James I. C. Boyd

James Ian Craig Boyd (31 March 1921 – 20 February 2009) was an English author and narrow-gauge railway historian.

James Ian Craig Boyd
Born(1921-03-31)March 31, 1921
DiedFebruary 20, 2009(2009-02-20) (aged 87)
NationalityEnglish
OccupationAuthor, Historian

Boyd spent a lifetime researching and writing on narrow-gauge railways. His books on narrow-gauge railways in North and Mid Wales, the Isle of Man and Ireland are considered to be standard works on the subject. His books, published by The Oakwood Press since 1949, are rarely out of print, reflecting their importance to, and popularity with, railway historians and enthusiasts.

Biography

Boyd was born in 1921 into a family long connected with the Scottish textile machinery industry. His lifelong work was considerably helped by an inheritance from his family, without which much of his work could not have been done.

In his formative years he had W. H. Auden as an English teacher and was taught mathematics and science by Geoffrey Hoyland, a qualified railway engineer, at The Downs School in Colwall.[1]

Boyd was an early volunteer on the Talyllyn Railway - the first volunteer-run heritage railway in the world. He organized the first regional working group of volunteers on the Talyllyn.[2]

Retiring from the textiles industry in the late 1960s, Boyd moved to Colwall and became a manager at the Downs School. At the same time, he was appointed to look after the Downs Light Railway and started a twenty-year restoration that would ultimately result in his efforts being recognised with a miniature steam locomotive bearing his name. Boyd later retired from the school, but continued to fight to preserve the railway amidst Headmasters who failed to see the historical and educational importance, and led the formation of the Downs Light Railway Trust in 1983. Boyd continued to oversee the railway up to the millennium, despite suffering a stroke in the 1990s.

Works
  • Boyd, James I.C. (1949). Narrow Gauge Rails to Portmadoc: A Historical Survey of the Festiniog-Welsh Highland Railway and its Ancillaries. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ASIN B0007JK554.
  • Boyd, James I. C. (1949). Narrow Gauge Rails to Portmadoc. Oakwood Press.
  • The Festiniog Railway. 1 (1 ed.). Oakwood Press. 1956.
  • The Festiniog Railway. 2 (1 ed.). Oakwood Press. 1959.
  • Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 1 - History and Route. The British Narrow Gauge Railway. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-167-7. OCLC 2074549. B1A.
  • Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 2 - Locomotives and Rolling Stock; Quarries and Branches: Rebirth 1954-74. The British Narrow Gauge Railway. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-168-4. OCLC 874117875. B1B.
  • Isle of Man Railway 1962. Subsequently, expanded, see below.
  • Narrow Gauge Railways in Mid-Wales 1965.
  • Narrow Gauge Railway Museum (Towyn, Merioneth) 1972.
  • On the Welsh Narrow Gauge (nd, but 1970s)
  • Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire 1972. Subsequently, expanded, see below.
  • On the Isle of Man Narrow Gauge 1978
  • Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire, Volume 1, The West. ISBN 0-85361-273-0. 3 vols 1981-6
  • Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire, Volume 2, The Penrhyn Quarry Railways. ISBN 0-85361-312-5
  • Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire, Volume 3, The Dinorwic Quarry and Railways, Great Orme Tramway and other rail systems. ISBN 0-85361-328-1
  • Boyd, James I.C. (1988) [1972]. Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire – Volume 1. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-365-7. OCLC 20417464.
  • Boyd, James I.C. (1989) [1972]. Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire - Volume 2: The Welsh Highland Railway. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-383-1. OCLC 145018679.
  • The Isle of Man Railway, Volume 1, Pre-1873-1904. ISBN 0-85361-444-X
  • The Isle of Man Railway, Volume 2, 1905-1994. ISBN 0-85361-469-5
  • The Isle of Man Railway, Volume 3, The Routes and Rolling Stock. ISBN 0-85361-479-2
  • Talyllyn Railway 1988
  • Schull and Skibbereen Railway. ISBN 0-85361-534-9
  • Boyd, James I.C. (1991). The Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway, including The Buckley Railway. Oakwood Library of Railway History. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-417-3. OCLC 961022337. OL83.
  • Don't Stand Up In The Tunnel, The Story of the Downs Light Railway and its young Engineers 1925-2001. ISBN 1-900622-04-1
  • Saga by Rail 2007

References
  1. Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 1 - History and Route. The British Narrow Gauge Railway. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-167-7. OCLC 2074549. B1A.
  2. Brown, Jonathan (2017). The Railway Preservation Revolution. Pen & Sword Transport Press. p. 26.
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