Bulleid ‘Pacifics’ racing third-rail Electric Multiple Units might be many people’s vision of the Southern Railway, but as GRAHAM MUSPRATT explains, from bucolic branch lines to archaic tank engines, there was much more to this famous company.
Above: Signatures of the Southern: Bulleid rebuilt ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2 35001 Channel Packet passes Durnsford Road power station with the 10.30am London Waterloo-Bournemouth express formed of Bulleid 63ft 6in coaches on July 25 1964. In the background the carriage sheds are home to a collection of EMUs including 4-COR, 4-EPB, and 4-SUB types. Brian Stephenson.
THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY was born with the Grouping of 1923 and became the smallest of the ‘Big Four’. Unlike the others, most of its income came from passenger traffic rather than freight. It was primarily an amalgamation of four main companies - the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) and two railways in the South East. These were the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) which operated via the South Eastern and Chatham Railways (SECR) Companies Joint Management Committee.
The LSWR operated trains from London Waterloo to the South West includi…
