The Windsor Line: From Eton Mess to Royal Railway

Eton College, the Royal Family, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Madame Tussaud get on a train.
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[@mattheweagles5123]

"Fall into sin and depravity" Simply beautiful.

[@Human_Herbivore]

Aka, government.

[@dvdvnr]

Agreed, but not sure "beautiful" is an apt word for the associated photo!

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@Human_Herbivore no AKA Boris, don't fall into his trap of they are all the same

[@Human_Herbivore]

@@Alex-cw3rz well, at least include the whole Tory party. Operation save big dog is clearly still going on.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@Human_Herbivore true

[@andrewclarkehomeimprovement]

A good job that the friendly bombs didn't fall then.

[@Andrewjg_89]

Imagine if the Elizabeth Line was to extend to Windsor and Eton Central with electrification and a extra platform built at Windsor & Eton Central. And with Crossrail 2 in the planning that could extend to Windsor & Eton Riverside. And it would make sense to see both Elizabeth Line and Crossrail 2 serving Windsor. And yes I have been to Windsor before including Legoland Windsor. And once again sorry that I deleted my previous comments but yet again I have been harassed by a troll who can’t seem to leave me alone and thinks that I’m stupid.

[@Skorpychan]

Any chance of a video on the Henley branch line?

[@JagoHazzard]

It’s certainly one I have in mind. I’ve travelled it a few times.

[@Skorpychan]

@@JagoHazzard Some useful trivia for you, then. The old footbridge at Twyford station was replaced with a brand new one to deal with the utter lack of disabled access to the central platforms. It hasn't helped, because they only operate the lifts during the day. Which isn't any good for an evening return.

[@Richardincancale]

3:23 “…Slough proved a little too tempting…”. One of JHs most brilliant lines to date!!!

[@steveharvey2001]

“Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now”

[@pjgathergood6987]

@@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]

I'm an American, care to explain a little more? I get most of his jokes, but this one I didn't even notice.

[@Richardincancale]

@@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!!!

[@aw34565]

@@comicus01 ​ @comicus01 They named a level in the Doom (The seminal 1993 computer game) 'The Slough of Despair' for the town.

[@KravKernow]

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.

[@phaasch]

2:23 "... and fall into sin and depravity" (picture of BoJo) Hahaha! Love it.

[@hosedevil]

As an old Met relief signalman to a main line driver for SWT, I do enjoy your videos.

[@dronespace]

❤️ Met Line

[@zigzogoid4591]

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.

[@delurkor]

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.

[@zigzogoid4591]

@@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.

[@andyalder7910]

Chalvey's pronounced Charvey isn't it?

[@librarian16]

@@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.

[@delurkor]

@@librarian16 If I understand, in North American terms a loop is a passing siding. Thank you and Zig Zogold for the clarification.

[@Blade_Daddy]

A very detailed look into this line. I never fail to learn something from you.

[@peterjohncooper]

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.

[@frogandspanner]

It makes perfect sense to call Eton a _public school_ , which differentiates it from private schools. Anybody can go to a public school (if they have the right kind of money and right kind of parents), but only members of a family could go to their private school.

[@blameless_hyperborean8638]

Historically, a 'private school' was one owned by an individual person as their own business, which they could sell on to someone else when it was time to retire. Most of these only had a few pupils and would effectively be someone doing tutoring for a few sons of gentlemen as a side-hustle to being a parish clergyman. However, most towns and cities would have a grammar school which had been endowed by some wealthy individual or corporation in the aftermath of the Reformation. These did not belong to any one individual, but would have an endowment managed by governors who would have the power to appoint and oversee the Head. In that sense, therefore, they were public institutions. By the 19th century, the most important of these had come to be known as Public Schools because they had particularly wealthy endowments and had particular importance for the training of the governing class. It was these that were investigated by the Clarendon Commission to see whether they were fulfilling the purposes of their foundation. It was only with the 1870 Education Act that the state and local authorities became embedded in the funding and oversight of schools generally.

[@bob56gibson]

Only yesterday I watched a recording of the excellent "The Architecture The Railways Built.". Presented by the always enthusiastic Tim Dunn and featuring both the Windsor Stations in Great detail. Then today you fill in the political blanks with your usual charm and wit. My cup runneth over.

[@martyonline1957]

I was trying to think I'd seen this line before, Mr Tim Dunn's excellent show on Yesterday channel. It rang a bell about the arches, 32 of them ? and there not big enough for the Eton erks to get up to mischief into. The arches at Windsor & Eton station are tall enough for the mounted guards to meet HM off the train back in the day

[@michaelwright2986]

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.

