The RC Riley Colour Collection – Southern Locomotives has been compiled by Dave Wilson from R C Riley images held in the Transport Treasury Archive.
On today’s standardised railway it can sometimes be hard to recall the days, over 60 years ago, when almost every train seen would be different from the next. Fixed formation sets operated almost only on electric workings, the exception being the pull-push sets that plied their trade on the various Southern branch lines. Curiously, the pre-grouping classes of steam engine also seemed to keep much to their original owner’s lines, although there were of course exceptions. To see the complete fleet of locomotives, the enthusiast (or photographer) had to travel and although train travel may have been preferred, road transport was often more flexible, allowing the individual to park alongside a line, or visit out of the way locations that were infrequently, or even inconveniently, served by train. R C Riley was a man with many credentials, he had his own transport, used Kodak colour film and he had an ‘eye’ for composition; rarely was it a ‘point and shoot’ (and hope!) exposure.
Count the number of different steam classes that might be seen up to the end of 1962 and the total was well into double figures, although that number was slashed dramatically in the great cull that occurred that year, when so many serviceable engines were simply cast aside. Dick Riley’s images capture the scene both prior to 1962 and following. A time when engines might still be seen in gleaming paintwork and before the accumulated grime of the mid 1960s became commonplace. Feast then on the products of Messrs. Bulleid, Maunsell, Urie, Riddles and others, in scenes and at locations that are now changed beyond recognition.
136 colour photographs. Hardback. 128 pages.