Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is on the Great Western Main Line, halfway between London Paddington and Reading. It is down the line from the zero point at Paddington and is situated between to the east and to the west. The station is just to the north of the town centre, on the north side of the A4. It is served by Great Western Railway, with services to , , , and ; and by the Elizabeth line on local services between Abbey Wood and Reading. It is the terminus for trains from Windsor on the Windsor branch. History The first section of the Great Western Railway (GWR), between the original station at Paddington and the original station at Maidenhead, opened on 4 June 1838, but although trains stopped at Slough, there was no actual station: tickets were sold at the Crown Inn. This was because the Act which authorised the construction of the GWR contained a clause which forbade the construction of a station within of Eton College without the permission of the Provost and Fellows of the school; but it did not explicitly prevent trains from stopping for passengers. Following the repeal of the relevant clauses in the GWR Act, the first proper station at Slough opened on 1 June 1840. The arrival of the railway led to Queen Victoria making her first railway journey, from Slough to Bishop's Bridge near Paddington, in 1842. Later, a branch to 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." 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 & Eton Central railway station (served from Slough) and Windsor & Eton Riverside railway station (served from Staines) 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