Taplow railway station
Encyclopedia
Taplow railway station is a railway station in Taplow
, Buckinghamshire
, England
. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western
(FGW) from , miles (36km) to the east, to stations, using class 165
, and class 166
DMU
trains. The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway
(GWR).
for just over a year until the opening of Maidenhead Railway Bridge
and the line to on 1 July 1839. The station was renamed Maidenhead and Taplow in August 1854. It was constructed of wood, and situated west of the skew bridge
that carries the railway over the Bath Road (the modern A4), near .
With the opening of the present station miles to the west on 1 November 1871, Maidenhead and Taplow station was renamed Taplow; it was closed less than a year later on 1 September 1872, when a new Taplow station was opened at its current location mile to the east. As with station, the actual station is a significant distance south of the village that it takes its name from.
main line tracks. It is unusually large and grand in appearance, despite the fact it only serves a relatively small number of passengers during the day. The first reason for this was because several major GWR shareholders lived nearby and therefore used the station in Victorian
times. The second being that it was always intended to be part of a high quality network of stations for commuters using the GWR.
During World War II
Taplow station played an important part of transporting tanks stored at "the dump" which is now at the site of Slough Trading Estate
. The concrete
and steel reinforced road that was laid to take the weight of the tanks can still be found in the station's south car park. Just to the north of the station on a rail siding
was a large Barbed wire
dump. The siding has long since been removed, the remaining noticeable incline being partially occupied by the nearby SGT car dealership buildings.
The remaining buildings of the station are outwardly little changed since their original construction. The station has been used in a scene from the film Highly Dangerous and in the album cover of the 1973 album Back to the future by Man. The south car park and platform 1 buildings were used in filming as Cambridge Station for Chariots of Fire
but the sequence does not seem to have been used in the released cut of the film. The station and the south car park also featured in the 1981 series Shillingbury Tales
. In 2003, the station was used in a scene in the BBC TV comedy series Catterick
, starring Vic Reeves
and Bob Mortimer
. Renamed with signs, it played the part of Northallerton
station for its bit part in the show. The station is mentioned in the book The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells
.
at Dorney Lake
, which used a shuttle bus service to transport spectators to and from the event. During the duration of the event, the station briefly had a Sunday service. The station is also likely to be heavily used during the London 2012 Olympics, because of the rowing
and canoeing
events at Dorney Lake.
trains will call here if or when the scheme is completed, bringing electrification
, a higher frequency 4 trains/hour 'stopping' service and for the first time, a regular Sunday service which may utilise Platforms 1 and 2 on Sundays. No services currently use these platforms. The platforms will not be lengthened to accommodate the longer ten car (made up of two five) car Crossrail trains, in order to reduce the overall cost of constructing the Crossrail line. Instead, the trains will have a selective door opening system. The longest trains that currently fit station platforms are six car DMU
s. Crossrail will also probably assume day-to-day running of the station. A FGW service between and will also call at the station once Crossrail begins operation. As this date is becoming closer and closer, the famous harpist Rachel Horton - Kitchlew has agreed to supply fabulose entertainment until then, for the people of taplow, waiting for their train.
According to a 2005 Crossrail
document, journey times to and from these major destinations will be as follows:
Several local politicians fear that Taplow along with Maidenhead and Burnham stations will effectively become large park-and-ride schemes, if or when Crossrail becomes reality, vastly increasing local traffic
in the surrounding area.
(NSE) era includes a permit to travel
machine installed on platform 4, all the existing passenger seating, station clocks, CCTV
monitored help points and a CRT service information screen. Thames Trains Ltd. installed the LED
'next train indicators'. FGW has recently replaced the ticket machine, installed a new bike shelter on the east end of platform 1 and life-expired NSE-era signage. FGW have also refurbished the toilets, repainted the station doors, lamp posts, seats and
the existing bike shelter in corporate First Group purple.
Also built into the main station building is a Victorian postbox on the platform 4 side, and a card-only BT
payphone on the platform. Riviera Cars (taxi rank) and the Taplow Rail User's Group (TRUG) also occupy the main building. Only platforms 2 and 4 have OPO equipment. The island platform
waiting room
is usually closed from public use. According to FGW, the station has BTP
'Secure Station' accreditation. This is despite the station being in a somewhat remote countryside location.