[@ktipuss]

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.

[@michaelwright2986]

@@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.

[@blameless_hyperborean8638]

@@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.

[@michaelwright2986]

@@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.

[@zetectic7968]

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

[@DavidMartin-ym2te]

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.

[@isashax]

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]

There are direct trains to Waterloo from the other station (Riverside)

[@isashax]

@@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.

[@timw.8452]

@@blameless_hyperborean8638 Yes, it's a decent option if you have plenty of time on your hands.

[@iankemp1131]

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.

[@jtsholtod.79]

Ah Jago, we all know the shot placement at 11:17 was no mistake. Brilliant.

[@dronespace]

Lol

[@andyjay729]

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.

[@RJSRdg]

It's said that the present Queen can identify any modern airliner passing over the Castle from its sound!

[@phaasch]

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.

[@RichardWatt]

Some Etonians like being whipped, I've heard some of them will even pay good money for someone else to do it to them.

[@tt-ew7rx]

Agree! A brilliant episode full of gems. Great fun.

[@rosiefay7283]

No allusions to any Etonians at any rate.

[@phaasch]

@@rosiefay7283 😏

[@mdhazeldine]

I've never actually ridden on that line, although I have been on the SWR line quite a few times. What I do remember very well though was the exhibition. I was born in 82 and I remember my Mum taking me there. It was quite an impressive spectacle with loads of waxwork soldiers on horses etc. It was a bit disappointing to here it had been turned into a shopping centre, but I have visited there several times and I have to say, it was done very nicely and is a lovely place to walk around. At least it wasn't just demolished and turned into a modern mall with no character. We should be thankful for that.

[@TheKlink]

way too much has been lost of institutional architectural vandalism.

[@pmduk69]

I was living in Windsor at the time of that exhibition opening and remember being very impressed that some of the waxworks actually moved!

[@celtickhan6136]

We recently saw Queen Adelaide's royal coach in National rail museum in York the carriage was really tiny. We also went on the NYMR railway 🚂. Queen Victoria's carriage is amazing. Got to love the GWR for sticking two fingers up to Eton college.

[@rachelcarre9468]

So what you’re saying Jago is that Old Etonians, Royalty and corrupt Tories are bad? Who knew?

[@aoifeann1238]

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.

[@trumptontally3383]

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!

[@brandonb3279]

"Slough proved a little too tempting - as it so often does" 🤣 Your dead-pan delivery of such remarks is divine!

[@RogersRamblings]

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.

[@bingbong7316]

The L&SWR, though, were sneaky enough to build the "Staines Chord", enabling direct services to Ascot from their Windsor station.

[@mdhazeldine]

The doesn't exist anymore does it? When was it turned into a carpark?

[@bingbong7316]

@@mdhazeldine I haven't been that way for 10 years and I vaguely remember the structure still being there. Good question though, somebody knows!

[@RJSRdg]

There was also a west-facing chord at Slough.

[@davidpage8223]

Ah, happy memories. I lived in Winsor in the 1980's and recall vividly the 'Royalty and Railways' exhibition. (late re-named, I think, to Royalty and Empire) It was a wonderfully conceived piece of Tussauds work. Immaculately done. I remember sitting on a station bench next to a Chelsea Pensioner who could have been very real! It was the first time in the UK I had seen animatronic figures...the figure of Queen Victoria spoke from the stage and rose out of her chair!! O often wonder what happened to those Tussauds figures. Thanks Jago for another great video.

[@aoifeann1238]

Oh I wish I could have seen that. Born too late sadly

[@ianhelps3749]

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.

[@baxtermarrison5361]

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]

Didnt the GWR have a station in the Staines area too ?

[@baxtermarrison5361]

@@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.

[@MattBrunton1965]

Upvoted for the line "cringe their way into the corner of the shopping centre". What a superb choice of word.

