Buggleskelly Books
- Sussex Motorman
- The Hubert Hobden Memoirs Volume Two: 1935-1961
- In this sequel to the acclaimed companion volume Sussex Engineman, The Hubert Hobden Memoirs Volume One: 1913 - 1935 Hubert recounts his period as a Motorman on the Southern Railway up to his retirement in 1961. This unique account, which covers nearly three decades, describes his experiences as one of the very first drivers to work the newly-electrified line to Eastbourne and Hastings. Based at Ore depot, but no stranger to the Brighton Belle, he relates working practices, the perils of the war years, and recalls a host of long-gone railway characters. Also included are the previously unpublished accounts of four of Hubert's contemporaries; signalman Pat Harmer, driver Peter Dove, and Lancing electricians Bill Oliver and Lionel Pilbeam
- 2009, 148 gloss pages, 136 photographs, illustrations and maps including 62 colour images, A5 Laminated Card Covers
News Presenter and Rail Enthusiast, Nick Owen says...
"A fascinating bit of social history from the middle of the last century. A memoir from a countryman who ended up as a train driver around Sussex and the London area, a stickler for the rules and regulations in a way that did not always make him popular with his colleagues, bosses - or, quite often, with his passengers!"
- Sussex Engineman
- The Hubert Hobden Memoirs Volume One: 1913-1935
- Hubert Hobden was born in 1896, close to Kipling's 'Pook's Hill', in deepest Sussex. He had no intention of working on the farm like his father. He wanted to be an engine driver.
- He joined the LB&SCR in 1913 as a cleaner at Eastbourne shed and during the next 22 years he was promoted to fireman and driver. This is the story of his experiences on and off the footplate, working long closed routes such as the 'Cuckoo' line and the Crumbles branch.
- Hubert faithfully records the railway scene of some eighty years ago and the many vibrant characters he encountered. Here, for the very first time in print, is a rare and deliciously detailed account of southern railways. A time when electrification was in its infancy, the main line diesel locomotive was still to appear and steam really was the King of the Iron Road...
- 2007, 102 gloss pages, 75 photographs, illustrations and maps including 21 colour images, A5 Laminated Card Covers
- Nine Elms
- This book combines the largely previously unseen work of two accomplished photographers, George Marsh and Clinton Shaw, along with the notes and captions of former driver Jim Evans. George, an early associate of master lensman C. T. Gifford, is no stranger to the readers of our publications. His undated monochrome images, which are shown in order of locomotive number, capture the dawning years of the 1960s, a period when Pre-Grouping engines still shared pit road and siding space with their Southern and Standard sisters.
- George, who lived in nearby Wimbledon, writes, "Nine Elms, situated on a spur off the main line between Vauxhall and Queens Road stations, was a large motive power depot with a good variety of engines. I was there many evenings during the week. Visits were permitted with the Stephenson Locomotive Society and also by asking to go round. Afterwards I would return to Wimbledon by train via Victoria to see C. T. Gifford off to Iford."
- Clinton Shaw is a truly dedicated and prolific transport photographer. He believes in recording all locomotives, rolling stock, the surrounding infrastructure and the railway workers themselves. Clinton's colour slide images, his complete collection of the shed dating from 1967 and into 1968, continue this visual record and are shown in chronological order. While eight of these images have appeared in print once before this is the first time that all of them have been published in their original colour.
- Jim Evans, railwayman and raconteur, genuinely needs little introduction to Southern enthusiasts. His career has been chronicled in two very well received autobiographies, Man of the Southern and From Booking Boy to Bulleids, and assorted articles. As a teenage booking boy in Bournemouth box he witnessed Bulleid Pacifics on trial and he was on the footplate of No. 35030 Elder Dempster Lines at Nine Elms on the very last day of Southern steam some thirty years later.
- For the railway enthusiast the Elms in its heyday was a place little short of wonder and worship. However for the railwayman it was a workplace. The graft was hard, dirty and poorly paid. Even getting to work had risks as this short anecdote reveals.
- This then is a pictorial record of the last years of Nine Elms shed, the final bastion of British Railways steam in London, serving the last main line express steam services in the country.
- 2008, 52 gloss pages, 39 Black & White and 42 Colour photographs, A5 Laminated Card Covers
Enquire or Order
Steam on Southern Metals
by George Marsh and Michael Webb.
Edited by Anthony P.Vent
In this sequel to his acclaimed volume "Steam on Scottish Metals" photographer George Marsh turns his lens to Southern routes. George takes us on a decidedly steamy tour down the South Western main line from Waterloo to Weymouth, then from Salisbury to Exeter and points west, and finally the Somerset & Dorset and the Isle of Wight.
This collection of more than 120 previously unseen images is an ideal introduction to the work of this important, but lesser known, chronicler of the age of steam. The George Marsh photo archive numbers around 10,000 images.
It is hoped that there will be more volumes to follow!
A5 size, Laminated Card Covers, Buggleskelly Books
ONLY A FEW COPIES NOW LEFT
Return to Top of PageSteam on Scottish Metals
by George Marsh and Michael Webb.
Edited by Anthony P.Vent
During the first half of the 1960s photographer George Marsh, armed with a photography permit and a Rover ticket, made a series of tours of the Scottish Region.
Here, for the very first time, are a selection of more than 100 carefully chosen images, all previously unseen, recording the vanishing railway scene prior to the end of steam and widespread closures.
Laminated Card Covers, Buggleskelly Books
Return to Top of PageThe Rise and Fall of Wimborne Station
by Michael Webb and Michael Webb
Wimborne station, Dorset, closed to passenger traffic on May 2nd 1964. This A5-sized booklet, published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of its closure, combines a history of the station with Michael Webb's personal account of his time there in the 1940s and 1950s.
It is illustrated with a selection of previously unpublished photographs by George Marsh. A rare read for both railway historians and local residents alike.
Gloss booklet, Buggleskelly Books
Return to Top of PageSteam, Sidings and Semaphores
by Brian Groome
A set of six black and white postcards depicting Southern Railway locomotives taken by ex-Railway Inspector Brian Groome c. 1949. Sadly Brian died suddenly shortly after their publication.
There has been considerable interest in his career and photos and extracts of his unpublished autobiography have since appeared in issues of Traction and Back Track magazines courtesy of Buggleskelly Books. It is hoped more will follow.
A single print run of 500 sets only.
Return to Top of Page
Southern Steam at Eastbourne 1948-1950
by Brian Groome
A set of six previously unseen black and white photographs by ex-Railway Inspector Brian Groome c. 1949. The photographs came complete with captions, a numbered Souvenir Sheet signed by the photographer and an evocative 8000-word account of the photographer's railway career in Sussex in the 1950s.
Price - N/A - Out of print.
Return to Top of Page