There are 2 CCTV monitored car parks, both run by APCOA Parking UK Ltd. on behalf of FGW, one on the north side of the station and one on the south. Within the south car park is a small South Bucks
recycling centre. To the east of the south car park is a large storage facility, where a portable ticket office is currently stored. Just outside the facility are leftover materials from the recent works.
Original features removed over time, by BR and Network Rail
, include
The station is a popular location for railway photographers and enthusiasts owing to the secluded location, long views of track alignments and the low number of station users at off-peak times. When there's a special train due, the footbidge and platforms will usually have a large number of photographers and enthusiasts along them.
Penalty fare rules apply to all FGW trains using this station.
Taplow
Taplow is a village and civil parish within South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the east bank of the River Thames facing Maidenhead on the opposite bank. Taplow railway station is situated near the A4 south of the village....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
(FGW) from , miles (36km) to the east, to stations, using class 165
British Rail Class 165
The British Rail Class 165 Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple units , originally specified by and built for British Rail, the then United Kingdom state owned railway operator. They were built by BREL at York Works between 1990 and 1992...
, and class 166
British Rail Class 166
The British Rail Class 166 Turbo Express is a fleet of diesel multiple units , originally specified by and built for British Rail, the then United Kingdom state owned railway operator. They were built by ABB at York Works between 1992 and 1993...
DMU
Diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...
trains. The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR).
Original station
The first station was opened on 4 June 1838 as Maidenhead (referred to as Maidenhead Riverside in some publications). The station was the terminus of the Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
for just over a year until the opening of Maidenhead Railway Bridge
Maidenhead Railway Bridge
Maidenhead Railway Bridge is a railway bridge carrying the main line of the Great Western Railway over the River Thames between Maidenhead, Berkshire and Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England...
and the line to on 1 July 1839. The station was renamed Maidenhead and Taplow in August 1854. It was constructed of wood, and situated west of the skew bridge
Skew arch
A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...
that carries the railway over the Bath Road (the modern A4), near .
With the opening of the present station miles to the west on 1 November 1871, Maidenhead and Taplow station was renamed Taplow; it was closed less than a year later on 1 September 1872, when a new Taplow station was opened at its current location mile to the east. As with station, the actual station is a significant distance south of the village that it takes its name from.
Current station
The current station was opened on 1 September 1872. It was probably designed by GWR architect J. E. Danks, and largely dates from the quadrupling of the line, with dual gaugeDual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
main line tracks. It is unusually large and grand in appearance, despite the fact it only serves a relatively small number of passengers during the day. The first reason for this was because several major GWR shareholders lived nearby and therefore used the station in Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
times. The second being that it was always intended to be part of a high quality network of stations for commuters using the GWR.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Taplow station played an important part of transporting tanks stored at "the dump" which is now at the site of Slough Trading Estate
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough, Berkshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, SEGRO , Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough and provides of accommodation to 500 businesses and has...
. The concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
and steel reinforced road that was laid to take the weight of the tanks can still be found in the station's south car park. Just to the north of the station on a rail siding
Rail siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
was a large Barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
dump. The siding has long since been removed, the remaining noticeable incline being partially occupied by the nearby SGT car dealership buildings.
The remaining buildings of the station are outwardly little changed since their original construction. The station has been used in a scene from the film Highly Dangerous and in the album cover of the 1973 album Back to the future by Man. The south car park and platform 1 buildings were used in filming as Cambridge Station for Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
but the sequence does not seem to have been used in the released cut of the film. The station and the south car park also featured in the 1981 series Shillingbury Tales
Shillingbury Tales
Shillingbury Tales was a British television sitcom comedy-drama series made by ATV for ITV and broadcast 1980-81.Comprising a single feature length pilot and six one-hour episodes, the series deals with life in an idealised fictional English village and stars Robin Nedwell, Diane Keen, Nigel...
. In 2003, the station was used in a scene in the BBC TV comedy series Catterick
Catterick (TV series)
Catterick, aka Vic and Bob in Catterick, is a surreal 2004 BBC situation comedy in 6 episodes, written by and starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, with Reece Shearsmith, Matt Lucas, Morwenna Banks, Tim Healy, Mark Benton and Charlie Higson. The series was originally broadcast on BBC Three and...
