AS a young boy, back in the 1950s, Barry Eagles, armed with a bottle of Tizer together with a plate of cheese and brown sauce sandwiches, would spend hours sitting on the wall at the bottom of his Southampton garden gazing across into the docks.

Most weekends and much of the long school summer holidays Barry perched himself on the wall and watched the passing steam trains as they huffed and puffed their way through Millbrook while in the background were all the comings and goings of the port.

From those early days Barry began a life-long fascination with steam locomotives and the great ships that filled the docks and played such a big part in the lives of many members of his family.

Over the years Barry took many photographs of the ships as they arrived and departed down Southampton Water and now the best of his extensive library has been gathered together in a newly published book, liners of Southampton and the Solent.

"I suppose this book was inevitable, having been born in Southampton to a family heavily involved in shipping and the docks,'' said Barry, who now lives in Chandler's Ford.

"My mother's family home was very close to Millbrook Railway Station. It was at this house, backing on to the main line from Waterloo to Bournemouth that I spent most of my time.

"Beyond the railway track, the 'New Docks' were constructed where I could see great ships such as the Arundel, Stirling, Athlone, Capetown, Pretoria, Edinburgh, Pendennis, Transvaal and Windsor Castles. They were those lavender-hulled lovelies of the Union Castle Line which all used 102 or 104 berth.

"P&O liners such as Canberra, Oriana, Chusan, Himalaya, Orsova, Oronsay and Orcades would steam into 106 berth.

"Troopships including Nevasa, Oxfordshire, Empire Fowey and Empire Orwell would use berth 109.

"Ocean Liner expresses and trains with Eastleigh-based and built Lord Nelson locos would steam by the bottom of the garden, bound for the docks sheds. They were happy days indeed!''

The book contains page after page of some of the most spectacular shots of Southampton shipping brought together in one volume.

In his photographs Barry recalls the days when ships actually looked like ships with classic lines such as the Ellinis and sister vessel, Britanis, United States and Nieuw Amsterdam, and Achille Lauro, all with twin funnels.

There are wonderful old Cunard names such as Mauretania, Saxonia and the book begins with perhaps the greatest of them all, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

Cunard's beautiful and distinctive ship, nick-named "Green Goddess,'' Caronia from 1949 is there, as is a photograph of today's Vistafjord which later this year will be re-christened and based in Southampton, bringing back into service that name, once so famous half a century ago.

Liners of Southampton and the Solent by Barry J Eagles (Waterfront £14.95).

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.