I am now considerably posher than yow

Hello all, sorry for the absence of more than a week, during which I moved house and am now resident in the Royal Borough of Windsor. And very nice it is too, thanks for asking. Windsor Central Station is really lovely, terribly twee and touristy, and alarmingly clean. Must be something to do with the Queen.

Happily, I am now nearer to London in miles, though curiously, that doesn't seem to shorten my commute, due to the fact that Slough is not as good as Reading (station-wise, though actually in most other ways as well), and I am now on a lovely little branch line, which chugs along from Windsor to Slough in its own good time, pausing so that we can enjoy the sights along the way. Well, that's how I've decided to look at it anyway.

The bad news is that my season ticket does not include this byway, so I'm having to pay £2.40 a day to get from Windsor to Slough and back, something that is almost (but not quite) persuading me to put a pair of trainers on and walk the 45 minutes down to Slough station, poverty stricken person that I now am, and a bit of a skinflint where paying for train tickets is concerned.

What all this does mean is that the focus of my ire has now moved up the main line from Reading, and I shall be saying some very stern things about Slough station, based on the fact that it is rubbish. Its only plus point is that it has a mascot in the form of a stuffed dog on platform five, but even that can't make up for the fact that the information boards seem to be on the blink more often than they should be and there aren't enough fast trains to Paddington. Or enough trains in general come to that. I remember the old days when every Paddington train stopped in Slough, what happened? I think what happened is that Maidenhead took over, but I wonder if people would be terribly upset if some trains stopped at Maidenhead AND Slough on the way to Paddington. What do you think?

Branching out

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently embroiled in the process of selling my home, and buying another. The location of the new abode will be either Eton or Windsor, which leads me into a new transport situation.
Windsor and Eton Central station is linked by a branch line into Slough, from where I can catch the fast service into London Paddington. I'm expecting a whole new world of fun and games, as of course, the branch line is also run by FGW, oh joy!
Wikipedia tells me it's believed the branch was built for Queen Victoria's convenience, travelling between Windsor Castle and London. I bet she wouldn't have put up with any nonsense about the wrong sort of leaves on the line.
Windsor Station opened in 1849, on the completion of the branch line from Slough, but only after considerable opposition from the powers at Eton College, who were convinced that the proximity of a railway would lead the Eton boys astray. I wonder if it did.
And that's the problem with all the toffee-nosed locations in the Thames Valley. Residents didn't welcome the new railway, and didn't want stations nearby, as it was feared that letting all sorts of riff-raff in was undesirable. Unfortunately, these days it means that those of us who want to live in posh areas like Henley and Windsor have to deal with the branch line scenario. Much more sensible options would be Reading, Maidenhead or Slough. Serves me right for being a snob I suppose. Once I'm firmly esconsed in the new home, I'll let you know how it goes. Does anyone have any fun branch line stories to impart?