Happy New Year!
from the

Slough & Windsor Railway Society

No comment!

To see this page at its best, please refresh your browser cache using CTRL-F5.

Slough & Windsor Railway Society

Open Day

Saturday, 1st March 2025

The Society's meeting place 'The Manor', by Slough railway station, will be open to visitors between 10:00 and 16:00.

(Directions to The Manor)

Come along to have a chat, look inside the Victorian building, visit our museum, and see our exhibition model railway layouts: Slough Estates Sidings, and Taplow.

The club's model railway will be available for children (or adults!) to have a go at driving a train.

SWRS members will be on hand to answer your questions about the Society, our model railway club, and "Slough Estates No.3", our steam locomotive that used to work on the Slough Trading Estate railway.

Railway books and DVDs, and pre-owned model railway items, will be on sale.

Entry is free although donations would be very welcome!

Slough Model Railway Exhibition 2024

Burnham Park Hall, Windsor Lane, Burnham, Bucks, SL1 7HR

Sat 26th October – 10:00-17:00
Sun 27th October – 10:00-16:00

Layouts of various gauges and sizes (O, OO, N, 009), traders, modelling demonstrations, preservation groups, and a play railway where children (and adults!) can have a go at driving a model train themselves.

Free vintage bus from
Burnham Railway Station.

Further details HERE.

About the SWRS

The Slough & Windsor Railway Society is essentially a social group for anyone interested in rail transport of any kind, especially railways in the area around Slough and Windsor (UK). New members are always welcome (and you don't have to live in Slough or Windsor!).

The Society meets for illustrated talks on Friday nights in a former Great Western Railway building adjacent to Slough railway station, known to us as The Manor.
Non-members are most welcome.

"Friday Nights at The Manor"

28 Mar 2025

35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co.

(railway video extracts)

Chris Ardy

7:45pm, at 'The Manor', Slough Station (directions)

A large steam locomotive with smoke deflectors, in shiny ex-works condition, hauls a passenger train past a semaphore signal on a rural heritage railway.

35006 "Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co." is a Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 steam locomotive, designed by Oliver Bulleid for the Southern Railway, and built at Eastleigh locomotive works in December 1941.

The loco has been part of Chris's life since 1953: on the way to a family holiday, the sight of 35006 hauling a train across the A30 near Honiton started a life-long enthusiasm for railways.

Chris's talk will cover the history of the loco, its restoration, and operation from 2014.

Along with "Clan Line" it was one of the last two of the class to be rebuilt, in October 1959.Withdrawn in 1964, 35006 languished at Woodham's Scrapyard, Barry until 1983, when it was move to Toddington on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. A lengthy restoration followed, including construction of a new tender, and 35006 finally returned to steam in 2015.

Chris Ardy was an avid trainspotter until the end of steam on BR. His interest was rekindled in the 1980s, and he is now a volunteer on the GWSR, in the loco department, and a member of the support crew for Tornado. Chris is a shareholder and director of the 35006 Loco Preservation Society, and also runs its sales stand!

Photo: "Rebuilt Merchant Navy Bulleid Pacific no. 35006, Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co., on a passenger service at the May2016 gala on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway.
– 28 May 2016 [Photo:Chris Ardy]"

Please see the Programme page for more about Friday meetings.

Programme Changes: "Friday Nights at The Manor"

This autumn, several Friday night meetings have had to be re-scheduled due to circumstances beyond our control. Full details may be found on the Programme Page.

Unfortunately, two of our forthcoming speakers are unable to join us this November. Hopefully these evenings can be rescheduled in next year's programme.

Friday,   8th November – Clifton Rocks Railway  – Peter Davey
Friday, 29th November – Transport Miscellaneous – Colin Miell

In their place, Rob Holder will present a Transport Mix evening on 8th November; and on 29th November, Frank Banfield will give us another of his popular evenings of archive ciné film, this time featuring: Railways in the 1950s.

UPDATE – 15th October:
Christian Wolmar has had to postpone his talk from November 24th until early next year, so please note the following additional changes to the programme:

  • 24th Nov – Windsor Link Railway Update – George Bathurst
  • 05th Jan 2018 – My Latest Book – Indian Railways – Christian Wolmar

Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

If you would like more information or to join the Society, please see the Membership page.

"Slough Estates No. 3"

In addition to holding weekly meetings and other events, the Society is the custodian for Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST "Slough Estates Ltd No.3", a 1924-built steam locomotive which operated for 50 years on the Slough Trading Estate Railway.

After a prolonged restoration (read more here), No.3 was finally returned to steam in 2000, and spent a number of years hauling passenger services at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway in Wiltshire.

In 2011, No.3 was relocated to the Middleton Railway in Leeds on long-term loan. This line is close to the site of the Railway Foundry where she was built in 1924. No.3 also closely resembles the last steam loco to work over the railway in NCB days in 1958. It is thus appropriate that she should have 'returned home' to Leeds.

No.3's steam boiler certificate expired in April 2021, so she is now out of traffic until completion of a ten-yearly inspection, which requires complete dismantling of the locomotive. The overhaul will be undertaken at the Middleton Railway. Progress reports may be found on the No.3 News page.

 – – – Cookies – – – 

The Slough & Windsor Railway Society website does not make use of cookies, nor stores any personal information related to you or your visit.