to fall into the Thames off the outer (starboard) side just past Hambleden Lock. In 1988-89,when I was working in an office which had been taken over by a horrid boss and their even worse stooge,I used to unwind after a taxing summer or early autumn days with toepath walks nostalgically retracing the route,from Harefield up to Batchworth,Rickmansworth in one direction and then in stages down to Brentford and a short way up the Thames.
On a visit to Britain, one of my Windsor highlights was the Tussaud's waxworks re-creation of a Royal Family arrival at Windsor. The children alighting, the Indian servant in the royal waiting room, Guardsmen on parade. Even the loco's funnel was emtiing faux smoke. It was marvellous. So was the Castle tour. Thanks, Jago, for the details I didn't know.
As a Kiwi who lived in Windsor and worked in Slough in 1999, I was very much looking forward to this one. Your footage brought back a lot of memories of what was a very nice commute. I note it also included one of the MANY jets on final approach to Heathrow. I don’t have such pleasant memories of those.
There was a band, in that very genre, called "Hooton 3 Car", active about 30 years ago. I'm pretty sure they did a couple of John Peel sessions, and were reasonably popular locally.
It is a surprise that both Winsor stations survived the ravishes of the good doctor and his corrupt master. Sufficient traffic to both Slough and Staines I guess. It is a shame that the two rivals were not a little more cooperative given that both terminus are within spitting distance, a direct service from Slough to Staines and beyond...?
@@highpath4776 Indeed, but the LSWR were there before the GWR. Clearly the GWR preferred to work from the 'forbidden fruit' of a station that was Slough.
The diplomacy involving Brunel and everyone else must have seen very interesting things going on behind the scenes. Pity that its fall was engineered while it was doing so well. There must have some very dodgy things going on behind these scenes too. What a fine picture of Boris you found after the Met found and fined him.
I hope we see some Class 769 units running to Windsor, the platforms have 4 car markers. Could also allow direct services into London while using electrification from Slough onwards.
There is a difficulty however. The branch enters Slough beside the fast lines, so that any through service would have to (a) stop at Slough on the up Fast, where it would as a result take up multiple timetable paths, and (b) cross the down Fast to get there, then cross the down Relief to gain the up Relief, taking up paths on these other lines. With the tracks being as intensively used as they are, I can't see that being contemplated. Sorry about that.
@@hectorthorverton4920 Agreed. There are other branches with this problem. One is the Bromley North to Grove Park shuttle (only about 2km) . Many schemes have been proposed to make it more useful, such as connecting it to DLR or London Overground. But the fact that it joins the main line on the fast lines makes these schemes unviable without massive investment.
There still is royal trains from both stations, mostly the using the GWR branch, but they don't want people to know about them for security reasons and tend to be at night so Liz or Charlie can get some kip aboard before a strenuous day of ribbon cutting and the like.
A fantastic episode as these stations were always fascinating to me, if you look at Google maps, which I am sure you have, you can see how the station would have looked with all the lines that ran from it, sad to see its just one platform ops, as Windsor is not a quiet town... No future thought by BR... Well done on thus episode Jago... 😊👍🏽👍🏽
Excellent! I much prefer these longer videos - although the short ones have their place. My only other comment is that I would have preferred far more about the Riverside station to be included (although I appreciate that would have made the video even longer). For modern day travellers, unaware of the history of these stations, it must seem odd that such a popular tourist destination has two small stations, rather than one big one, and that the lines don't even connect. From this perspective, the history of the Riverside station and line is as much part of the history. Even more so when you consider that it is actually on the Eton side of the river!
I moved to Windsor in 1981 staying in a hotel for 6 months until house selling business was completed and remember them starting on the Royalty exhibition. Later when my f-i-l visited we went to see it. Quite nice, but very typical of a Tussauds display. The kids enjoyed it. Today, our fishing association enjoys the angling rights on the Thames from the railway viaduct upstream with permission from Eton College. Note: We did ask them first!
i remember the royal exhibition thing it was good you could see victotia and her party arrive then see them sitting on the train strangely there was a model of john brown i recall seeing as well on the train they had a full set of soldiers there it was impressive i must say now its been done up into a cash cow its lost something
You noted racing and vocalizard the train use for racing at ascot but missed the fact that in the 70's the train was packed for evening racing at Windsor racecourse and was a hive of passengers from bookies to punter traffic My late uncle would meet me from school in reading we train to slough and then to Windsor racecourse most time the final.leg was standing room only
Thanks Jago, interesting story! I wonder if you might consider a mini-series touching on the green spaces of London, such as Victoria Park and so on... ?
