About Robert Forsythe - transport and industrial heritage

Since 1991 Robert has been a freelancer working from Tynedale. Our daughter Clare Rebecca was born on the 26th April 2000.

Key events in 2004 included the death (March 18th) of James Forsythe and the graduation on the 15th July of Fiona with a second degree as Master of Economic and Social Sciences in Information and Library Studies from Aberystwyth The University of Wales (that long sentence was very hard earned as a distance learner living in Northumberland). During the autumn Fiona left her work as Head of Library Services at Newcastle College. Soon afterwards her father David McMurray, a career railway man with the LMS and BR Scottish Region, died after a long illness on the 25th November 2004. 2005 saw Robert's mum Mary die on the14th March.

Our Memberships: Currently between Robert, Fiona and Clare, these include the World Ship Trust, National Trust, National Trust of Scotland, Historic Scotland, CILIP (ex Library Association), Museums Association, Transport Ticket Society, Mach2, Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, University of Birmingham Alumni Association, North Pennines Heritage Trust, Tyne Valley Line Rail Users Group and Weardale Railway Society. Memberships alter as we have moved and our research interests change. In the past memberships have included the World Development Movement, Original Omnibus Collectors Club, Marklin Club, Trix Twin Railway Collectors Association, Hornby Collectors Club, Southern Electric Group, Railway Invigoration Society (Railway Development Society), Railway Print Society, Industrial Railway Society, Association for Industrial Archaeology, Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society, Peterborough Railway Society, Vale of Rheidol Railway Supporters Association, Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, Lima Collectors Society, Train Collectors Society, Bachmann Collectors Club, Yorkshire Dales Railway Society, Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society. West Yorkshire Transport Museum Society, Durham University Railway Society, Durham University Group for Industrial Archaeology (DUGIA), Old Leysian Union, W. H. Auden Society, and Hornby Railway Collectors Association. Some of these memberships were maintained for decades and having to cease membership has been a cause of great regret but practicality makes its demands. The journals of these associations can often be a hugely important source. Our interests are wider than might at first appear and both of us are comfortable discussing topics as diverse as church membership or human sexuality. Fiona and Robert are both Christians of a liberal sort - don't expect us to swallow the Genesis creation account.

Some personal details

Robert Forsythe was born in 1959 in Norwich, son of Major James Forsythe MBE, a leading figure in post war British Maritime Preservation. After being brought up on the Norfolk Broads and the Cambridgeshire Fens, he went to university in Durham where a Theology BA (2:1 Hons) and an MA were gained.

Subsequent qualifications include the Ironbridge Institute Diploma in Industrial Archaeology and a Certificate in Education. Employment as a museum curator followed in West Yorkshire and Ayrshire. On the 10th June 1989 he married Fiona in Castle Douglas. She is a chartered librarian.