Southern to the Coast- Images from the Transport Treasury Archive

Not for nothing was the Southern Railway referred to as the Holiday Line. Services departed from its major London termini to the coastal counties of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Indeed throughout the Summer months as well as on bank-holiday weekends, throngs of trippers would arrive at the principal stations, some destined for a simple day out by the seaside whilst others would be looking forward to their annual week or fortnight's break. It was at times like these that the concourses at Charing Cross, Victoria, London Bridge and Waterloo would quickly fill much to the disruption of the ordinary passenger and at times the railway operator. However, a well-tried and practised railway coped well even if some services needed to be duplicated and even triplicated at times. In this new book author Jeffery Grayer has trawled through the Transport Treasury archive to rekindle memories of a railway both under pressure and at its best.