@@redcuillin Apparently the idea was to have the railway descend into a railway just after Barry Ave in the vicinity of the carpark; build a new underground station next to Central; and then continue the tunnel underneath Datchet Rd until it emerged back to the surface on the current alignment in the vicinity of the Romney Lock carpark. Both the current Riverside and Central stations would close and a greenway would be built on the now disused portion of the viaduct between the tunnel portal and Central.
Back in my courting days, so quaint, in 1980's I arranged to meet a girl, at what used to be a Bavarian style bier keller, which was situated beneath the hotel apposite the castle, the entrance being a part from the roadway in to the Royalty and Empire exhibition. Big mistake, it was mobbed being a Friday, I did eventually find her and we went to a pizza in Pecod Street, part of that run down area of disrepute redeveloped by Mr Brunel. The exhibition in the main station hall (now gone) was quite magnificent, it had the full welcome of the Queen Vcitoria and Prince Albert, all the horse and guards etc. There was also an animatronic exhibition with a commentry by an animatronic Frank Finlay, it was a bit weird, as he started off seated and then stood up and walked a few steps. Bearing in mind this was the early 80's and very clunky by today's standards, at the time is was very high tech
Why are certain private schools called "public schools"? Because, for the rich and aristocratic who thought their sons needed educating, there were two possibilities: instruction at (stately) home, by private tutors; or, for those who thought the experience of abuse (of various kinds), drunkenness, and intense competitiveness would be broadening, schools that were open to those who could afford the fees--that is, schools that were in this sense public. Public in the same sense as public transport, which does not mean state-owned, but transport that is open to all (like, indeed, the "omnibus"--look it up in Wiktionary) rather than being a private carriage or these new-fangled motor car thingies. All this happening in England, the name stuck after it had become misleading, and became rather narrowly defined so that only the right schools got counted as Public Schools, that is the sort of school that entitled an 18 year old in 1914 to get a commission and die within a month or two of getting to the front, leading troops into battle.
Very good. I recall a BBC drama series of the 1970s based on the Royal Flying Corps in WW1 - called "Wings" I think. In one episode a Flight Sergeant going for promotion to Flight Lieutenant went before the Promotion Board. He was asked what Polo club he belonged to, what Private School he attended, how many horses he owned, etc etc. I can't recall if he got the promotion.
@@ktipuss I remember reading (but don't remember where) an account of a boy joining the Army early in WW 1 who was interviewed for a commission. He had gone to a small fee-paying school; his interviewers looked it up, and apologised that it wasn't on their list as a Public School, so sorry, no commission. That changed of course, and promotion from the ranks was always possible--though William Robertson (private to field marshall) was unusual. The definition of a Public School in this restrictive sense is a school whose headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' Conference. I don't think they've made the language inclusive because they're all boys schools, though now some admit girls to the 6th form. Makes sense: you segregate the sexes until just that point when puberty strikes at its most volcanic. But possibly gets better teaching in some subjects for the girls.
@@michaelwright2986 It currently describes itself in this way: 'HMC (the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference) is a professional Association of heads of the world’s leading independent schools.' The term 'Independent School' has been preferred to 'Public School' for a while now as a high proportion of member schools are day schools (mostly ex-Direct Grant grammars). Most are co-ed, though it is now possible for single-sex girls' schools to be members of both HMC and GSA.
@@blameless_hyperborean8638 Thanks for the correction. I knew I was out of date, mostly talking from my experience, long ago, of getting a scholarship to a direct grant school, which also counted as a Public School.
So Eton was just basically like a big babysitting service for the ultra rich and influential? fyi Isabard Brunel he is the individual who appears in that picture from the 1850s standing next to those massive launching chains of the SS Great Eastern. A very famous early photograph
Thx Jago for another fantastic well researched and delivered mini-doc. And my contribution to this masterpiece? 05:22 This guy Prince Albert has eyes like Lemmy!
If Queen Victoria had a lever in her carriage to tell the driver to slow down, can we all campaign for a lever on trains to tell the driver to speed up?
You mention nearby Ascot. You should do a video about the lost line Great Western Railway extension that never happened which probably should have. There are apparently GWR marker posts, Fleur de Lys Pub in Winkfield Now aparents was meant to be a station. It has had the paint scrubed off and you can see the fancy brickwork further supporting this. Contact me if you want help doing this video. I miht just do this myslef for my channel.