, starring Vic Reeves
Vic Reeves
James Roderick Moir , better known by the stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer . He is known for his surreal and non sequitur sense of humour....
and Bob Mortimer
Bob Mortimer
Robert "Bob" Renwick Mortimer is an English comedian and actor, who is best known for his double act with Vic Reeves...
. Renamed with signs, it played the part of Northallerton
Northallerton
Northallerton is an affluent market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census...
station for its bit part in the show. The station is mentioned in the book The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
.
2006 refurbishment
The picturesque 1884 built station footbrige has recently had a major refurbishment costing £250,000. The footbridge was in a very poor state of repair before the work began. This project also included a repaint of the station buildings, partial resurfacing of the island platforms and renewal of the flower beds. The refurbishment was completed in time for the 2006 World Rowing ChampionshipsWorld Rowing Championships
The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962...
at Dorney Lake
Dorney Lake
Dorney Lake is a purpose-built rowing lake in the United Kingdom. It is located at grid reference near the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and near the towns of Windsor and Eton, close to the River Thames. The lake is privately owned and financed by Eton College, who have spent £17 million...
, which used a shuttle bus service to transport spectators to and from the event. During the duration of the event, the station briefly had a Sunday service. The station is also likely to be heavily used during the London 2012 Olympics, because of the rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
and canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
events at Dorney Lake.
Crossrail
CrossrailCrossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...
trains will call here if or when the scheme is completed, bringing electrification
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
, a higher frequency 4 trains/hour 'stopping' service and for the first time, a regular Sunday service which may utilise Platforms 1 and 2 on Sundays. No services currently use these platforms. The platforms will not be lengthened to accommodate the longer ten car (made up of two five) car Crossrail trains, in order to reduce the overall cost of constructing the Crossrail line. Instead, the trains will have a selective door opening system. The longest trains that currently fit station platforms are six car DMU
Diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...
s. Crossrail will also probably assume day-to-day running of the station. A FGW service between and will also call at the station once Crossrail begins operation. As this date is becoming closer and closer, the famous harpist Rachel Horton - Kitchlew has agreed to supply fabulose entertainment until then, for the people of taplow, waiting for their train.
According to a 2005 Crossrail
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...
document, journey times to and from these major destinations will be as follows:
- Heathrow AirportHeathrow Terminal 4 railway stationHeathrow Terminal 4 is a railway station located in London Heathrow Airport.The station is served by the Heathrow Express 'shuttle' service providing a train every 15 minutes between Terminal 4 and Heathrow Central. Some early morning, late evening and most Sunday services are operated by Heathrow...
- 32 minutes (including interchange) - - 37 minutes
- - 43 minutes
- - 49 minutes
- - 57 minutes
Several local politicians fear that Taplow along with Maidenhead and Burnham stations will effectively become large park-and-ride schemes, if or when Crossrail becomes reality, vastly increasing local traffic
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...
in the surrounding area.
The station
Key features include the Victorian era ticket office, toilets and the aforementioned footbridge. Features installed during the Network SouthEastNetwork SouthEast
Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter...
(NSE) era includes a permit to travel
Permit to travel
In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is closed, without incurring a penalty fare.Since a large...
machine installed on platform 4, all the existing passenger seating, station clocks, CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
monitored help points and a CRT service information screen. Thames Trains Ltd. installed the LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
'next train indicators'. FGW has recently replaced the ticket machine, installed a new bike shelter on the east end of platform 1 and life-expired NSE-era signage. FGW have also refurbished the toilets, repainted the station doors, lamp posts, seats and
the existing bike shelter in corporate First Group purple.
Also built into the main station building is a Victorian postbox on the platform 4 side, and a card-only BT
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
payphone on the platform. Riviera Cars (taxi rank) and the Taplow Rail User's Group (TRUG) also occupy the main building. Only platforms 2 and 4 have OPO equipment. The island platform
Island platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...
waiting room
Waiting room
A waiting room is a building, or more commonly a part of a building where people sit or stand until the event they are waiting for occurs.There are generally two types of waiting room. One is where individuals leave one at a time, for instance at a doctor's office or a hospital, or outside a school...
is usually closed from public use. According to FGW, the station has BTP
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...
