Fun with Southern Steam in the 1960s

Opening our 2023-24 season was Malcolm Garner with his presentation Fun with Southern Steam in the 1960s. Malcolm was due to visit last December but seasonal weather put that idea in the bin. Malcolm centred his presentation on Guildford where lines from different directions converged on the station. To the north, under the lengthy University Bridge (known locally as the Monkey Bridge) came the lines from Reading (left), Woking (middle) and Effingham Jct. (right) and heading south lines diverged towards Redhill (right) and Godalming (left). Alongside the station was Guildford shed which hosted a wide variety of Southern locomotives and later BR Standards. School was in Woking so Malcolm would time his journeys in order to travel behind steam – local stopping services were electric units but the express services between London and the south coast were still steam hauled. Early in his working life, travel to Surbiton was possible by steam – with a slightly inventive way of getting there! Then and now images of Guildford showed how the city has evolved, reference points being the station and Cathedral. We saw images of Maunsell and Urie Ns, Qs, Bulleid Q1s, West Country, Battle of Britain, the occasional Merchant Navy, and then Riddles Standard 5s, with 4-COR and 2-BIL units representing the electric era. It was clear that Malcolm’s railway education was indeed ‘fun’!