10th May 2022: Southern Steam 1897-1967 on Film
![Southern Railway (ex LBSCR) D1 class 0-4-2T No. 2356 propels a Horsham train out of Shoreham-by-Sea, as filmed by Eric Sparks, ca. 1938. Image credit: Old Steam Railways, ca. 1938 filmed by Eric Sparks [Screen Archive South East]](https://rcts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/croydon-south-london-branch/2022/3378aprint300.jpg "3378aprint300")
At our meeting on 10th May 2022, a select few gathered to see 'Southern Steam 1897-1967 on Film', presented (with their kind permission) from a set of DVDs produced by the Screen Archive South East and West Sussex Record Office. We commenced with 'The Arrival of a Train at Hove Station' in 1897, behind an LBSCR 'Gladstone' 0-4-2 - a brief clip from the dawn of cinematagraphy, 125 years ago. This was followed by a series of clips, taken by various local cameramen, of steam in action on main lines and country byways of the former Southern Railway over the years, culminating in scenes of Bulleid pacifics departing from Waterloo at the end of regular Southern Steam in 1967.
Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England, whose function is to collect, preserve, research and provide access to screen material related to this region and of general relevance to the study of screen history. As part of this, they have collected and preserved archive film of steam railways in Southern England – from the earliest days of cinematography in 1897 until the end of steam in 1967 – and have published a trio of DVDs featuring it, from which this presentation is drawn.