This book is a collection of the authors' photographs of trains on the Southern Region from the late 1940s until the end of steam in the 1960s.
A very useful map is included showing the locations where the images were taken.
Published in March 2023 by Amberley Publishing and written by Brian Reading and Ian Reading this soft cover book measures around 23.4 cm x 16.5 cm, has 96 pages and 180 illustrations, and has a published price of £15.99, but at the time of writing it can be purchased for £14.39 from Amberley Publishing and for £12.29 from Amazon.
A three-page introduction describes the creation of the Southern Region from the former Southern Railway, and an appreciation of Oliver Bulleid, the designer of the West Country, Battle of Britain, and Merchant Navy Pacifics.
There follows sections which the authors have titled “sequences” rather than sections or chapters, that cover: Waterloo, London sheds, and the South Western main line to Weymouth; Exeter to Andover Junction with a detour to Bath on the Somerset & Dorset; Winnersh to Newhaven via Redhill and Tunbridge Wells West; Wadebridge to Ilfracombe via Halwill, Bude and Barnstaple; Eastleigh Works and the Brighton Belle; and Ryde Pier to Ventnor via Havenstreet and Newport.
Other than the routes listed, there is virtually no coverage of lines in southeast England, such as from London Victoria, Cannon Street or London Bridge to Dover, Brighton or Portsmouth. There is also a complete absence of photographs of Southern Region electric multiple units.
From opening the first page, it is immediately apparent that the authors have concentrated on a very few locations on the former London and Southwestern lines from Waterloo to the West of England.
The first six images are of trains at Waterloo Station and eight of locomotives outside Waterloo signal box, with three of them being virtually identical shots of Bulleid Pacifics.
A multiplicity of images from the same locations follow with five at London sheds, five on Basingstoke shed, an overwhelming 37 in and around Bournemouth, and 14 at Weymouth, but none at all of the boat trains that used to run through the streets of Weymouth.
The map below illustrates the different routes covered by the book, but equally it shows how few locations have been chosen, such as just six for the route from London to Exeter.
It also highlights the odd choice of Winnersh to Newhaven as a route, when Winnersh is a halt yet the line's terminus is at Reading just five miles away.
Judging by the identical backdrop to the photos below, this must have been a favourite location for the authors. However, including eight photographs from this same location is rather excessive.
The photos on the left below are the last two in the sequence from Waterloo to Weymouth. However, although Western Region locomotives were a familiar sight in Weymouth, it seems strange that the authors have not chosen Southern Region locomotives as subjects in a book titled Southern Railways.
The right-hand page is the first in the Exeter to Andover Junction sequence, and whilst these are of Southern Region locomotives, there is a paucity of photographic locations in this sequence, with 18 photographs being taken at either Exeter Central or Exmouth Junction shed, and an excessive 29 at Salisbury.
Paying lip service to the section titled Winnersh to Newhaven via Redhill and Tunbridge Wells West is a single photograph taken at Newhaven, the photo at top left below showing E4 Class No. 32509.
This is a very illogical section, as it starts at Winnersh rather than the start of the line at Reading just five miles away.
Also, the section should have ended at Redhill as that is the end of the North Downs Line from Reading. Tunbridge Wells West and Newhaven are on completely different routes.
Although the pages below are from the section titled Eastleigh Works and the Brighton Belle, none of the photographs in this section are of Eastleigh Works as they were all taken at Eastleigh shed. The section's theme of “Brighton Belle” is satisfied by the photograph at the bottom right, but it is a very poor example as it shows a Brighton Belle set in the unfamiliar British Rail blue and cream livery rather than the more-familiar Pullman livery. However, this is an enigma, as it shows the train in Suffolk after its withdrawal from service, many miles distant from its home territory.
Although the book's title is Southern and Isle of Wight Railways, the book limits its coverage to mostly the London and Southwestern lines from Waterloo, with no photos at all of the Southern's fleet of electric multiple units working out of Victoria, London Bridge, or Charing Cross.
A sequence that purportedly covers the Brighton Belle includes just a single photograph of the famous train, but not in its familiar Pullman livery and as a sad sight in Suffolk well away from the Southern Region.
With such a far-flung region, from London to Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, the book is notable that the majority of photographs were taken in just a few locations, with sometimes identical views other than of different locomotives.
It also seems strange that although Western Region locomotives were a familiar sight in some locations on the routes covered, in a book on Southern Railways the photograph on the back cover is of a Western Region locomotive.
All photographs have extensive captions, but often include far too much extraneous information, such as one of the photographs of Templecombe that includes “Throop Road, the vantage point for an earlier picture, runs past the lattice fence in the distance and over a bridge out-of-frame on the right”.
It would have been useful to provide a detailed index.
The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Amberley Publishing.
We would like to thank Amberley Publishing for providing us with a copy of the book for review.
