Southern Steam: The Railway Photographs of R.J. (Ron) Buckley

The evocative photographs of railwayman Ron Buckley reveal the story of steam on the Southern Railway Ron Buckley’s evocative photographs reveal the changing scene of the Southern Railway, illustrating from the later 1930s those regrouping classes that were still working. These included the work of such well-known designers as Dugald Drummond and Robert Urie of the London and South Western Railway, the Billingtons and Earle Marsh of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway and Harry Wainwright and Richard Maunsell of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Ron’s later photographs, from 1946 onwards, continue to show remaining working pre- grouping locomotives and also portray the newer Oliver Bulleid-designed Pacifics introduced during 1941. Visits to the Isle of Wight during the 1930s, ‘40s '50s and '60s enabled him to capture images of almost the entire fleet of locomotives working there during those four decades. AUTHOR: Ron Buckley is 95 years old and has been photographing railways since the age of 15. He joined the LM&SR as a wages clerk in 1934 and retired in 1977 after over 42 years’ service with the railways. He lives in Staffordshire. Brian Dickson worked in publishing for over 35 years. Now a volunteer locomotive fireman and driver at a heritage railway, he has previously written ‘Diesel Power in the North East and Scottish Steam’ for The History Press. SELLING POINTS: . Photographs of the Southern Railway region from 1936 to 1966 . Unique and previously unpublished archive . Ron Buckley enjoyed a 42-year career working on the railways and was a regular visitor to the Southern Railway . With detailed captions from the editor, Brian Dickson, a respected railway author 170 b/w illustrations