15th February 2000 - Roy Underdown Pavilion

We all know that there is a railway line on the Isle of Wight, but have you ever wondered how the rolling stock got there? Members of the society found out when Bert Moody gave a fascinating talk about "Southampton Shipping". A huge floating crane used to operate in Southampton Water and we saw pictures of it with two locomotives and several carriages on its pontoon.

We were treated to a feast of photographs showing the evolution of passenger liners from the four-funnelled 'sisters' of the Titanic, to the futuristically shaped cruise ships of today.  Bert had a story about each one of them.  We saw the changing Southampton shoreline as land was reclaimed to form the modern container berths, and learned how they saved several hours on delivering trans-Atlantic mail by catapulting an aeroplane from the upper deck as the ship approached land.  It was a talk which held something for everyone.

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