The RC Riley Colour Collection – Southern Region Main Lines has been compiled by Howard Cook from R C Riley images held in the Transport Treasury Archive.
Renowned photographer R C Riley had an eye for composition and could present the train and the railway in accord – the railway as part of the overall scene. He lived on the Southern, in the south east corner of London (more accurately Kent) and set out to record the trains running on the main lines of the Southern. The main lines of the Southern encompassed those routes east through Kent, south to Brighton and south / south-west to Bournemouth, Exeter, and Plymouth. Dick had his own transport and he would venture forth on regular sorties, often staying away for days at a time seeking out vantage points.
Once upon a time steam was dominant on all of these lines, but electrification arrived in Sussex during the 1930s, extending into Kent from 1959 onwards and finally to Bournemouth (and Weymouth) in 1967 and thereafter. As change took place so the named trains of the steam era would slowly pass into oblivion; the ‘Thanet Belle’, the ‘Bournemouth Belle’ and perhaps the most famed of all the ‘Atlantic Coast Express’, all would vanish as route ownership passed beyond the control of Waterloo or the lines and destinations once served lost their railway connection. Last to go were the ‘Brighton Belle’ and ‘Golden Arrow’ both of which managed to survive into the early 1970s, although a pale shadow of their former glory.
The results of Dick’s trips are seen here, collated in this form for the first time, a veritable feast for those who can recall that time, or perhaps wish they been with Dick on his travels.
118 colour photographs. Hardback. 128 pages.