'Secure Station' accreditation. This is despite the station being in a somewhat remote countryside location.
There are 2 CCTV monitored car parks, both run by APCOA Parking UK Ltd. on behalf of FGW, one on the north side of the station and one on the south. Within the south car park is a small South Bucks
South Bucks
South Bucks is one of four local government districts in the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in South East England.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, by the amalgamation of the area of Beaconsfield Urban District with part of Eton Rural District...
recycling centre. To the east of the south car park is a large storage facility, where a portable ticket office is currently stored. Just outside the facility are leftover materials from the recent works.
Original features removed over time, by BR and Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
, include
- the waiting room, ticket office and platform canopy on platform 1
- the ornate lanterns on the 1884 footbridge
- the platform 2 canopy
- the island platforms' remaining red Victorian tiles (removed during the 2006 refurbishment), although tiles still remain on platform 1.
The station is a popular location for railway photographers and enthusiasts owing to the secluded location, long views of track alignments and the low number of station users at off-peak times. When there's a special train due, the footbidge and platforms will usually have a large number of photographers and enthusiasts along them.
Ticket Office hours, service and other information
- The ticket office on platform 4 is open weekdays only, between 0620 and 1300. Under Thames Trains' management there was a trial period of Saturday opening. This trial did not lead to permanent Saturday opening, so the opening hours reverted back and still remain 'weekdays only'.
- A touch-screen, cash and card payment ticket machine has been installed (11/2006), and is the first to offer nationwide destinations.
- Monday to Saturdays there is a regular half-hourly service to London Paddington eastbound (platform 4) and Reading westbound (platform 3).
- There is currently no regular service on Sundays (excluding the last trains on the Saturday timetables).
Taplow Rail User's Group is currently campaigning for a Sunday service, and is asking passengers to write to FGW, MPs Dominic GrieveDominic GrieveDominic Charles Roberts Grieve, QC MP is a British Conservative politician, barrister and Queen's Counsel.He is the Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield and the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland.-Early life:Grieve was born in Lambeth, the son of...
and Tom Harris, and the DfTDFTDFT may stand for:*Discrete Fourier transform*Decision field theory*Density functional theory*Demand Flow Technology*The United Kingdom's Department for Transport*Design For Test*Deareating Feed Tank*Digital Film Technology maker of the Spirit DataCine...
. - Only platform 4 (London bound) is currently wheelchair accessible.
- The Taplow Rail User's Group office is run by Mr Jon Willmore and is usually open every Thursday.
- To get to the station via sat-nav, the postcode is SL6 0NT.
- The station is now included in the FGW RingGo cashless electronic parking service (operated by Cobalt Telephone Technologies Ltd.). The location code for Taplow station is '1970'.
- The nearest bus routes from the station (as of June 2007) are the:
- 53 (Wexham Park Hospital-BracknellBracknellBracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
/BracknellBracknellBracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
-Wexham Park Hospital) and - 75 (Heathrow-MaidenheadMaidenheadMaidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...
/MaidenheadMaidenheadMaidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...
-Heathrow), which run from the nearby A4. - All these services are operated by First Berkshire & the Thames Valley.
- 53 (Wexham Park Hospital-Bracknell
- Rail replacement buses normally operate from either the north car park or the bus stops on Approach Rd. A monthly or weekly list of dates when a rail replacement service operates is placed on notice boards outside the Approach Rd station exit and by the ticket office, and is available online via this link.
Penalty fare rules apply to all FGW trains using this station.
External links
- The RingGo website and also The MyRingGo website for electronic parking via mobile at Taplow, and many other FGW stations
- Official Crossrail website
- TRUG News Page on the Taplow Society site
- Network Rail Press Release on the official unveiling of the refurbished footbridge (includes photos)
- Images of the station 'pre-refurbishment' on the A Walk Around Taplow section of the Taplow Society site
- B/W photo of an original lamp (long since removed) on the station footbridge, courtesy of the English HeritageEnglish HeritageEnglish Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
website - Taplow Station page on the Trainspots website
- South Bucks District Council recycling centre information
- Riviera Cars taxi rank based in Taplow Railway Station