John Ryan

John Ryan painting the station name board by the loop at Dduallt. Photo: Jim Fraser.

John Ryan, 1934 - 2020

John Ryan was a stalwart of the Bristol Area Group who left a remarkable collection of photographs of the FR revival from the 1960s onwards.

John was born in Bridgwater on 14th October 1934. In 1936 the family moved to Southmead when his father, Sidney, got a job at Patchway with the Bristol Aeroplane Company. During the war John was evacuated back to Bridgwater to live with his paternal grandmother. On his National Service he got to Egypt.

John is first mentioned in the Bristol Group archive in 1964 working with Jim Fraser on production of engraved model locomotive name and number plates. He served on the committee in various roles between 1968 and 1976 and continued to attend our meeting until the mid 2010s. He took over the running of the Group workshop in 1968 when the production of yellow fibreglass whistle boards was the main line. In addition there was the maintenance to carry out on the Group sales trailer for use at shows and traction engine rallies. His extensive photographic collection ranges from 1965 to 1988 and includes nearly 1,200 images of the FR. His family kindly allowed the Group copies for the archive. Some of these pictures were clearly taken during working on the permanent way in the push to relay between Tan y Bwlch and Dduallt between 1965 and 1967. In recognition of his long service to the FR was given the Committee Award in 2014.

His work life included a spell as a cinema projectionist but in 1961 he was able to follow in his father's wake and join the aircraft industry with BAC at Filton. There he became friends with Bristol Group member and leading light Jim Fraser