James I. C. Boyd (1921–2009)

Boyd's books on narrow-gauge railways are often, only half-jokingly, referred to by enthusiasts as "bibles". This refers not so much to his habit of going up Welsh mountains and coming back with stone tablets (or at least copies of inscriptions...), as to the vast authority conferred on the works by the author's many years of research in obscure primary sources to try to piece together the history of small companies which usually put paperwork and record-keeping very low on their list of priorities. This book, the fruit of half a century of work, and a vast expansion of the Talyllyn chapter of his earlier Narrow-gauge railways of Mid-Wales, is an excellent example: it's quite clearly the definitive work on the pre-preservation Talyllyn Railway.

However, Boyd does have some of the less attractive biblical qualities as well: many of his later works, including this one, give the impression of having been put together by generations of scribes over a period of centuries, leaping about from topic to topic in ways that leave the reader baffled. Unlike his contemporary, L.T.C. Rolt, Boyd is not a great communicator, and his style has clearly suffered from years of reading Victorian and Edwardian legal documents. There is also a baffling absence of references and bibliography: anyone trying to follow-up Boyd's research will have a hard time tracing his sources through the often rather vague attributions in the text. Occasionally there is a completely unattributed quotation (some of these seem to be from his own earlier works - for others we just have to guess).

Particular strengths of this book include the chapter on the Bryn Eglwys quarry, the Talyllyn's raison d'être. There is a very good account of how the quarry developed and why it never lived up to its owners' ambitions. Detailed diagrams based on Boyd's fieldwork and discussions with surviving quarry workers clarify the complex three-dimensional structure of the quarry workings.

The chapters on "personalities" and "operations" are also very rewarding, and go a long way towards explaining the charm of the pre-preservation Talyllyn, a railway constantly teetering on the verge of disaster, but still managing on a shoestring budget to provide a service to its community.

Unlike the familiar Oakwood Press hardback format used for his standard books on the Festiniog and the Isle of Man Railway, this book is a large (A4) format hardback on glossy paper with a two-column layout, making it very heavy and awkward to read, but allowing for the reproduction of a great many high-quality photos and diagrams in the text (as with the Oakwood Press books, the hand-drawn maps and rolling stock diagrams are things of beauty in their own right).… (mere)