I think this epitomises what's been holding Britain back for the past century: an entrenched ruling class with time on their hands, for whom spending a whole day travelling by carriage is no bother, and they don't like the idea of the working classes having freedom to go and do what they like.
We all know that there is a secret Victoria Line station under Buck House - fbut it's weird that you can't see it when travelling from Green Park to Victoria - but I suppose that's what makes it a secret!
Public school for private fee paying schools should be a breach of the trade descriptions act,but alas the government will never allow it,even though the case against fee paying schools calling themselves public schools is strong.
The reason public schools are called that is because they were open to any member of the public as long as you could afford to pay . All other schools at the time required you to be a member of a certain religion or other organisation which means they were limited to who went there .
Fascinating, Mr H. Although you failed to mention the arch-villian Charles Yerkes (possibly on the spurious grounds that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the matter). And wasn't there a cunning plan to link the two Windsor stations via a tunnel and to thereby serve Heathrow? Hmmm. Room for another vid methinks. Thank you, Mr H. Simon T
Fascinating video. I like these out of London videos. How about one about Oxford and the reasons why the station is miles away from city centre not to mention it isn’t on GWML.
"Fall into sin and depravity" Simply beautiful.
Aka, government.
Agreed, but not sure "beautiful" is an apt word for the associated photo!
@@Human_Herbivore no AKA Boris, don't fall into his trap of they are all the same
@@Alex-cw3rz well, at least include the whole Tory party. Operation save big dog is clearly still going on.
@@Human_Herbivore true
3:23 “…Slough proved a little too tempting…”. One of JHs most brilliant lines to date!!!
“Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now”
@@steveharvey2001 Just as long as they give me heads up to get well away from the place first!! (I live in it's shadow, in nearby Langley, though try to ignore it's depressing existence).
I'm an American, care to explain a little more? I get most of his jokes, but this one I didn't even notice.
@@comicus01 It’s just that Slough is one of the grimmest towns on the planet. Even the name inspires images of skin falling off animals! So the thought of it being too tempting is just the height of irony.
I did go for an interview there once - I looked on the internet for the best pub in Slough to meet in. The two guys I was meeting were a little surprised, they wanted to play safe and meet by the station so they could make a quick getaway. But we walked into the depths of some housing estate in Slough and to a grim looking pub. It really was one of those places where everyone suddenly stopped talking as three strangers walked in!! We had a quickie and left!!!
@@comicus01 @comicus01 They named a level in the Doom (The seminal 1993 computer game) 'The Slough of Despair' for the town.
People may already know this, but just in case...
If you've ever been to Cornwall you might have noticed all the palm trees here. Well that's down to GWR too. At the height of railway mania, GWR were very keen to promote Cornwall as an English Riviera. If you check out some of the contemporaneous posters you'll see how Cornwall is just horizontal Italy. And in fairness we do officially have a sub-tropical climate. But to promote the idea GWR bought a load of palm trees (they're actually a New Zealand species) and stuck them along the platforms at stations. They also gave palm trees to local hoteliers, or indeed anyone who asked. The palm trees thrived and now you can't move for them. I have one outside my window.
GWR still keep up the flora tradition. The local stations can be quite pretty horticulturally. Although now they tend to go more for flowers.
2:23 "... and fall into sin and depravity" (picture of BoJo) Hahaha! Love it.
Rather than just a curve into Slough from the south at the top end, it used to be part of a rail triangle. This allowed specials (and freight) to run to run from Windsor to out west.
This triangle was used for 'turning' visiting longer tender locomotives, that the short turntable at Slough shed couldn't handle. Thought you'd like this bit of rail trivia from an old Slough resident.
When you call the track configuration triangle, I am assuming the North American term is "WYE", pronounced WHY. Now someone explain the British "loop" as opposed to siding. Thank you.
@@delurkor A loop is a short section of double track to enable trains to pass each other on what is mainly a long section of single track. That's how I understand it to mean.
Chalvey's pronounced Charvey isn't it?
@@zigzogoid4591 On a double, or more, track railway a loop is a short length of additional track which can allow a train to be passed by more important trains.
@@librarian16 If I understand, in North American terms a loop is a passing siding. Thank you and Zig Zogold for the clarification.
As an old Met relief signalman to a main line driver for SWT, I do enjoy your videos.
❤️ Met Line
One of your best. A remarkably restrained discourse that, in a way, sums up pretty well all of the last two hundred years of British History. I would have given it both barrels.
