Slough railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Slough


code = SLO
manager = First Great Western
locale = Slough
borough = Slough
usage0405 = 4.449
usage0506 = 4.337
usage0607 = 4.612
platforms = 6
start = 1840

Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is served by local services operated by First Great Western from London Paddington to Reading. It is on the Great Western Main Line, the original line of the Great Western Railway, and is also the junction for the Windsor branch.

The station is just to the north of the town centre, on the north side of the A4.

History

The arrival of the railway in Slough in 1840 led to Queen Victoria making her first railway journey, from Slough to Bishop's Bridge near Paddington, in 1842. Later, a branch to Windsor and Eton Central was built for the Queen's greater convenience. Nowadays, the journey time between Windsor and Slough is six minutes.

Originally, the headmaster of Eton College, Dr. John Keate, had resisted efforts to place a station closer to Eton College than Slough, because he feared that it would "interfere with the discipline of the school, the studies and amusements of the boys, affecting the healthiness of the place, from the increase of floods, and endangering even the lives of boys." [http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r042.html] This led to Slough Station becoming, temporarily at least, the Royal Station. It is much bigger and grander than other stations in the area to accommodate its role at the time.

Windsor and Eton Central railway station (served from Slough) and Windsor and Eton Riverside railway station both opened in 1849 despite the opposition from the College.

Its approach road, Mackenzie Street, which ran from the Great West Road to the Station, was much wider than an approach road would otherwise have needed to have been. This was to accommodate the Queen's carriages and entourage. Slough High Street was originally part of the Great West Road, which has now been diverted via Wellington Street, allowing the High Street to be largely pedestrianised. Thus Mackenzie Street became a cul-de-sac in 1970 when Wellington Street was redeveloped, and is now part of the Queensmere Shopping Centre. The remainder of Mackenzie Street, north of the redeveloped Wellington Street, was (along with Station Approach) renamed Brunel Way.

Opposite the railway station once stood the equally grand, in its day, Royal Hotel (now demolished).

On January 1 1845, John Tawell, who had recently returned from Australia, murdered his lover, Sarah Hart, at Salt Hill in Slough by poisoning her with prussic acid. With various officials in chase, Tawell fled to Slough Station and boarded a train to Paddington. Fortunately, the electric telegraph had recently been installed and a message was sent ahead to Paddington with Tawell's details. Tawell was trailed and subsequently arrested, tried and executed for the murder at Aylesbury on March 28 1845. This is believed to be the first time that the telegraph had been involved in the apprehension of a murderer.

The station today

In the Office of Rail Regulation's statistics, the railway station has 4.3 million users every year making it the 53rd busiest railway station in Great Britain. However, this does not take into account the 1.3 million additional users from Windsor and Eton Central changing platforms.

A station upgrade is planned at this major commuter station, with the addition of a baby changing facility, parcels office and 1st class lounge. It is well placed in the town, being only a short walk from the bus station and with a taxi rank directly outside. It has a CCTV security monitoring network that runs all night.

Architecture

The original Brunel-era station buildings at Slough were of timber construction and were on the south (ie town) side of the railway. Two platforms were provided, with matching buildings, each having an overall roof that covered both platform and track. These platforms served 'up' (London-bound) and 'down' (Bristol-bound) trains separately; a complicated arrangement of crossings between the platforms allowed the necessary train movements.

The present station

The station was rebuilt in its present form in the late 19th century, the fifth station to be built on the site. The buildings have survived largely intact, although some of the waiting room buildings on the island platform were demolished in the 1970s before the station was Grade II listed.

It is an almost-unique design on the Great Western Railway, only one other, much smaller, station was built with the same features. The most notable architectural details being the unusual scalloped roof tiles and the decorative ironwork around the top of the buildings.

Evolution of station layout

Since the end of steam traction, the layout at Slough has been somewhat simplified. In its heyday, every corner of the station featured a siding or bay platform of some kind. Apparently inexplicable architectural clues remain around the station to show where these facilities were.

Parallel to and south of the current Platform 1, the 'Windsor Bay', were two additional sidings and a platform-level loading bank. These were latterly used for loading tanks, from the Royal Alexandra Barracks in Windsor, onto flat trucks (eg 'Rectank' and 'Warwell' wagons) for onward transport by rail. The sidings were removed in the 1980s and replaced by an access road, at track level, under the Stoke Road Bridge to the West Car Park – built on part of the engine shed site. One siding was the same length as the Windsor Bay line, and (as of 2007) its buffers are still in situ, even though the line itself has long since gone.

At the London end of Platform 2 ('Down Fast' services) was a very short siding, at an odd angle to the track. This was probably used for loading carriages onto flat wagons. It was removed a long time ago.

Platform 6, for stopping services to London, was provided with a siding between the fast and slow tracks at the east end of the station. This was used for storing the local train between services. The siding was removed in the 1980s.

