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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 local area. A model railway section also meets on Wednesday evenings.
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"
30 Oct 2026
Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia
Jeff Bower
7:15pm, at 'The Manor', Slough Station (directions)
Cockatoo Island is a former convict gaol and shipyard in the heart of Sydney Harbour. Popular attractions include the UNESCO World Heritage listed Convict Site, the waterfront, tours, camping and heritage accommodation.
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SWRS member, Jeff Bowers, went on holiday to Australia in January 2026, planning to visit a few railway museums and other attractions. This evening will cover Cockatoo Island, in the first half, with a very different second half featuring photos from the UK, of the Anderton Boat Lift, and if time, from 2024, some of the many stationary engines at the Anson Engine Museum, Poynton, Cheshire.
Photo: "Interior of the historic Turbine Hall at the UNESCO World Heritage site of the shipyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney Australia – 22 December 2019
– User:MDRX – [CC-by-4.0], via Wikimedia Commons"
Please see the Programme page for more about Friday meetings.
NOTE: The start time is now 7:15pm, with the talk beginning promptly at 7:30pm.
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 support group 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 again in April 2021, so she was taken out of traffic until completion of a ten-yearly inspection, which required complete dismantling of the locomotive. The overhaul was undertaken by volunteers at the Middleton Railway, and she returned to traffic in June 2026. Further details may be found on the No.3 News page.
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