Trains at Reading (GWML) - 29/09/2023

The 198th video of my train spotting adventures.
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This video takes us along to the town of Reading; yes, Reading is a town and not a city, per British towns & cities laws (no cathedral!); and along to its bustling central station. A huge 15-platform intercity, regional and interchange station, its first incarnation was built on the 30th March 1840 as the then temporary terminus of the new Great Western Mainline (GWML), which at the time reduced Reading to Paddington travel down to 1 hour and 5 minutes, less than 1/4 the time any older stagecoach took. The GWML was then extended towards its nowadays Bristol terminus in 1841. Its first form was a typical Brunel-style single-sided intermediate station, with separate up and down platforms. In 1844 the Great Western Hotel was opened opposite the station; to this day it's thought to be the oldest surviving purpose-built railway hotel in the world.
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Reading soon gained its status as a junction interchange station when new lines were added to its routes, such as the line to Newbury and Hungerford (now on to Westbury & Taunton) in 1847, and to Basingstoke in 1848. In 1898 the Brunel-style platform configuration was replaced by a more typical BR arrangement of up, down and relief-line platforms linked by a pedestrian subway. Originally the station was simply called 'Reading', but eventually adopted the name 'Reading General' to distinguish itself from the ex-South Eastern Railway station next door (nowadays forming the lines to/from Waterloo or Redhill out of Reading); eventually the 'General' suffix was dropped, though this heritage is remembered in a sign on Platform 7 of the modern-day Reading station.
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In 1965, the ex-South Eastern Railway station, Reading Southern, had its former services diverted into a new terminating bay at Reading General, initially with one platform (4A), which was joined by another (4B) in 1975 for new Reading to Gatwick Airport services. Further along in 1989, InterCity opened a brand new concourse on some of the old Reading Southern station site, including a shopping arcade named after Brunel. A new carpark was added nearby, and the older booking hall/etc was amalgamated into the "The Three Guineas" public house. By 2007 though, Reading had become notorious as a serious railway bottleneck, with trains often needing to wait outside the station for room to be available on the platforms, caused mainly by a lack of excess platform space, and flat-junctions to the west which meant freight trains from south to east/west converged and blocked the path of passenger trains from east to west and vice versa.
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After a review into the station and possible capacity increases, Network Rail unveiled a plan in 2008 involving a £400 million (today £620 million) investment to upgrade the station and surrounding track layout, including 5 new through platforms, a new larger footbridge, a new street-level entrance on the north side, the original subway converted to a new pedestrian passageway, a flyover to the west side for fast trains to/from east and west to avoid the slow lines, and underpass lines for trains to/from the Reading and Basingstoke/Newbury lines. Provisions were included for future Crossrail and plausible expanded Heathrow services. Costs rose to roughly £897 million (£1.39 billion today) but were completed a year earlier than expected, opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014. In 2017 electrification from Paddington at last arrived, and electric services began in 2018.
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Filmed on the:
Great Western Mainline
Waterloo-Reading Line (terminus)
Reading-Basingstoke Line (terminus)
Reading-Taunton Line (terminus)
North Downs Line (terminus)
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Services seen:
GWR) Services towards Slough, London Paddington, Wokingham, Guildford, Redhill, Gatwick Airport, Basingstoke, Newbury, Didcot Parkway, Oxford, Westbury, Taunton, Swindon, and onwards to the Cotswolds, Bristol, South Wales or Devon/Cornwall.
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XC) Services towards Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, and onwards to Manchester or Newcastle.
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SWR) Services towards Wokingham, Staines, Twickenham, Richmond, Clapham Junction and London Waterloo.
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EL) Services towards Slough, London Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood.
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Trains seen:
GWR) Class 800/802 IETs, Class 387 Electrostar, Class 165 Networker Turbo
XC) Class 220/221 Voyagers
SWR) Class 458/5 Juniper, Class 450 Desiro
EL) Class 345 Aventra
FL) Class 66
ROG) Class 37
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[@RodrigoSousaFerrovias]

Excellent video my friend!