Windsor & Eton Central station is one of two terminal stations serving the town of Windsor, Berkshire, England. Although a small part is still a railway station, most of the station building has been converted into a tourist-oriented shopping centre, called Windsor Royal Shopping. It is situated on the High Street, almost immediately opposite Castle Hill, the main public entrance to Windsor Castle. Originally named simply Windsor, the station was renamed twice: first to Windsor & Eton on 1 June 1904; and then to Windsor & Eton Central on 26 September 1949. The station is the terminus of a branch line from operated by Great Western Railway. Windsor's other station, Windsor & Eton Riverside, is the terminus for the South Western Railway service from . History Construction Windsor Station opened on 8 October 1849 on the completion of the branch line from Slough but only after considerable opposition from the leadership at Eton College, which was convinced that the proximity of a railway would lead the Eton boys astray. An extension of the branch was planned in 1871–72 to connect to the south via Dedworth and Ascot. It was planned to diverge west from the viaduct, just to the south of the river bridge. Despite reaching an advanced stage of design and with some property purchased plus the construction of a possible station building, the plans were never completed and were abandoned completely by 1914. The Metropolitan and District railways When, in 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground railway, between London Paddington and Farringdon Street in the City of London, the Great Western Railway ran regular through services to Windsor from Farringdon. Initially these were broad gauge trains, as the original Metropolitan was laid for mixed standard and broad gauges and, for some months, the engines and coaches were hired from the GWR. By 1865, there were ten trains daily on the route. Later the District Railway expanded its services to the west of London. On 1 March 1883, it started a service to Windsor from Mansion House, using the Great Western main line. The trains were not popular, possibly because of the unsuitability of using four-wheel coaches for the non-stop section between and Slough and possibly also because Windsor was both too affluent and too far from the city to make commuting attractive. The service was discontinued on 30 September 1885. The structure The station is