Kevin (Author) Robertson

Between 1922 and 1934 the late E. Wallis was employed by the Signal Department of the Southern Railway. During this time he went to work with a glass-plate camera recording scenes and locations - not trains - often from the lofty vantage point of a convenient signal! The result is a veritable feast of detail hitherto largely ignored by contemporary photographers or either impossible to access. The Wallis archive is considerable, in excess of 1,000 period images, few of which have ever been seen before. Now thanks to the Wallis family, Noodle Books have been granted permission to the entire collection. This new volume has collected together some of the very best images covering all three areas of the SR, fromthe SECR, LBSCR through to the LSWR. Detailed and informative captions complete a book that surely deserves a prominent place on the bookshelves of every Southern enthusiast.

The story of the Meon Valley Railway has been broken into three volumes by expert railway author Kevin Robertson, each of them covering a specific time span. The third volume tells the story of the railway in its final months leading to closure, the last trains and then the gradual decay that naturally followed. However, this is not a book full of depressing images, instead it follows how sections remained in operational use for some years afterwards and also recounts the story of the abortive preservation scheme at Droxford. The book is also alive with stories and folklore from staff and passengers alike. Enthusiasts and locals will be enthralled by this last volume, not least by the specially commissioned painting for the jacket, depicting the station at Wickham by renowned railway artist Sean Bolan.

Kevin Robertson, whose previous two books on Blue Pullman trains have received widespread acclaim, has now sourced even more new illustrative material to produce a new title. This book reveals even more material on both the Midland and Western trainsets.

This title focuses on the operational years of what was a rural backwater. The years featured are from 1904 to 1955, although right from the start the owning company, the LSWR, must have realised that it was a line that could never attract business on its own.

The Meon Valley Railway (MVR) was a cross-country railway in Hampshire that ran for 22.5 miles between Alton and Fareham, closely following the course of the River Meon. The railway was authorized in 1896 and opened in 1903, making it one of the last railways of any size to be built to main-line standards in the United Kingdom. This informative new book contains the first full set of construction photographs for any railway in the south of England. Taken from the perspective of the surveyor, Navvy, his family, and the local populace, this is an amazing record displaying the impact of building a new railway had on an otherwise untouched landscape. The images are also seen in their original sepia form, without recourse to modern-day toning. The sixty-four pages portray what is intended to be the first of a three-part work on the Meon Valley Railway. This first volume covers the early years from 1899 through to 1903.

Fifty years ago, it was still possible, just, to travel to some of the former Southern Railway holiday destinations in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Since that time the ravages of economics and the impact of the motor car have resulted in most of these locations no longer being accessible by train and of those few that do survive, certainly not behind steam. It is a pleasure then to present an album of views covering these former SR lines, both branch and main, seen for the first time through a totally unpublished collection of colour material. We start in Dorset, not forgetting a brief look at the 'Somerset & Dorset', then through Somerset to Devon: with a wonderful portrayal of Exeter Central, before venturing further west through, Barnstaple, towards Ilfracombe, Torrington, Padstow and Bude. This is a carefully chosen selection of images that will conjure memories for those who witnessed such times, and regret in the minds of those unable to have seen such things for themselves.

A veritable feast of nostalgia aimed at the enthusiast and modeller alike as well as those who just like to sit and browse, remembering the days when trains whistled, clanked, and puffed