MARSDEN RAIL VOLUME 29 SOUTHERN REGION STEAM PART TWO 235D

MARSDEN RAIL VOLUME 29 SOUTHERN REGION STEAM PART TWO 235D

This is the second programme in the Marsden Rail series to feature steam locomotives at work on the Southern Region of British Railways and complements Volume 25 ‘Southern Region Steam – Part One’. The programme starts at London’s Waterloo Station and is followed by views at Vauxhall and Clapham Junction. Also included is a journey on the last scheduled regular steam service to operate from Clapham Junction to Kensington Olympia. Leaving the capital on the former London & South Western Railway’s route to Southampton, we witness scenes at Guildford, Woking and Worting Junction with a wide variety of steam classes at work. From Guildford’s Peasmarsh Junction, the line to Christ’s Hospital and Shoreham is traced, with almost every station on this now-closed route featured. Services in and around Eastleigh and Southampton then precede a crossing of the Solent on board a British Railways ferry to the Isle of Wight. At its peak, the Isle of Wight’s rail system could boast a route network totalling more than fifty miles served, until 1966, entirely by steam. This fascinating network of island services was handled by ex-LSWR Class ‘02’ 0-4-4 tank locomotives and pre-grouping stock which created an almost “Edwardian” atmosphere. The Isle of Wight scenes, captured on film from the late 1950s until steam traction ended in December 1966, are a major highlight of this absorbing programme.

63 minutes