[@grumpyoldman47]

Another good video Something you didn't mention was the the funeral trains of both King George V and King George VI went from Paddington to Windsor; George V's was pulled by Windsor Castle, and when it came to George VI's funeral train, Windsor Castle was in Swindon Works being overhauled and so its name and number were transferred to another Castle class loco - I think it was Bristol - specially for the occasion. George VI died at Sandringham, and although it was known that he was very ill his actual death was unexpected; I don't know if there're all coincidences, but as well as Windsor Castle being in works the Great Eastern line's Royal Train engine, Royal Sovereign, was also in works - were they both being prepared for duties which were known to be on the way but arrived sooner than expected? The Eastern Region didn't do a name and number swop like the Western though - the back-up engine (Ford Castle) hauled the train from Wolferton to King's Lynn, and then Britannia onwards to King's Cross

[@RJSRdg]

Watching some old footage recently of the King waving off Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on their plane to Kenya in 1952, I got the impression that he at least wasn't sure he'd still be alive when they returned. I also understand that Prince Philip had packed a replica Royal Standard in the bottom of his suitcase for the eventuality that the King died while they were away. However I doubt that Princess Elizabeth knew how ill her father was, or she would have cancelled the trip - I believe the King hid the full extent of his illness from her (and therefore from the rest of the nation) to ensure the trip went ahead.

[@pjgathergood6987]

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!

[@rjjcms1]

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]

@@rjjcms1 Indeed. With the infamous Hanwell Flight en route. Which is always fun when they're all set against you.

[@rjjcms1]

@@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.

[@pjgathergood6987]

@@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. :)

[@rjjcms1]

@@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.

[@teecefamilykent]

Privatisation sucks...btw awesome video sir.

[@demonmonsterdave]

Slough is one of the most wonderful destinations in the world.

[@MrPete1x]

The replica locomotive shown at Windsor has lost its tender

[@SimonRML2456]

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... 😊👍🏽👍🏽

[@Rog5446]

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?

[@highpath4776]

Slough and Windsor sounds like the out of town Waterloo and City

[@nesnoj]

Ah yes, the many temptations of Slough

[@neilbain8736]

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.

[@RJSRdg]

The viaduct appears in the Norman Wisdom film "On the Beat" - in the scene where Norman is arrested some of the police come through the arches of the viaduct. Although the field Norman was arrested in has been redeveloped, the adjoining street where the football match takes place can be seen from the train and looks little different to how it did in the film.

[@TadeuszCantwell]

Shuttle Service to Slough is the name of my new post-punk metal band.

[@Tevildo]

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.

[@Cloudrak]

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.

[@hectorthorverton4920]

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.

[@timw.8452]

@@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.

[@stuartmilerosborne]

Although it is obvious the reason that the line was run on the long viaduct was that Old Father Thames had a tendency to flood and the meadows were quite low lying ....clever chap Brunel.....

[@andrewnelson4057]

It's no secret that the Victoria Line goes directly underneath Buckingham Palace....

[@peterdean8009]

So it does! It's shown on Google Maps.

[@ginganinja93]

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 😂😂

[@ginganinja93]

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!

[@SimonS44]

will you do a video on the dog at Slough station?

[@skidawg22]

1:21 Guy walks into a talent agent's office. He says he has a family act and is looking for representation...

[@Tevildo]

Considering the behaviour (look up Piggate) of certain alumni of that institution over the years, the title of the act is not as inappropriate as it might seem. :)

[@colin.d]

Sic transit gloria mundi

[@jonstout9236]

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... ?

[@whyyoulidl]

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...

[@brucewilliams8714]

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.

[@marieascot]

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.

[@snich63]

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.

[@tomwatts703]

3:35 a lovely combination of three of my favourite things: railways, malicious compliance stories, and sticking it to the rich and powerful

[@davespagnol8847]

Before I met the lady who is now my wife, I used to meet a friend for a day out in Windsor. I'd go from London via Slough, for no other reason than she lived just outside Slough so we'd meet in the station there and finish the journey together. The trains were every 20 minutes and were just comfortably almost but not quite full. I was told that Eton was originally a charitable school (legally it still is but that's another issue/scandal), but for underprivileged boys. It relied on donations from rich patrons. The standard of education was high, and so those rich patrons used to make their donations on the grounds that their little Tristrams were allowed to attend, until the space for the "underprivileged" element became minimal.

[@timburr4453]

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

[@Badger13x]

Did Albert and Victoria have to crawl through the hole in the fence to board the train ?

[@charlieOkeene]

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! 🤣🤣

[@harbl99]

"It has become, in a way, a museum of itself." Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph applies.

[@boomerrob9223]

I only used this station a handful of times. I did, however, commute via Windsor & Eton Riverside Station. Do you reckon there might be a video to be made on that subject?

[@knownothing5518]

Eton warned us Boris would happen, but we didn't listen! "DUMDUM Donutterie"

[@shaunwest3612]

Great video jago, very interesting, thanks 👍👌😀

[@General_Confusion]

If there's no longer a Royal Train from Winsor, how does HRH get to Waitrose to do her shopping and M&S for her new undies? Surely not Uber.

