My husband, Peter Robinson, who has died aged 74, was a respected railway historian, photographer and author, and a prolific campaigner for better public transport.

Most of his working life was with Cumbria county planning department, where he was the lead officer for Cumbria in the joint county councils’ campaign for the retention of the Settle-Carlisle railway line. Later he was coordinator of the West Coast Rail 250 campaign to upgrade the west coast main line. He was a member of the rail passenger committee for north-west England and when it was disbanded helped to set up Travelwatch North West to replace it.

In recent years, Peter was chairman of the Furness Line Community Rail Partnership and a leading campaigner for the line, with strong concerns at the impact of both the electrification of the railways north-west from Manchester and the refranchising proposals.

He was a member of the Railway Photographic Society in steam days and subsequently joined the Railway Camera Club, where he was noted for the high standard of his work. He had a huge collection of railway photographs taken from the steam era to the current day. He was also a founder member of the Border Railway Society and the instigator of the Cumbria Railways Association, being its first chairman, then president and latterly archivist and photographic collections manager.

Peter was also a founder member of the Cumbria Industrial History Society, a trustee of the Northern Viaduct Trust and an active member of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. He was the author of several books, and the next was to have been on the Maryport and Carlisle railway.

He was a competent pianist, had a great love of music and was an avid reader. Whatever Peter did, he always gave it his full attention. He was a kind, gentle man who hated angry words and situations. He will be missed by his friends in the railway community.

He is survived by me and by our daughters, Louise and Amanda.