Ah Jago, we all know the shot placement at 11:17 was no mistake. Brilliant.
Lol
The Boris pic made me laugh out loud! When I visited the castle years ago, I wondered why there is not a direct train from London. Now I know! Also amazes me that this station isn't better served being auch a touristy destination!
There are direct trains to Waterloo from the other station (Riverside)
@@blameless_hyperborean8638 ahh thanks! Some years ago I had ro change in Slough. But I didn't buy the ticket so not sure if there was that alternative.
@@blameless_hyperborean8638 Yes, it's a decent option if you have plenty of time on your hands.
It would make a logical western terminus for some Elizabeth Line trains, but the Slough track layout precludes it. GWR and Western Region were never very commuter-orientated; Windsor, Marlow and Henley are served by branch trains and you have to change. The Southern Railway put in flyovers so you get direct electric services from London to places like Hampton Court, Chessington/Epsom, Cobham, Kingston/Shepperton ... and Windsor.
This makes me so sad. I never knew that Windsor and Eton central ever had more than one line. I wish I could have seen it in its magnificence.
I wonder what Victoria would've thought if she could've seen about 150 years into the future, with jumbo jets on approach to Heathrow passing almost right over the castle. Probably would've found trains rather peaceful by comparison.
It's said that the present Queen can identify any modern airliner passing over the Castle from its sound!
Upvoted for the line "cringe their way into the corner of the shopping centre". What a superb choice of word.
I took this line the night Windsor Castle caught fire. A spectacular view of the blaze.
The L&SWR, though, were sneaky enough to build the "Staines Chord", enabling direct services to Ascot from their Windsor station.
The doesn't exist anymore does it? When was it turned into a carpark?
@@mdhazeldine I haven't been that way for 10 years and I vaguely remember the structure still being there. Good question though, somebody knows!
There was also a west-facing chord at Slough.
Of all your brilliant videos, adding up to hours of viewing, 2.15 to 2.25 of this video are the best 10 seconds you've ever produced! 🤣🤣
Great video, Jago, loaded with trademark wit, sarcasm and irony. And a subject like this would be difficult to approach without those attributes. A royal station now turned into a tourist attraction and retail park, with the odd "cringing" DMU just to keep it real. And Eton college still holding the whip hand (no allusions there, honest) of the country's governance, as it is.
Some Etonians like being whipped, I've heard some of them will even pay good money for someone else to do it to them.
Agree! A brilliant episode full of gems. Great fun.
No allusions to any Etonians at any rate.
@@rosiefay7283 😏
The roof at the station can be seen from quite a distance outside the town centre. As a boy, I imagined that the station would see lots of express trains hauled by Warships and Westerns. Quite disappointed to find that there was only one platform and just a DMU pottering on a single track line to Slough.
An interesting story that encapsulates so much of British industry and life, NIMBYism, "rationalising" (which is so much easier than building and increasing trade) and general negativity.
When I first moved up to London in the late 70's & before we owned a car, my wife & I did travel to Windsor by rail for a day trip. I must say I had delusions of grandeur when we arrived at the station, having been aware of its Royal connections !! 😎😱
Wow, I thought I knew all there was to know about this section of line but I knew almost none of this!! Fascinating, and sooo glad Windsor remained as it was a key line for me for half my life!! Never knew it had more than 1 platform, makes so much sense 😂😂
But actually I worry they're running it down again, the trains used to be incredibly regular: 6 mins each way, and it would only wait at each station for 5 or so minutes, so would run every 15-20 minutes. Last time I used it I assumed nothing had changed, and was furious to realise that now its more like ever FOURTY minutes!! Of course, I'd JUST missed a train so felt the full brunt of the change... why reduce something so popular?!?! Its always busy!
What has been done in the name of progress: recently I mean. Ernest Marples commissioned Dr Beeching to do a hatchet job on the railways that has set the country back, causing many problems as Motorways were not the answer & have brought congestion & pollution rather than the "freedom of the open road"
One day enlightened people will realise that railways & trams should be paramount in the 21st Century
First time I have heard Marples declared as corrupt - well said, he most certainly was but got away with it. Makes the current bunch look like amateurs.
I am enjoying listening to you.
While it’s fair to say I have less interest in rail than I do in the underground (but always interested in Jago’s content) this one knocked it out the park. Absolutely fantastic script! There are parts bordering on poetry!
A very detailed look into this line. I never fail to learn something from you.
