Joint Railways Eastern and Southern England

The pre-Grouping Companies were fiercely competitive and would defend any incursion by another company penetrating what they considered to be their ‘territories’. Nevertheless, at times they would cooperate. This cooperation resulted in a large number of Joint lines. These Joint lines ranged from fully independent operations, complete with their own staffs, locomotives and rolling stock, to short lengths of railway used by the Joint companies, the cost of maintenance of which was shared. There were more than seventy of these Joint lines, and all feature in this series by popular railway author Patrick Bennett. This volume focuses on those found in Eastern and Southern England.

A lifelong railway enthusiast, Patrick pursued a varied career, ending up as a lecturer in further education. Retirement to France in 2007 brought the chance to also study the railways of his adopted country, resulting in a number of books on the history of French railways.