P J G Ransom died on 27 March 2019.
I don’t know anything about his work on railways, but he gave generous coverage to Irish history in his waterways books. His Holiday Cruising in Ireland (David & Charles 1971) was carefully researched; if memory serves, his is still one of the few accounts of cruising on the Corrib. Finally, it was he who found the drawing of William Watson’s 120-foot canal passenger boat, developed for the Limerick Navigation; the drawing is now in the Canal & River Trust Museum & Archive at Ellesmere Port.
Irish waterways history 
The only book of his I was aware of was his work “The Archeaology of Railways”, which I read as one of the three such works covering railway archaeology in Britain, in advance of researching and writing my own (online) work about the railway archaeology of Ireland.
I take this opportunity to provide a link (and a recommendation) to Ewan’s Railway Archaeology of Ireland, which is (rightly) not for trainspotters: http://industrialheritageireland.info/railwayarchaeology/index.php/railway-archaeology-of-ireland/
bjg
I had the pleasure of correspondence with P.J.G.Ransom, when i was researching info on Bolinder engines and some other archive material relating to James Pollard and Sons who designed and built a number of boats (barges) with Bolinder engines for the G.C.C. circa 1911. P.j.G. Ransom directed me to where some of the archival material is stored near Greenwich, London. I am sorry to hear of this gentleman’s passing. May he rest in peace.
Thanks, Alan. Nice to hear from you. bjg
I’ve caught this somewhat late, I’m afraid, but hopefully not too late.
John Ransom was a significant figure, writing the excellent The Archaeology of Canals. In the very early days of the Waterways History Research Group of the RCHS, which I founded and first edited, I started an item to list inland waterways that were not in the Charles Hadfield “British Isles” series. Mr Ransom came up with a number of waterways in Scotland of which I had never heard, and which did not get into Jean Lidsay’s book “The Canals of Scotland”. Very helpful indeed, and I wonder what else he discovered but did not disseminate. It would be interesting to know more about him, but best to record here that his is a sad loss.
Thanks for that. I hope someone will produce a suitable obituary for the Journal. bjg