Knew you were on my home turf, JH, when you stuck up a couple of Windsor photos on Instagram (I'm Langley/canal based and often head into Windsor, by power of foot). Despite local history being my big thing, I had never consciously realised Eton's opposition to the railway - when I saw the video title I wondered/assumed if it was similar to how the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal was originally planned to go considerably further and even join with the Thames at Windsor, but it was the vast pockets of land owned by Eton College on all sorts of technicalities (for that read: "Old school tie brigade") which prevented it. Then again, Eton College seems to have always maintained a them-and-us, "we look after ourselves" closed doors attitude with adjoining areas throughout the ages - friends in high places quite literally. (Plans to indeed join the canal with Windsor occasionally resurface to this day, but given all the stuff in the way nowadays, it's exceptionally unlikely IMO).
Either way I do find the Windsor line a charming and quite "old fashioned" feeling little route (even if, on my first job working in Windsor, it used to take best half of an hour to train it from Langley to Windsor thanks to the change at Slough and the half-hourly run train needed for the connection always scheduled to leave four minutes earlier than the connecting train was timetabled to reach the station...!), and have always found it odd more isn't made of the line (and potentially very charming station) nowadays to incorporate it with the main line out of Paddington, given Windsor's tourist-driven status being so high that many/most "walks in London" guide books include Windsor by default!
Thus,if you're where the Slough Branch comes off the Grand Union Canal and you want to go to Windsor by boat it'd have to be via Brentford (places along the way include Hayes,Southall,Hanwell with its rapid descent of locks,Syon Park + House,Kew Gardens,Twickenham,Teddington,Kingston,Hampton Court,Shepperton,Chertsey,Staines,Runnymede).
@@rjjcms1 Indeed. With the infamous Hanwell Flight en route. Which is always fun when they're all set against you.
@@pjgathergood6987 haha,yes. Heading downstream there's that long,long stretch without any locks from Cowley to Norwood Green - and then 12 of them close together in the last bit before the canal feeds into the Thames including those 6 in a row at Hanwell,with that big,tall old brick wall running alongside,the outer bound of the Victorian hospital that used to be an asylum. Having first travelled that way on my father's boat as a child,I number them 1 to 12 going downstream,making them numbers 3 down to 8,and I heard the dozen of them called the Bull Locks though they might have been jesting there. The 9th or 10th ones are called the Osterley Locks,before the couple of dual ones beneath Brentford High Street and just before the exit into the Thames.
At the top of the Hanwell Flight there is a piece of engineering and architecture I've always admired: the meeting of three bridges at one point,carrying road,rail and waterway coming from different angles,intersecting and going their separate ways again. Apparently it was one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's accomplishments.
@@rjjcms1 I know it well - I'm based in Cowley and often enjoy the walk up to Brentford and back; or Paddington if feeling a bit more urban. Boat-trips wise we generally take people in the other direction into the Colne Valley as it's a bit more picturesque ... lesser shopping trolleys. :)
@@pjgathergood6987 We don't have a boat any more,unfortunately,but in the mid-70s our was moored first at Harefield Boat Yard and then,by 1976,outside the Swan & Bottle pub in Uxbridge,where my sister and me would put some of our pocket money in the fruit machine. We travelled up to Batchworth,and later to Croxley,Watford's Cassiobury Park and a bit beyond past the paper,etc. mills. In the other direction we went up the Thames nearly as far as Henley,mooring overnight at an island that had cows on it before turning back on our way home (2 day dash after 12 leisurely days). I managed to fall into the Thames off the outer (starboard) side just past Hambleden Lock.
In 1988-89,when I was working in an office which had been taken over by a horrid boss and their even worse stooge,I used to unwind after a taxing summer or early autumn days with toepath walks nostalgically retracing the route,from Harefield up to Batchworth,Rickmansworth in one direction and then in stages down to Brentford and a short way up the Thames.
On a visit to Britain, one of my Windsor highlights was the Tussaud's waxworks re-creation of a Royal Family arrival at Windsor. The children alighting, the Indian servant in the royal waiting room, Guardsmen on parade. Even the loco's funnel was emtiing faux smoke. It was marvellous.
So was the Castle tour.
Thanks, Jago, for the details I didn't know.
As a Kiwi who lived in Windsor and worked in Slough in 1999, I was very much looking forward to this one. Your footage brought back a lot of memories of what was a very nice commute. I note it also included one of the MANY jets on final approach to Heathrow. I don’t have such pleasant memories of those.