[@Bunter.948]

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

[@peterhunt5523]

My grandad worked at the Royal waiting room which became the office of the signal and telegraph dept. at Windsor Central.

[@aw34565]

My vote is that Windsor & Eton Riverside railway station be shuttered, and the trains which serve it be sent to on a new railway line to Heathrow Airport (finally) properly connecting the UK's largest airport to the former LSWR network.

[@taiko666]

I live in Eton, but it's only recently come to my attention that "Chalvey" is pronounced "Char-vee" 🙂

[@lawrencegt2229]

With such a regally themed episode, I was surprised that you referred to 'commentators'. I would have thought they were King Edwards.

[@sweetdude1298]

I live in a town between Nottingham and Chesterfield, literally never beneath near London or even Greater London in my life, yet these videos are always interesting to me 🤷‍♀️

[@frankupton5821]

There couldn't really have been a typo in 1840 or thereabouts. A slip of the pen, perhaps. People say that I nitpick, but I say it should be 'nit-pick'.

[@robertcollins106]

I took this line the night Windsor Castle caught fire. A spectacular view of the blaze.

[@highpath4776]

Could not the GWR Just Called Slough East Reading (or Berkshire Central?)

[@manicmechanic448]

I can smell Eton's pretentiousness from here. I'm in America, by the way.

[@itsreeah2663]

Hello people in the comments! If London underground lines were People, which ones would you hug and why?

[@phaasch]

The Piccadilly line northern extension, for it's sheer Art Deco- ness.

[@MrSofakinggreat]

Slough is anything but tempting. Horrible place.

[@stephenpegum9776]

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 !! 😎😱

[@NickRatnieks]

The Great Western Railway was originally proposed as the Bristol & London Railroad- it was designed to connect Bristol to London- not the other way around and it was hoped to revive Bristol's flagging economy at the time. It was realised that having the name Bristol in the name was a negative but somebody thought that a thrusting new name like the Great Western Railway may have better prospects- as it did and nearly 200 years on, the name continues although there's not a lot "great" about the current organisation that uses it.

[@jobarliman1418]

Now come off it Jago you cant leave us hanging like that! What do you mean "no rail link to Buckingham Palace unless you belive in conspiricy theories" Please tell us more !

[@ivanoffw]

Before your recent videos on the Slough, I thought that it was just a made up location for "The Office".

[@tombullen5676]

get bent............joufully hilarious! thank you jago.

[@nicolek4076]

If you're going to show pictures of horrible things (2:23) please put a warning up before hand. I nearly lost my dinner from this sight.

[@IBRailVid]

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.

[@billsinkins361]

"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…"

[@minbannister3625]

So they couldn't get OUT of sin and depravity!

[@paulhaynes8045]

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!

[@psammiad]

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.

[@andrewreynolds4949]

A large part of why the line is run by a DMU shuttle is because the branch is not electrified, unlike the main line

[@peteregan3862]

Given the heritage landscape around Windsor, rail embankment and viaduct should be done away with from north of the M4 and be replaced by a pair of TBM bored tunnels that pass well under the Eton playing fields, with Windsor and Eton Central station receiving underground platforms, the line passing south of Windsor Castle to another underground station at Datchet then coming to the surface to connect with the existing line 800 metres south-east of Datchet station.

[@RJSRdg]

That has been proposed - the Windsor Link Railway was similar in concept to this, albeit using the existing viaducts.

[@R.C.A.F.V.R.]

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

[@camenbert5837]

We don't call *all* private schools *public* schools, that would be too easy...

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

2:23 loved your perfect image of sin and depravity😁👍

[@anthonytidey2005]

I hope that at 8.50 these coviently placed carriages were not used when they were stationary in the statiom?

[@anthonytidey2005]

I understand she was not amused by the previous comment. Off with his head.

[@davidjohnson00001]

Great video, Jago. So convoluted I expected Chuck Yerkes to appear.

[@DrDaveW]

We got our revenge. We built Heathrow Airport so that Windsor was under the flight path!

[@rainyfeathers9148]

Has privitisation ever been a good thing? I hear nothing but complaints😕

[@davidbull7210]

9:53 This train's been ordering too much aspirin at the chemist...

[@kommandantgalileo]

perhaps someday, the royal trains will run once more

[@davidty2006]

Hmmm. BR did have actual headcodes for such things... Maybe a Jubilee Class would work wonders......

[@lizbellamy1]

I hope you paid a visit to Station Jim on platform 5 while you were at Slough?