New book: Southern Style - Southern Railway

[corneliuslundie]

Following on from volumes on the L&SWR, LB&SCR and the Southern Railway 1946 to 1964, the latest volume in the “Southern Style” series from the Historical Model Railway Society (HMRS) covers the period from when the Southern Railway was formed in 1922 to Nationalisation in 1946.   

The three principal companies which formed the Southern Railway all had distinctive characters, and it took some time and experimentation for a new corporate design approach to be developed.  This was undoubtedly influenced by the team brought in by the General Manager to give the company a modern image. After a period of stability, the appointment of Oliver Bulleid in 1937 led to a new period of experimentation, only to be curtailed by the outbreak of World War II.  Once things began to return to normal, Bulleid was able to continue his experiments and develop a new house style, only to have his work cut short by Nationalisation. 

This volume takes up the story in 1922 and charts the development of the company’s liveries through this turbulent period on everything from locomotives to lamp posts, carriages to containers and wagons to signalling equipment.  The author has made extensive use of contemporary written sources, the meticulous records kept by several observers, the vast number of photographs taken during the period and also original paint samples from a number of sources. It should prove an invaluable, authoritative source of information for the modeller of the Southern Railway and those restoring the artefacts of that company, as well as a permanent record of the liveries of the Southern Railway during its 25 year existence.

The volume includes details of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway’s liveries from 1898 until closure and the blue Somerset & Dorset carriage livery of the 1920s.

Supplied with the book is a card containing 17 carefully prepared paint samples covering all the principal paint colours used by the Southern Railway.

Now at last available. Publication has ben delayed by the current crisis as the HMRS has not until recently had access to its Museum & Study Centre on the MRT site.

But it can now be ordered via the website.

As the person who put this book together for the author and the HMRS, I can only say that it is just about the most comprehensive description of railway liveries I have ever seen. A fitting completion to John Harvey's work.

Edited September 24, 2020 by corneliuslundie