Shuttle Service to Slough is the name of my new post-punk metal band.
There was a band, in that very genre, called "Hooton 3 Car", active about 30 years ago. I'm pretty sure they did a couple of John Peel sessions, and were reasonably popular locally.
Best video you've done JH. A hat-tip to you.
It is a surprise that both Winsor stations survived the ravishes of the good doctor and his corrupt master. Sufficient traffic to both Slough and Staines I guess.
It is a shame that the two rivals were not a little more cooperative given that both terminus are within spitting distance, a direct service from Slough to Staines and beyond...?
Didnt the GWR have a station in the Staines area too ?
@@highpath4776 Indeed, but the LSWR were there before the GWR. Clearly the GWR preferred to work from the 'forbidden fruit' of a station that was Slough.
Broadcast quality 👌👏👏👍😀
"It has become, in a way, a museum of itself."
Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph applies.
You made it! The video about my town’s line!
Slough and Windsor sounds like the out of town Waterloo and City
Thankyou Jago.
The diplomacy involving Brunel and everyone else must have seen very interesting things going on behind the scenes.
Pity that its fall was engineered while it was doing so well. There must have some very dodgy things going on behind these scenes too.
What a fine picture of Boris you found after the Met found and fined him.
"There's a row going on down near Slough
Get out your mat and pray to the west
I'll get out mine and pray for myself…"
get bent............joufully hilarious! thank you jago.
I grew up in Windsor. It was a small pleasure back in the 70's to buy a First Class ticket for this 5 minute run.
I hope we see some Class 769 units running to Windsor, the platforms have 4 car markers. Could also allow direct services into London while using electrification from Slough onwards.
There is a difficulty however. The branch enters Slough beside the fast lines, so that any through service would have to (a) stop at Slough on the up Fast, where it would as a result take up multiple timetable paths, and (b) cross the down Fast to get there, then cross the down Relief to gain the up Relief, taking up paths on these other lines. With the tracks being as intensively used as they are, I can't see that being contemplated. Sorry about that.
@@hectorthorverton4920 Agreed. There are other branches with this problem. One is the Bromley North to Grove Park shuttle (only about 2km) . Many schemes have been proposed to make it more useful, such as connecting it to DLR or London Overground. But the fact that it joins the main line on the fast lines makes these schemes unviable without massive investment.
There still is royal trains from both stations, mostly the using the GWR branch, but they don't want people to know about them for security reasons and tend to be at night so Liz or Charlie can get some kip aboard before a strenuous day of ribbon cutting and the like.
A fantastic episode as these stations were always fascinating to me, if you look at Google maps, which I am sure you have, you can see how the station would have looked with all the lines that ran from it, sad to see its just one platform ops, as Windsor is not a quiet town... No future thought by BR... Well done on thus episode Jago... 😊👍🏽👍🏽
Sin and depravity. Genius!!!!
Great video, Jago. So convoluted I expected Chuck Yerkes to appear.
Wonderful stuff
“Sin and depravity”. Very well put Jago…
Great video jago, very interesting, thanks 👍👌😀
Well, never thought I'd see boys wearing top hats marching with Enfields, but there you are.
Eton Rifles, Eton Rifles
@@rodjones117 Now that you mention that, I've heard that unit name before. Just thought that they'd have a more appropriate uniform.
@@SynchroScore What chance have you got against a tie and a crest?
Many thanks, Jago for all your videos. They are a bright spot in my day. Cheers!
Excellent! I much prefer these longer videos - although the short ones have their place.
My only other comment is that I would have preferred far more about the Riverside station to be included (although I appreciate that would have made the video even longer). For modern day travellers, unaware of the history of these stations, it must seem odd that such a popular tourist destination has two small stations, rather than one big one, and that the lines don't even connect.
From this perspective, the history of the Riverside station and line is as much part of the history. Even more so when you consider that it is actually on the Eton side of the river!
I moved to Windsor in 1981 staying in a hotel for 6 months until house selling business was completed and remember them starting on the Royalty exhibition. Later when my f-i-l visited we went to see it. Quite nice, but very typical of a Tussauds display. The kids enjoyed it. Today, our fishing association enjoys the angling rights on the Thames from the railway viaduct upstream with permission from Eton College. Note: We did ask them first!
Jeez that's changed a lot from when I was last there for the Windsor rock festivals in the 1970s.
