Did on over night here on 24th August 2016 for the purpose of grabbing some needed sleeper coaches.

Getting here at 9PM meant that there was still plenty of HST's coming through with the usual 165's, 166's, voyagers and EMU's.

Freight wise it wasn't bad. I was there from 9PM until 4AM and saw five 59's, a couple of 66's and even had a West Coast Railways Special thrown in which was top and tailed by 47580 and Steam Locomotive 6201.

Up until around 2AM there wasn't a problem, however, as soon as the last scheduled passenger train left for Paddington I was approached by station staff and informed that the station was now officially closed. I did inform him that I was 'waiting' for the sleeper to Paddington and he reluctantly allowed me to go over to platform 7 to wait.

Now should you feel the need for food at any point then it will mean a short walk in to Reading Town Center which was surprisingly lively for 3AM on a Tuesday night. There are plenty of takeaways etc.

Now the station does close it's doors for about 1 hour from about 2:30AM - 3:30AM. I found this out when arriving back from the town! But at 3:30AM, true to word, the station doors and shutters promptly re-opened,

My advice to anyone taking pictures is to just tell the staff at the barriers that you are a spotter. From personal experience the station staff have no problems with you taking pictures, but trying to get past barrier staff after mentioning a camera is really not worth the hassle.

If like me you are driving down then I would park in any of the available office car parks on Napier Road. I have done this numerous times and have been fine, although I have arrived after closing and have been gone before staff have arrived.

Hope this is of some use to someone.

Place to stay:

I use the travelodge (RG1 7LT) it is a bit run down but i only usually pay £19/night and it is very covenient for Reading & Reading West stations.

Pubs/food:

From Reading West Station you turn right down Oxford Rd & you will pass a good chippy on your right,if you cary on down that road you have the Nags head pub on your right (Russell Street) (http://nagsheadreading.com/home.php#home) which has 12 real ales on at a time £3/pint + sky sports,surprisingly good value in Reading,carry on down Oxford road a little & you have the Travelodge with a mini Tesco next door.If you carry pass Tesco on to the crossroads take a left & you have a Greggs,walk past there and your next right you have The Hope tap (Wetherspoons) Sainsbury`s opposite,from Reading station if you walk straight out past the Kebab shops on your left & right & take the next left at the crossroads you get to Yates,Picture & Piano & The Monks Retreat (Wetherspons).

Reading West is an open station & has a steady flow of freight from 10:00 onwards,it can feel a bit dodgy after dark but i have never had a problem,Reading is not to good for freight & you get 70% of the stuff come through Reading West anyway,good for HST`s & units though obviously.

I found Reading to be a busy station regarding passenger trains, but rather slow on freight until early afternoon.
Should you need any class 43's then this is the place to go as i noted 79 during a 4 hour period, as so many pass to & from Paddington.
On the day i visited 7 class 59's came through in 4 hours and a class 67.
Plenty of class 165/166's.
The station staff were friendly and most helpful - no problems with taking photos, having said that Reading is not the most photogenic station.
Good food places on the platforms, so no need to go off to find anything to eat.
I arrived by train from Paddington so cannot give any info regarding parking etc.

Reading is my local station which I pass (over the footbridge) at least twice a day to/from work. There is always plenty going on, but the action is very much HST's, 220/1's, 180's, 165/6's, 450's, 458's and the occasional 170. Freight does come through, mainly aggregate trains from the SW with the usual choice of 59's/66's, but freightliners do pass as do the occasional "one off's".
The biggest put off's are that there is nowhere that gives visibility of everything and you get to miss the freightliners inbound from the West that are heading South.
For less than a couple of quid a day return to Tilehurst will let you see what's in the West Yard (6+ fred sheds at w/e's) and anything unusual on the depot (various HST power cars have been stored there). As they are opposite sides of the line, you can get one side on the way out and the other on the way back.
Personally, I've cleared the HST's and 165/6's so much prefer the activity at Didcot (£6 day return).
The town centre is minutes away and has everything! Parking is horrendous - £12+ for a day.

Im not as enthusiastic as the person who wrote below , but Reading does have plenty going on , mostly GWT HSTs and 180s along with Thames trains and numourous Voyagers. However I found freight a little slow through the daytime and got fairly bored apart from a flourish early afternoon. Maybe better at Didcot AM then to Reading for lunchtime ?
The auto barriers are a pain as it takes your outward ticket when you go off the platforms so getting out a second time you have to ask a member of staff to open the gates !

Reading is a brilliant station!
Swindon end of platform five is the best place to be (next to the bay platform), as you see everything except the southern platforms. There is a coffee place a few yards away that have really friendly staff and the station is comfortable to be in for a long period of time (personally spent 10 hours on a december day there and thoroughly enjoyed it!) the only problem is the automated ticket barriers, which means that you need to travel by train to get to the platforms, but for most people that would all be part of the fun!
Along with Thames trains turbos, First HST's and Virgin voyagers and super-voyagers, there are also mail and numerous freight services that regularly pass through the station
All in all a first class location!