Originally built in 1838, Slough station can lay claim to a very auspicious piece of rail history: it was here that Queen Victoria embarked on her first train journey in 1842. This was then the closest station to Windsor Castle, and Victoria continued to use it for another seven years before the completion of the Windsor & Eton branch in 1849. Today trains to Slough arrive at a grand, late 19th century building, and the station serves as an important commuter hub, connecting to Oxford, Reading and London Paddington as well as Windsor.
Dog lovers should visit platform five and see the tribute to ‘Station Jim’, who worked as Canine Collector for the Great Western Railway Widows and Orphans Fund. Every time a penny was dropped in his collection box Jim would bark, and in his two years as station mascot he collected £40 – a huge £2,500 in today’s money.