One of your better vids I think
I absolutely love your videos and I'm so happy I found them - it's EXACTLY the sort of random tube history stuff I want to know!
i remember the royal exhibition thing it was good you could see victotia and her party arrive then see them sitting on the train strangely there was a model of john brown i recall seeing as well on the train they had a full set of soldiers there it was impressive i must say now its been done up into a cash cow its lost something
Excellent video, young sir - in fact, I may even say, one of your best!
You noted racing and vocalizard the train use for racing at ascot but missed the fact that in the 70's the train was packed for evening racing at Windsor racecourse and was a hive of passengers from bookies to punter traffic
My late uncle would meet me from school in reading
we train to slough and then to Windsor racecourse most time the final.leg was standing room only
I've done this journey many times.💞
Another great video Jago!
9:53 This train's been ordering too much aspirin at the chemist...
2:23 loved your perfect image of sin and depravity😁👍
I appreciate your rational explanation, to this unrational story
Thanks Jago, interesting story! I wonder if you might consider a mini-series touching on the green spaces of London, such as Victoria Park and so on... ?
I think I remember Jago doing something on the fountain in the park. Maybe I should re-word that sentence, but you get my drift...
I quite like the idea of connecting the two railways by a short tunnel - the Windsor Link Railway
@@redcuillin Apparently the idea was to have the railway descend into a railway just after Barry Ave in the vicinity of the carpark; build a new underground station next to Central; and then continue the tunnel underneath Datchet Rd until it emerged back to the surface on the current alignment in the vicinity of the Romney Lock carpark. Both the current Riverside and Central stations would close and a greenway would be built on the now disused portion of the viaduct between the tunnel portal and Central.
I say! Quite Interesting.
One of your best history videos. It reminded me of my visit there some years ago.
Thanks Jago Spot on NICE one Keep safe. 👍
I remember the "Royalty and Empire" exhibition at Windsor as it was called by the mid/late 1980s..
Back in my courting days, so quaint, in 1980's I arranged to meet a girl, at what used to be a Bavarian style bier keller, which was situated beneath the hotel apposite the castle, the entrance being a part from the roadway in to the Royalty and Empire exhibition. Big mistake, it was mobbed being a Friday, I did eventually find her and we went to a pizza in Pecod Street, part of that run down area of disrepute redeveloped by Mr Brunel. The exhibition in the main station hall (now gone) was quite magnificent, it had the full welcome of the Queen Vcitoria and Prince Albert, all the horse and guards etc. There was also an animatronic exhibition with a commentry by an animatronic Frank Finlay, it was a bit weird, as he started off seated and then stood up and walked a few steps. Bearing in mind this was the early 80's and very clunky by today's standards, at the time is was very high tech
Why are certain private schools called "public schools"? Because, for the rich and aristocratic who thought their sons needed educating, there were two possibilities: instruction at (stately) home, by private tutors; or, for those who thought the experience of abuse (of various kinds), drunkenness, and intense competitiveness would be broadening, schools that were open to those who could afford the fees--that is, schools that were in this sense public. Public in the same sense as public transport, which does not mean state-owned, but transport that is open to all (like, indeed, the "omnibus"--look it up in Wiktionary) rather than being a private carriage or these new-fangled motor car thingies. All this happening in England, the name stuck after it had become misleading, and became rather narrowly defined so that only the right schools got counted as Public Schools, that is the sort of school that entitled an 18 year old in 1914 to get a commission and die within a month or two of getting to the front, leading troops into battle.
Very good. I recall a BBC drama series of the 1970s based on the Royal Flying Corps in WW1 - called "Wings" I think. In one episode a Flight Sergeant going for promotion to Flight Lieutenant went before the Promotion Board. He was asked what Polo club he belonged to, what Private School he attended, how many horses he owned, etc etc. I can't recall if he got the promotion.
@@ktipuss I remember reading (but don't remember where) an account of a boy joining the Army early in WW 1 who was interviewed for a commission. He had gone to a small fee-paying school; his interviewers looked it up, and apologised that it wasn't on their list as a Public School, so sorry, no commission. That changed of course, and promotion from the ranks was always possible--though William Robertson (private to field marshall) was unusual.
The definition of a Public School in this restrictive sense is a school whose headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' Conference. I don't think they've made the language inclusive because they're all boys schools, though now some admit girls to the 6th form. Makes sense: you segregate the sexes until just that point when puberty strikes at its most volcanic. But possibly gets better teaching in some subjects for the girls.
