This concludes Peter Tatlow’s pioneering trilogy on the goods business of the L&NER. The conveyance of mundane goods traffic was the source of almost two-thirds of its total income, around twice that of the more glamorous job of carrying passengers and their luggage. This respected author sets the record straight by describing how the L&NER served the nation by delivering the goods and minerals entrusted to it. In this final volume, his attention is directed towards the description of goods activities in the L&NER’s Southern Area during its existence (1923-1949). This was an era without motorways, HGVs loaded with ISO containers or centrally generated electricity – a time before oil and gas from the North Sea resulted in the demise of the numerous humble steam-hauled goods trains.