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William James Keith Davies: historian of light railways

Author of many books and many brief articles in Railway World on obscure railways in even more obscure corners of Europe.

Light railways, their rise and decline. London: Ian Allan, 1964. 312pp.
A serious study with several highly informative appendices which include a letter to The Times from Sir Arthur Percival Heywood; Sir Robert Walker's views on agricultural light railways as manifested at the Sand Hutton Estate in Yorkshire aand published in The Railway Magazine(May 1924); the work of E.R. Calthrop; notes on the firm of Decauville Ainé and its founder Armand Decauville; the Light Railways Act of 1896. The book covers all light railways with substantial sections on the major Western European countries as well as briefer sections on India, Africa and Australia. Both narrow gauge and lightly constructed standard gauge lines are considered.

Light railways of the First World War: a history of tactical rail communication on the British Fronts, 1914-18. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1966. 196pp. 58 illus. on plates, 35 diagrs (including many maps).

The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. 2nd ed.Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1981. 207pp.
Much of he content for the entry on this railway came from this source.

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1975.
Seems very pedestrian in comparison withSnell's lively study. Nevertheless, it appears to be good on locomotive liveries and on the unfulfilled projects: since covered in greater detail by Ross inRlys South East, 1987, 1, 41