Pictures and information on Reading station, platforms 1-3

[TravisM]

I’ve had a rethink and I’ve decided to to abandon my portable layout “Elton” as I don’t think it will keep the operational interest for very long, so I’ve decided to model Reading station platforms 1 to 3 in the mid 80’s and the start of NSE.

 

i used to live in Reading in the same time period and I remember the platforms were quite busy with Class 117 DMU’s rolling in and out to Newbury and stations further west, SR “thumpers” with services to Basingstoke and Portsmouth plus parcel vans being shunted in and out to be loaded/loaded.

 

 I’m searching for information and pictures of the station and the three platforms.  If anyone is willing to share, I would be most grateful.

Edited August 26, 2020 by jools1959
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[brushman47544]

Can’t help with photos I’m afraid, but you might find operational interest a bit limited compared to Reading station as a whole. My recollection is the SR demus working Reading-Basingstoke were primarily users of Platform 1, with WR demus working to Newbury and beyond using platform 2. Platform 3 saw use by parcels vans - and to dump the odd loco failure -but I don’t think I ever saw a passenger train leave from it in your period.

[jonny777]

I have these three, which may be of use. There are two facing west, and one facing east. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bert Cheese]

A couple of scans from prints here...no notes but I'd imagine around 1985....

They must have been taken on different days as the Hampshire units were usually stopped for maintenance at EH on Sundays and were replaced by a 33/1 & 4-TC on the Reading to Pompey Harbour services.

[The Pilotman]

1 hour ago, brushman47544 said:

My recollection is the SR demus working Reading-Basingstoke were primarily users of Platform 1, with WR demus working to Newbury and beyond using platform 2. Platform 3 saw use by parcels vans - and to dump the odd loco failure -but I don’t think I ever saw a passenger train leave from it in your period.

I think you have that the wrong way round; the Newbury/Bedwyn trains used platform 1 and the Basingstoke/Portsmouth Harbour trains used platform 2. In the period in question, the only regular usage of platform 3 was the loco(s) of the overnight Robeston-Theale tanks berthing between around 0600 and 1200 and a couple of parcels/mail trains; Tonbridge to Preston around 1700-ish and another one later in the evening (can’t remember the details now). The reason platform 3 was so rarely used at that time was because access to it was via the down main line (which was always busy). Platforms 1 & 2 could be accessed without interfering with the down main. There was formerly a connection from platform 3 to the line going into platforms 1 and 2 but I’m fairly sure it had been removed prior to the period in which the OP is interested. 

[The Pilotman]

Here’s a picture of the afternoon Tonbridge mail train in platform 3: 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tigertim1950/7804068818/in/photolist-cTBTLE-fBid18-Y1tqMj-p515oX-Tsbgsb-9BwLBy-6Qs5W3-dZHJYm-agex3y-aDLe2k-J9Y3Xt-ay7GL3-22kdiaJ-qKxqEG-cSdQW5-a34oP8-dLVW1A-anYCK3-foB4dw-qcJv2Y-ecfxe2-ecfxzi-M87DPM-boXhYK-p9vaaw-pqH5da-RAe62B-pqXRb9-9WVp79-snTF8f-yjhVV3-4vkM2w-rcqCMg-oxkcMt-svbSbJ-tbXmSP-tRm2zc-N74Bwc-aBPf8m-oxuSfM-91XfD1-9CWNPX-u6sZyN-Y3rBDh-TbBFdx-2fKewcf-dRGnt5-hSrPe7-Ju9igp-2ctHSK3

 

[TravisM]

1 hour ago, jonny777 said:

I have these three, which may be of use. There are two facing west, and one facing east. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice to see a pair of bubble cars and a Hampshire unit, sadly the Networker is after my cut off period

 

1 hour ago, Bert Cheese said:

A couple of scans from prints here...no notes but I'd imagine around 1985....

They must have been taken on different days as the Hampshire units were usually stopped for maintenance at EH on Sundays and were replaced by a 33/1 & 4-TC on the Reading to Pompey Harbour services.

 

19 minutes ago, Western Aviator said:

Here’s a picture of the afternoon Tonbridge mail train in platform 3: 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tigertim1950/7804068818/in/photolist-cTBTLE-fBid18-Y1tqMj-p515oX-Tsbgsb-9BwLBy-6Qs5W3-dZHJYm-agex3y-aDLe2k-J9Y3Xt-ay7GL3-22kdiaJ-qKxqEG-cSdQW5-a34oP8-dLVW1A-anYCK3-foB4dw-qcJv2Y-ecfxe2-ecfxzi-M87DPM-boXhYK-p9vaaw-pqH5da-RAe62B-pqXRb9-9WVp79-snTF8f-yjhVV3-4vkM2w-rcqCMg-oxkcMt-svbSbJ-tbXmSP-tRm2zc-N74Bwc-aBPf8m-oxuSfM-91XfD1-9CWNPX-u6sZyN-Y3rBDh-TbBFdx-2fKewcf-dRGnt5-hSrPe7-Ju9igp-2ctHSK3

 

Oh cool, now I’ve got a excuse to run a Class 33/1 and 4-TC.  I have to say that I can’t recall seeing that combination but we are talking about 35+ years ago, so memory gets foggy .  If that’s the Tonbridge mail train, surely it’s pointed the wrong way?  I thought trains for Tonbridge etc and London left from platform 9?

[TravisM]

I don’t suppose anyone has a track plan, even a rough sketch?  I do roughly remember it being almost self contained apart from a set of points from platform 3 which led onto the down main.

