Taplow railway station
Taplow railway station serves the village of Taplow in Buckinghamshire, England. It is down the line from and is situated between to the east and to the west.
The station has been served by local services operated by TfL Rail since December 2019. Currently all eastbound trains terminate at London Paddington, and all westbound services terminate at Reading. The station will be served by Elizabeth line services from an unspecified date in 2021 with services to Abbey Wood via Central London.
History
Original station
The first station was opened on 4 June 1838 as Maidenhead. The station was the terminus of the Great Western Railway 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, 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 gauge 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.
2006 refurbishment
In 2006, the 1884 built station footbridge underwent 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 Championships 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 was heavily used during the London 2012 Olympics, because of the rowing and canoeing events at Dorney Lake.Facilities
Taplow retains the Victorian era ticket office, with a footbridge linking the platforms. The station is equipped with a ticket vending machine and modern customer information screens, and has a CCTV monitored car park. It has been modernised in preparation for Elizabeth Line services. Contactless payment pads were added, and a new footbridge with three lifts were installed to provide step-free access to all platforms. The station previously had a bike shelter installed and toilets refurbished by First Great Western. Taplow received 'Secure Station' accreditation from the British Transport Police.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 a special train is due, the footbridge and platforms will usually have a large number of photographers and enthusiasts along them. The original footbridge dating from 1884 was removed in totality in mid-2018, and replaced by a second temporary structure. The refurbishment of the lattice footbridge appears to have been cancelled; a new footbridge with lifts at the London end of the station has started construction in autumn 2018.
Services
Since December 2019, nearly all services at the station are operated by TfL Rail, with a few early-morning and late-evening GWR services. The station is served by four trains per hour in each direction during weekday peak hours, and two trains per hour at other times. All eastbound services terminate at London Paddington; westbound services mostly terminate at Reading with some peak-time trains terminating at Maidenhead.Future development
Taplow will be served by the Elizabeth line from late 2021. Trains calling at the station will terminate at or Reading in the west, and Abbey Wood via Central London in the east. Various improvement works have been made at the station, with the refresh of many station facilities, heated waiting rooms, and a new footbridge with lifts for step free access. This is in addition to the work carried out as part of the modernisation of the Great Western main line, which included the modernisation of signalling systems and electrification of the line between London Paddington and Cardiff.Since December 2019, there are four trains per hour in each direction at peak hours, and two trains per hour off-peak, calling at most stations on the Western branch of the Elizabeth line. The platforms support the current TfL Rail 7-car trains; for future Elizabeth line 9-car trains, selective door opening will be required, as platform lengthening has been deemed uneconomic.