Mike King has had a life-long interest in the Southern Railway in general and in its rolling stock in particular. Professionally trained as a surveyor, he has worked for Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons Ltd and the Civil Engineer's Department of London Transport, where he was able to play with 12in to the foot engineer's trains. More recently he has worked for a Housing Association based in Surrey. He has written a number of books for Ian Allan Publishing's OPC imprints, including An Illustrated History of Southern Coaches, An Illustrated History of Southern Push-Pull Stock and Southern Wagons Pictorial.
