From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #10

Bird's Eye Foods Ltd, Walton-on-Thames.

Six subsidiaries of Unilever Ltd have moved out of London in the space of two years. One of them Bird's Eye Foods Ltd., went to Walton-on-Thames and another, Mac Fisheries Ltd., went to Bracknell. Unilever's verdict: 'The result has been improved efficiency and, as far as one can judge at this early stage, every one of our moves has been a success.'.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #9

Commuting in reverse: None of the daily pushing and shoving here, the frantic search for a vacant seat, the uncomfortable journey. They can pick and choose where to sit, stretch out their legs and travel in style. And there is an abundance of seats on these 'wrong-way' trains for others to do just the same. The trick is, of course, to organise your work - or have it organised for you - so that it takes place outside of Central London.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #8

Third-Class passengers

At one time there were also 'third class' carriages which were not only windowless but roofless as well...
...The rattling pig-pens on wheels, misnamed third-class carriages (before the late alterations) were despicable affairs, with the wonderful property if always meeting the rain in whatever quarter the wind might be blowing. They were a species of horizontal shower-bath, from whose searching power there was no escape.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #7

Second-Class passengers

Your regular second-class travellers are deep fellows. They come early to get a back seat - or at all events, to sit with their backs to the engine.
They watch the weathercocks too, and make their selection of place according to the wind [ED.: there was no glass in the windows then] and if it be warm weather, are chatty and communicative, especially as many of them are in the habit of meeting every day in the train. But in cold weather the second-class travellers talk but little. They wrap up the minute they get into the train, preparing for the worst; and after a few exchanged courtesis - lending an umbrella to the outsider, or spreading a cloak over two or three pairs of knees - you hear their voices no more.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #6

First-Class passengers

Although comfortable enough, there is little sociability in a first-class carriage on a railway; everybody seems to have an idea that he is the only one who is really entitled, by payment and position, to a seat therein, and so is afraid of compromising his dignity by speaking. There is consequently no conversation: the heads of the four corner occupants are usually looking out of the windows, and the centre ones look at each other.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #5

Every morning, the Southern runs hundreds of trains into London. Virtually all are crowded. Some are jam-packed. Yet, at the same time, an equal number of trains are running almost empty. They are travelling out of London, against the flow.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #4

For the Southern [region], meeting this demand requires a total of 7,000 trains a day running 60,000,000 miles a year. More than a quarter of these trains run in the two short peak periods of each day. A bird's eye view of the south east in the rush hour would show a fascinating picture of green streaks seperated by less than a mile all moving, as if drawn by a magnet, towards the centre.
Between 08.10 and 08.20 no fewer than 37 trains every minute are converging on London, most of them running on a two-minute gap between trains and their timetables worked out to the second - 20 seconds is, in fact, the waiting time allowed at most stations.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #3

Hard as it must be for the rush-hour commuter, jammed in the corridor, to believe it but he is not even a particularly profitable customer. The reason is that satisfying the needs of hundreds of thousands of commuters simultaneously means providing carriages, track and staff that either stand idle or are under used for the rest of the day.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #1

Commuters

Commuting is disagreeable. Wasteful of time, money and energy - but also, it seems, an inevitable consequence of material prosperity.
Indeed, the more prosperous we become, the worse it gets. There are more cars on the roads, more people working shorter hours - and better able to afford the advantage of living well out of London - and even more crowding into the trains.
Possibly the ban on office building in central London will help; it is even possible, though unlikely, that office hours will be staggered one day.

By Ian Waller.

From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 - Introduction

Introduction

I hope that this handbook will interest our customers and provide useful information as well on the services which British Railways in general, and the Southern Region in particular, can now offer.
We are naturally taking this opportunity to explain some of our problems and to publicise many of our achievements. But our prime purpose has been to produce a book of general value to all who live in the South.
We shall be revising and re-issuing this handbook each year and recovering most of its cost from advertisements and the revenue from sales.
I hope that when you have read it you will feel that we have achieved most of what we set out to do - and that you will look forward with pleasure to the next edition.

D. McKenna, General Manager, Southern Region