James Boyd

I have just picked this up from the Festiniog e group

I have learned that James Boyd, historian of narrow gauge railways died
peacefully in his sleep, at home, yesterday,


Regards

Colin Rainsbury
(Lynbarn)

 

Sad to hear that. He has written the definitive history of so many narrow gauge lines.

John

 

My condolences to his family, his writings and his photography inspired me so much.

Ian

 

I don't think he had any close family - his wife and daughters pre-deceased him.

Along with Lewis Cozens, he blazed a trail in writing narrow gauge railway histories that many of us have tried to follow.

Richard

 

Add Charles Lee to that list, but Boyd's achievement was remarkable and unique. Although the years have picked a lot of holes in his research, there's absolutely no denying its importance and in particular its breadth - if you look across the eight volumes of his main North Wales series (without even considering the Irish or Isle of Man ones), having all the main railways and most of the minor ones covered in a largely uniform manner was a hugely significant foundation for all the research that's been done on them since. And then he went and outstripped them all with his superb Wild Swan book on the pre-preservation Talyllyn. His work represents a life and a talent put to good use.

 

A very sad loss, without doubt the finest narrow guage historian- i have several of his books and his wonderful video on the manx and irish lines and treasure them - i once met him at Port Erin a good few years ago and found him to be a wonderful man. I will treasure the note he sent to me a few years ago when i wrote to him following the publication of the 3 volume Isle of Man Railway history.