At the west end of Platform 5, which is on the north side of the station, were two long sidings alongside a loading bank. These were used to load vans and trucks manufactured at Ford's Langley factory onto flat wagons. In the 1970s, one siding was lifted and the area turned into a parcels bay, complete with awning. It was not uncommon to see several parcels vans stabled there, and occasionally a Class 08 shunter from Slough Goods Yard. This remaining siding was truncated beyond the end of the platform during the 1990s and is now used as a stabling point for a tamper/liner or similar kind of track machine.

There was another bay platform – at the west end of the station, between Platforms 3 and 4. Examination of the platform canopies at this point will reveal a gap where the canopies do not meet. This was where the bay platform track was, and the gap was to allow steam from the engines to escape. This bay platform was used for the shuttle service to the Slough Trading Estate Railway station on the Trading Estate. The bay was taken out of use when services to the Trading Estate finished in 1956. [picture 80 and caption, "Slough: A Pictorial History", Judith Hunter & Isobel Thompson, Phillimore & Co, Chichester, 1991]

"Station Jim"

"Station Jim" (or "Dog Jim"), based at Slough railway station, was a Canine Collector for the Great Western RailwayWidows and Orphans Fund from 1894 until his death in 1896. [ [http://www.thamespilot.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=slough&f=generic_theme.htm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&%3Dtheme_record_id=sl-sl-stationjim Station Jim] Slough History Online, Retrieved on 2008-04-06] . After his death he was stuffed and placed on display in a glass cabinet with a collection slot. [cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=S7JNAU3J2lkC|title=Weird England: Your Travel Guide to England's Local Legends...|author=Matt Lake, Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman|isbn=1402742290|year=2007|page=129] [cite book|page=313|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mjVSAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1|isbn=0192158767|publisher=Oxford University Press|title=The Railway Station: A Social History|author=Jeffrey Richards, John M. MacKenzie] Station Jim's display cabinet, which can be found on platform 5, includes a copy of the original inscription, written after he died, that describes his life story:

quote|"Dog Jim" was first brought to Slough station when he was about three months old. He was like a ball of wool then, and could be carried about in an overcoat pocket. The first trick taught him was to get over the stairs of the footbridge, and he learnt it so well that he never once crossed the metals from the time he was brought here to the time of his death.

He started his duties as Canine Collector for the Great Western Railway Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund when he was about four months old but, because he was in bad health, he was only actually collecting about two years or so. Yet he managed to place about £40 to the account of the Fund. He only once had a piece of gold put in his box - a half sovereign. On several occasions half crowns were found, but the majority of the coins he collected were pennies and halfpennies. After a time he was taught to bark whenever he received a coin, which caused a great deal of amusement to his numerous patrons. One Sunday during the summer of 1896, a hospital parade was organised at Southall, and his trainer was asked to take him up there to collect. The result was that when his boxes were opened by the Treasurer 265 coins were in them. There were only about five pieces of silver, but when it is remembered that he barked for each coin given him, this must be regarded as a good afternoon’s work.

His railway journeys were few in number. On one occasion he went to Leamington; that was his longest ride. Another time he got into a train and went to Paddington, but was seen by one of the guards and promptly sent back again. Another day he got into a train and was taken into Windsor. The officials saw him, and wanted to put him in the next train home, but he would not agree to that, and walked back through Eton.

He knew a great many amusing tricks. He would sit up and beg, or lie down and “die”; he could make a bow when asked, or stand up on his hind legs. He would get up and sit in a chair and look quite at home with a pipe in his mouth and cap on his head. He would express his feelings in a very noisy manner when he heard any music. If anyone threw a lighted match or a piece of lighted paper on the ground he would extinguish it with a growl. If a ladder was placed against the wall he would climb it. He would play leap frog with the boys; he would escort them off the station if told to do so, but would never bite them. At a St. John’s Ambulance Examination held at this station he laid down on one of the stretchers and allowed himself to be bandaged up with the rest of the “injured”. He was a splendid swimmer and a very good house dog. He died suddenly in his harness on the platform on the evening of November 19th 1896, and was afterwards placed here by voluntary contributions from a number of the residents in Slough and the staff at this station. [ [http://www.sloughmuseum.co.uk/collections/transport/transportPage234.html Slough Museum Collections Card] - photograph of the inscription for "Station Jim"]

The story of the Slough "Station Jim" is mentioned in the historical background feature accompanying the BBC movie "Station Jim" (2001). Although the movie involves an orphanage, the movie dog and storyline are not based on the true story, and the movie is not set in Slough. ["Victorian facts" - "Station Jim" (2001) - DVD released in 2007]

References

External links

*stn art lnk|SLO|SL11XW
* [http://photos.elliot-ross.co.uk/000333.shtml Close-up photo of "Station Jim"]

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Future Development

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Disused Railways

###@@@KEYEND@@@###