Reading Southern railway station

Reading Southern
A view of stations at Reading, circa 1865–70, with the SER station on the left, and the GWR station at higher level on the right
Location
Place	Reading
Area	Reading
Coordinates	51°27′30″N 0°58′12″W / 51.4582°N 0.9701°W / 51.4582; -0.9701Coordinates: 51°27′30″N 0°58′12″W / 51.4582°N 0.9701°W / 51.4582; -0.9701
Grid reference	SU716737
Operations
Original company	South Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Platforms	4
History
4 July 1849 (1849-07-04)	Temporary station opened
30 August 1855	Permanent station opened (as Reading)
9 July 1856	LSWR services commence
1 January 1939	Electrified
26 September 1949	Renamed Reading South
11 September 1961	Renamed Reading Southern
6 September 1965	Closed to passengers
September 1970	Closed to goods
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Reading Southern railway station was opened as the western terminus of the South Eastern Railway's route from Redhill, a junction station at the time of opening known as Reigate Junction in south-east Surrey, having direct links thence to Dover port, Brighton (a resort and fellow industrious town) and London Bridge. The station was referred to for exactly one century by an identical name to its neighbour, 'Reading', until 1949. Seven years after its opening the station expanded its uses by becoming the terminus of a new company's Waterloo to Reading line from London Waterloo station. This mid-length line added to the town's connections with more intermediate stops, beyond nearby Wokingham and mid-south parts of Surrey which had been directly served by the station and added a competing service, approximately one third longer in distance to a London terminus than the adjacent Great Western Railway.

The station closed for all purposes in 1970 when its demolition began. It was adjacent to, and to the south-east of, the Great Western Railway's Reading General station known since the other station's closure as Reading railway station. Part of the latter's 1989-built concourse is on the site of the west end frontage of the demolished other station.

The original route of the South Eastern Railway (SER) was from London Bridge station to Dover, which took a route through Redhill so that several compass point sector-based companies could share the same lines and engineering (including a substantial tunnel) through the North Downs. The line from Reading to Redhill was built by the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway (RG&RR), and was opened in 1849: the section from Reading to Farnborough was opened on 4 July 1849, with the last section being opened on 15 October. From the start, the RG&RR was worked by the SER, which leased it from 16 July 1846, and absorbed it in 1852. When the first section of line opened, the SER trains served a temporary station north of Reading's Forbury Road before moving into a permanent terminal, about 275 metres (300 yd) west, on 30 August 1855.