Think of Devon and Cornwall and the image that comes to mind is usually red sandstone cliffs and glorious beaches. Such indeed is the southern coast of both counties but the north tended to be more rugged and it was in the main to this area that the Southern Railway routes into Devon and Cornwall reached and which are the subject of this new colour book from the archives of the late R C Riley. ‘Dick’ Riley travelled widely with his camera capturing the railway scene in the late 1950s, a scene which was soon to change in consequence of Beeching just a few years later. Referred to as ‘The Withered Arm’, the Southern lines west of Exeter saw vast peaks of traffic in the summer months and the complete opposite in winter. Engines would meander their way across lofty viaducts and through barren countryside to reach destinations such as Bude, Padstow and Ilfracombe and en-route passing the camera of Dick Riley. This is a special book with many previously unseen images. It is a book to savour at leisure and in so doing rekindle memories or moments of longing.

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