[The Pilotman]

9 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I don’t suppose anyone has a track plan, even a rough sketch?  I do roughly remember it being almost self contained apart from a set of points from platform 3 which led onto the down main.

I’ll try to sort something out for you today. The 33/1+4TC was a regular Sunday working to Portsmouth Harbour.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Western Aviator

[The Pilotman]

9 hours ago, jools1959 said:

 If that’s the Tonbridge mail train, surely it’s pointed the wrong way?  I thought trains for Tonbridge etc and London left from platform 9?

It was Tonbridge to Preston. The train arrived on the old platform 4 (down main) or the bi-directional up main, picked up a shunter, then shunted via the down main line or down Westbury and back into platform 3.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Western Aviator

[jonny777]

This is not my photo, and I do not own the copyright - but I thought it might be useful although maybe a bit outside the 1980s time period. 

 

However, it shows 205032 but in the adjacent platform is a Mk2 aircon vehicle. I have no idea which service that might be on. 

 

 

 

[Flying Pig]

HillsideDepot's layout Westonmouth Central is very similar to what you're proposing.  Nigel Burkin made a model of platforms 4a and 4b at the other end of the station which was covered on the old forum.

 

 

[Flying Pig]

The diagrams of Reading on this ebay listing look identical to those in the 1989 Quail.

[eastwestdivide]

A few from the later 80s:

 

1988 with the typical 3-H for Basingstoke and 117 for Newbury/Bedwyn:

 

 

1986, this time with a 119 for the Newbury line:

 

And 1986, showing a 3-D unit, which gradually escaped west after the closure of the Tunbridge Wells West branch in ?1984.

Unusually, the Basingstoke service here is in platform 1 and the Newbury line service in platform 2. BRUTE trolleys on 3, which I also remember as being hardly used for passenger services: 

 

If you need higher resolutions, PM me.

Edited August 27, 2020 by eastwestdivide

[eastwestdivide]

Also confirmation of "other" motive power on the Basingstoke line, but at Mortimer in 1987 with its reversed white and black signs:

 

TC+33 on the Sundays Portsmouth/Reading service:

 

 

 

And another 3-D:

[The Pilotman]

10 hours ago, jonny777 said:

However, it shows 205032 but in the adjacent platform is a Mk2 aircon vehicle. I have no idea which service that might be on. 

 

 

 

Me neither. In over a decade of professional involvement with operations at Reading, I cannot recall any loco-hauled passenger trains booked to use platform 3. There were many instances of terminating cross-country trains that were shunted onto the up or down goods lines behind the station prior to the return working but that was usually from the old platform 9, a relatively simple shunt to do. I can only surmise that the train in this picture is there due to some unplanned event.

[The Pilotman]

This excellent picture on Flickr:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/72856291@N05/7159930146/in/photolist-bUGvMu

shows the track plan at the west end of platforms 1-3. As you can see, at that time there was a connection from platforms 1/2 to the down main line. That connection was removed sometime in 1989 or 1990.

[Banger Blue]

On 28/08/2020 at 08:45, Western Aviator said:

This excellent picture on Flickr:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/72856291@N05/7159930146/in/photolist-bUGvMu

shows the track plan at the west end of platforms 1-3. As you can see, at that time there was a connection from platforms 1/2 to the down main line. That connection was removed sometime in 1989 or 1990.

Cracking picture, so much different to today and yet so much the same! I know the large signal box seen in the picture is Reading Main Line West but there appears to be a smaller signal box on the other side of the tracks, which is where Reading TCD East Sidings are now. Is that Reading Goods Line West?

https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwa/S156.htm

 

[caradoc]

On 27/08/2020 at 19:24, Western Aviator said:

Me neither. In over a decade of professional involvement with operations at Reading, I cannot recall any loco-hauled passenger trains booked to use platform 3. There were many instances of terminating cross-country trains that were shunted onto the up or down goods lines behind the station prior to the return working but that was usually from the old platform 9, a relatively simple shunt to do. I can only surmise that the train in this picture is there due to some unplanned event.

 

Is it a train, or just a single vehicle ? If the latter, could it be a defective coach detached from a Down express ? 

 

[The Pilotman]

12 minutes ago, caradoc said:

 

Is it a train, or just a single vehicle ? If the latter, could it be a defective coach detached from a Down express ? 

 

If it was a single coach removed from a service train, I’m sure it would have been left on the stop blocks. The picture was taken looking towards the stop blocks which would mean there would be a two coach gap behind the coach if it had been left there on its own.

[mabel]

On 26/08/2020 at 22:59, jools1959 said:

I don’t suppose anyone has a track plan, even a rough sketch?  I do roughly remember it being almost self contained apart from a set of points from platform 3 which led onto the down main.

I have one at home. If this project is still going, let me know and I will post a pic when I get in tonight. Alternatively for the cost of postage and an A3 print from Prontaprint I could send you a paper copy if needed? 
I have altered this one with tippex to suit my own project (P1 is tippexed out for example) but I still have the origional untouched version.
 

[Compound2632]

I don't think I ever went down that end of the station. My life (or at least my early morning routine) was focussed on 4A/4B and the 7:29am for Waterloo.

[The Pilotman]

Based on an apparent absence from this thread for over a year, and from posts elsewhere, I suspect the OP may well have abandoned this project. 

[mabel]

11 hours ago, Western Aviator said:

Based on an apparent absence from this thread for over a year, and from posts elsewhere, I suspect the OP may well have abandoned this project. 

Noted. Although the offer of posted paper copies applies to anyone.

cheers

 

[mabel]

…….and the unmolested original……