Southern Electric Album

Whilst most of the railway network stayed with predominantly steam powered trains until the 1950s, the railways of the south of England went for electrification early on. By the 1930s, hundreds of miles of track were electrified using the Southern Railway's electrified third rails and to this day the majority of railways in the south and south-east are powered by this method.

This is a lovely photographic album published in 1977 and written by Alan Williams covering all aspects of the railways of the south from the earliest days through to the present (well mid-1970s anyway). A lot of historical and quite obscure rolling stock is included such as the original Waterloo & City Railway stock (which until the 1990s was part of the national network not London Underground). A great book full of atmospheric shots, though all in black and white.

These photographs of mine showing vintage and preserved Southern electric stock are in colour though!