Book Review: Narrow Gauge Railways in Mid-Wales by JIC Boyd

Many years ago, young Phil borrowed this book, Narrow Gauge Railways in Mid-Wales, repeatedly from my local library. I've never actually read it, but that wasn't the point. Inside were plans. Lots of plans. For locomotives, carriages and wagons. At the time, I dreamed that I'd use these plans to make models. I didn't dream of just owning them, I was going to build them myself. Of course, I never did. On my garden line, the main feature was cost, or at least lack of it. I built very basic wagons that didn't look that much like those in the book. Probably the nearest I got was building a set of wagons from Saltford Models kits, and they aren't much like those on "proper" narrow-gauge railways. This didn't matter; those plans inspired me to have a go. I've always collected drawings and now have several boxfiles of the things. All dreams to be realised one day. Someone is doubtless wondering why if I love plans so much, they aren't a bigger feature in modern magazines. The first, is…