Philip John Greer Ransom, or John Ransom, (24 September 1935 – 27 March 2019) was a

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

author covering principally

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

and

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small ...

. He was also Hon. Secretary of the Scottish Committee of the

Heritage Railway Association Heritage Railway Association (HRA) is an umbrella organisation representing the majority of the heritage and tourist railways, railway museums, steam centres and railway preservation groups in the UK and Ireland. Groups and individuals involved ...

. He died on 27 March 2019.

Books

* ''Holiday Cruising in Ireland'', David & Charles 1971 * ''Railways Revived'', Faber & Faber 1973 * ''Waterways Restored'', Faber & Faber 1974 * ''Your Book of Canals'', Faber & Faber 1977 * ''The Archaeology of Canals'', World's Work 1979 * ''The Archaeology of Railways'', World's Work 1981 * ''Your Book of Steam Railway Preservation'', Faber & Faber 1982 * ''The Archaeology of the Transport Revolution 1750-1850'', World's Work 1984 * ''Transport in Scotland through the Ages'', Richard Drew Publishing 1987 * ''Scottish Steam Today'', Richard Drew Publishing 1989 * ''The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved'', Heinemann 1990 * ''Loch Earn: A Guide for Visitors, particularly those going afloat'', author 1994 * ''Narrow Gauge Steam - Its origins and worldwide development'', Oxford Publishing Co., 1996 * ''Scotland's Inland Waterways'', NMS Publishing, 1999 * ''The Mont Cenis Fell Railway'', Twelveheads Press 1999 * ''Locomotion: Two Centuries of Train Travel'', Sutton Publishing, 2001 * ''Snow, Flood and Tempest: Railways and Natural Disasters'', Ian Allan Publishing 2001 * ''Loch Lomond and the Trossachs in History and Legend'', Birlinn, 2004 * ''Iron Road: The Railway in Scotland'', Birlinn, 2007, 2013 * ''Steamers of Loch Lomond'', Stenlake Publishing Ltd 2007 (text researched and written to accompany pictures selected from publisher's collection) * ''Old Loch Lomondside'', Stenlake Publishing Ltd 2007 (text researched and written to accompany pictures selected from publisher's collection) * ''Old Almondbank, Methven and Glenalmond'', Stenlake Publishing Ltd 2010 (text researched and written to accompany pictures selected from publisher's collection) * ''Old Arrochar and Loch Long'', Stenlake Publishing Ltd 2011 (text researched and written to accompany pictures selected from publisher's collection) * ''Bell's Comet - How a Paddle Steamer Changed the Course of History'', Amberley Publishing 2012 * ''Old Dunkeld and Birnam'', Stenlake Publishing Ltd 2012 (text researched and written to accompany pictures selected from publisher's collection) * ''Old Stanley'', Stenlake Publishing Ltd 2013 (text researched and written to accompany pictures selected from publisher's collection) In addition contributed to the following multi-author works * ''Steam into the Seventies'', New English Library 1976 (section on North York Moors Railway) * ''Encyclopaedia of Railways'', Octopus 1977 (section on railway preservation) * ''A Guide to the Steam Railways of Great Britain'', Pelham Books 1979 (section on Wales) * ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology'', Routledge 1990 (section on railways) * ''Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology'', Routledge 1996 (79 short biographies of railway engineers) * ''Oxford Companion to British Railway History'', edited by Jack Simmons & Gordon Biddle, Oxford University Press 1997 (12 articles) * ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press 2004 (3 articles on railway engineers) * ''Scottish Life and Society: A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology'', vol. 8, Transport and Communications John Donald in association with European Ethnological Research Centre 2009 (Three chapters: Canals and Inland Waterways; Coaching; Railways to 1914).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ransom, P. J. G. 21st-century Scottish historians 2019 deaths 20th-century Scottish historians Rail transport writers Railway historians People educated at Eton College 1935 births