English: Foster Yeoman train at Reading West This is locomotive 59004 Paul A Hammond on one of the regular quarry stone workings from the Mendips to Acton. It is seen passing Reading West station, having come up the Berks and Hants line through Newbury and about to turn onto the Great Western main line towards London. The Brunel-designed and grade II listed Tilehurst Road Bridge can be seen in the background.

There are eight locomotives of similar design used on the Foster Yeoman and Hanson ARC workings, maintained as a joint fleet by Mendip Rail. This one was built by General Motors in 1985 and was originally named Yeoman Challenger but was renamed Paul A Hammond in 1996. He is the Managing Director of Yeoman Aggregates.

On the down platform is a HST (High Speed Train) 2+8 car stop marker. This indicates the point at which an HST with two power cars and eight carriages should stop. These signs have been erected recently, possibly in anticipation of more long distance services using local stations in the Reading area whilst Reading station is rebuilt during 2009 and 2010.

The line through Reading West is particularly congested, being between Southcote junction (half a mile south of this picture) where the lines to Basingstoke and Newbury diverge, and Reading Triangle junctions (behind the photographer) where the four-track Great Western main line is joined in both directions. In addition to passenger trains, this section of line carries many freight trains from Southampton docks to the Midlands as well as the afore-mentioned quarry trains.

To cap it all the Google Maps aerial photograph shows the tracks underneath Tilehurst Road bridge (in the background) as having a serious kink. See http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nearby.org.uk%2FgoogleEarth.kml.php%3Flat%3D51.456099308%26long%3D-0.986719378336%26zoom%3D11&zoom=11 This seems to be where two aerial photos have been joined. It is a wonder that any trains can pass here at all.