Today will see the celebratory launch of an innovative new series of books on Isle of Wight Railways, by author and publisher, Ian Drummond.

Southern Rails on the Isle of Wight Volume One: The Central and Freshwater Lines by Holne Publishing, is the first in a two volume history of the railways of the Isle of Wight.   And the first in the Southern Rails series of books, which will eventually cover all the lines of the former Southern Railway.

Volume Two of the series will feature the Ventnor and Bembridge lines, along with features on the locomotives and rolling stock, and electrification. This volume will also cover the history of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. For the third volume attention will switch to the mainland and the railways around Southampton, as Ian finally makes use of the research he did all those years ago.

Author, Ian Drummond, has been a life-long railway enthusiast, and railway modeller.  Having been born and raised in Southampton, he has been a volunteer on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for over 30 years.  Ian now lives in Leeds, with his wife Diane, who is an internationally known railway historian in her own right.

The aim of these books is to bridge the gap between those books which contain mainly photos, and those that take the form of a substantive history. This will enable both the general reader and the enthusiast to gain a greater insight into the history of the lines, without being overwhelmed with detail.

These books also make use of the latest innovations in publishing technology to present the photographs and text in an attractive manner. Colour and black and white photographs are mixed together the colour helping to ‘lift’ the black and white photographs, an illusion aided by a three-dimensional effect which gives a more dynamic impact to the presentation of the photographs. The effect can even make familiar historical photos take on a new dimension.

Computer technology has also been used to produce colour plans of most of the stations based on historical Ordnance Survey maps (see right). There are also colour maps of the lines, which are again produced by a similar technique (see next page). Also included are original ephemera such as plans, tickets, timetables, photos of original signs etc. Most of this material has been supplied by the Isle of Wight Steam Railway Archive, to whom a percentage of any profit will be donated.

The object of all this effort is to seek to produce a series of books with the highest quality of presentation and content. This has been a steep learning curve, and a lot of lessons have been learnt, which hopefully will make subsequent volumes even better.