Scotsman Obituaries: John Boyle, railway executive

John Boyle, known to family and friends by his middle name Stirling, arrived from the Scottish Council for Development and Industry in 1983 to become BR Scottish Region's Director of Corporate Affairs.

This was at a time when the railways in Scotland were emerging from a dark period marked by the flexible rostering dispute and the closure of the Kilmacolm line. What followed was an era when it would receive a makeover as ScotRail with refurbished stations and a refreshing of the product under Chris Green in anticipation of the arrival of new trains.

A new manning agreement with Strathclyde Regional Council would come to stabilise relations with ScotRail's largest customer, the Strathclyde PTE, who led the way on funding the first of 50 new or reopened stations in a decade with Kilmaurs and Auchinleck in 1984.

John Boyle was a modest man with a great love of words

Always at the right hand of successive General Managers was John, genially planting thoughts among the politicians with such skill that they came to think that they had had the ideas in the first place, while diplomatically heading off any concerns from the BR Board that this upstart constituent of the new Regional Railways Sector might be becoming a little too independent.

New trains did come with Class 318s for the Ayrshire electrification, 320s to begin the process of replacing Glasgow's legendary Blue Trains and new Classes 150, 156 and 158 to succeed the first generation of diesel multiple units and loco-hauled stock.

Other developments where the persuasive power of John might be detected included the 1986 revival of Edinburgh-Bathgate – a line closed to passengers as long ago as 1956 that became BR's first great post-Beeching reopening – the addition of the North Berwick branch to the East Coast Main Line electrification and the introduction of a commuter train on the Far North Line, which was to be the first new service beyond those committed in the franchise won by National Express in the very last stage of privatising Britain's passenger railway.

John stayed through the National Express franchise, helping steer the expansion of its new trains order from 9 to 24 Class 170 diesels while bringing in the difficult introduction of the Class 334 electrics and securing further network expansions, including the Edinburgh Crossrail that would prove to be the first stage of the Borders Railway.

FirstGroup's winning of the second franchise provided the moment for him to leave ScotRail, joining Transport Initiatives Edinburgh on its problematic Trams project.

In the years to come, he had the satisfaction of seeing the positive climate that he had helped bring about flourish with the new Scottish Parliament's support for further line reopenings, including Stirling-Alloa and the transformation of the single-track diesel Edinburgh-Bathgate branch into a double-track electrified line linking Edinburgh to Airdrie and the Glasgow North Electrics.

At their homes in Falkirk and later Bridge of Allan, John was a devoted family man, a good husband to wife Helen, who predeceased him, and a great dad to their children Ian, Alastair and Jennifer and grandad to Jessica and Jock.

John was an avid fan of jazz, playing the double-bass and serving on the board of Glasgow Jazz Festival.

He was also an enthusiastic motorcyclist, loving the freedom of the open road, and in 2011 this led to a collision with a negligent car-driver that it seemed might leave him unable to walk again.

However, the determination that would be evident also in combating his final illness showed itself when he succeeded in discarding his walking-sticks, a personal triumph that mirrored his success in helping get ScotRail on its feet.

Obituaries

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