@@michaelwright2986 It currently describes itself in this way: 'HMC (the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference) is a professional Association of heads of the world’s leading independent schools.' The term 'Independent School' has been preferred to 'Public School' for a while now as a high proportion of member schools are day schools (mostly ex-Direct Grant grammars). Most are co-ed, though it is now possible for single-sex girls' schools to be members of both HMC and GSA.
@@blameless_hyperborean8638 Thanks for the correction. I knew I was out of date, mostly talking from my experience, long ago, of getting a scholarship to a direct grant school, which also counted as a Public School.
Most interesting! Made a day of a visit to Windsor a few years ago; down on the LSWR, up on the GWR. Great fun indeed..
With such a regally themed episode, I was surprised that you referred to 'commentators'. I would have thought they were King Edwards.
The replica locomotive shown at Windsor has lost its tender
I wish that they had left the station in tact! What a huge missed opportunity.
So Eton was just basically like a big babysitting service for the ultra rich and influential?
fyi Isabard Brunel he is the individual who appears in that picture from the 1850s standing next to those massive launching chains of the SS Great Eastern. A very famous early photograph
Might have to make this in transport fever 2
I last travelled this line in 1957, on an ex-GWR Railcar. I used to live near Burnham Station down the line. A bit changed from then, I see.
“...has one heck of a history.”
Sounds like a brief summary of the U.K.’s rail network in general.
Thx Jago for another fantastic well researched and delivered mini-doc. And my contribution to this masterpiece? 05:22 This guy Prince Albert has eyes like Lemmy!
If Queen Victoria had a lever in her carriage to tell the driver to slow down, can we all campaign for a lever on trains to tell the driver to speed up?
You mention nearby Ascot. You should do a video about the lost line Great Western Railway extension that never happened which probably should have. There are apparently GWR marker posts, Fleur de Lys Pub in Winkfield Now aparents was meant to be a station. It has had the paint scrubed off and you can see the fancy brickwork further supporting this. Contact me if you want help doing this video. I miht just do this myslef for my channel.
During weekdays there are only 2 carriages and during the rush hour periods very crowded . Weekend they put 3 on and are less busy
I think this epitomises what's been holding Britain back for the past century: an entrenched ruling class with time on their hands, for whom spending a whole day travelling by carriage is no bother, and they don't like the idea of the working classes having freedom to go and do what they like.
Sic transit gloria mundi
In the 1960s some people argued that the UK had to many rail lines but in 2022 the US has to many roads
A director of a former employee of mine claimed to have been educated at "Slough Comprehensive." This was apparently an informal nickname for Eton!
Eton Mess - I have to make a Eton Mess (The Desert & NOT the Place) at work (I work in a kitchen at a small Hotel!!!) 😉🚂🚂🚂
The destruction of the railways was a tragedy.
We all know that there is a secret Victoria Line station under Buck House - fbut it's weird that you can't see it when travelling from Green Park to Victoria - but I suppose that's what makes it a secret!
Image the day when shopping centres start turning into railway stations
We got our revenge. We built Heathrow Airport so that Windsor was under the flight path!
Windsor and Eton Riverside 😅
I just Love it Jago! Eton mess, corruption and let’s all be chums! Eton with it’s “Nimby” attitude; “We ARE amused Lol! 🤥😂🥳🤪
Public school for private fee paying schools should be a breach of the trade descriptions act,but alas the government will never allow it,even though the case against fee paying schools calling themselves public schools is strong.
The reason public schools are called that is because they were open to any member of the public as long as you could afford to pay .
All other schools at the time required you to be a member of a certain religion or other organisation which means they were limited to who went there .
great content
Fascinating, Mr H. Although you failed to mention the arch-villian Charles Yerkes (possibly on the spurious grounds that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the matter). And wasn't there a cunning plan to link the two Windsor stations via a tunnel and to thereby serve Heathrow? Hmmm. Room for another vid methinks. Thank you, Mr H. Simon T
Good stuff. You even managed to squeeze in a glimpse of allotments. What's not to like? Thanks.
Eton warned us Boris would happen, but we didn't listen!
"DUMDUM Donutterie"
Fascinating video. I like these out of London videos. How about one about Oxford and the reasons why the station is miles away from city centre not to mention it isn’t on GWML.
It's about 800m from the city centre. Not unreasonable, I'd say.
A good job that the friendly bombs didn't fall then.
Great Video, have you done or thinking of doing one about the Marlowe donkey branch out of Maidenhead? Would love to know more about that one.