Dave Marden spent 40 years working in the port industry before taking early retirement and during his time at Southampton Docks he developed a keen interest in industrial railways and local history, afterwards becoming an author of books on those subjects. Apart from his books on railways, Dave has written a history of the development of Southampton Docks and also about the working class area of Chapel in Southampton where he was born and brought up. He has also appeared on the television programme "Great British Railway Journeys" and regularly contributes to magazines and journals as well as number of Southampton Facebook Pages.