The first of two volumes covering the railways of the South East, this book focuses mainly on Sussex but also includes small sections of Surrey and Kent. It concentrates on locomotive-hauled traffic and details a wide range of trains including inter-regional passenger, parcels and mail, fuel, heavy freight, test trains, engineers traffic, Rail Head Treatment Trains, Snow and Ice Treatment Trains, railtour excursions and the luxurious Orient Express. An extensive range of different liveries, many now consigned to history on the main line, are shown.

There is also a small selection of DEMUs in some of the areas they once operated.

Over 180 colour photographs, the vast majority of which have never been published before, serve to illustrate some of the wonderful countryside to be found in this corner of England as well as the trains that run through it. They are complemented by informative captions detailing not only the trains themselves but also some of the infrastructure and features found along the routes covered.