Retired Railway Officers Society s3

No. 1638 RETIRED RAILWAY OFFICERS’ SOCIETY www: rros.org.uk [email protected] Minutes of Meeting Held on Monday 1st December 2014 in the Gascoigne Room at the Union Jack Club, London SE1. President: Colin Boocock Hon Secretary: Richard Malins Thurstan Adburgham Alan Garnell John Meara Paul Seward Chris Austin Les Giles Chris Mew Ken Shingleton Alec Bath Mike Godwin Philip Millard Larry Shore Ken Beresford Janet Goodland Geoff Mitchell Dennis Simmonds Anne Blakeney Hugh Gould Phil Morton David Simpsojn William Boddy Rod Gray Bob Murton Les Singleton John Bolton Ken Green Peter Newbould Bob Smalley John Boon Bob Greening Ken Newell Cedric Spiller George Bowden John Gribble Peter Northfield Alan Sprod Bob Breakwell Lawrie Hall Michael Page Theo Steel Doug Chapman Mike Harvey Alison Parkinson Alan Taylor Chris Chivers Ken Haysom Don Pearce Roger Temple Neal Clarke Chris Heaps John Pengelly Jeremy Thorne Ken Colpus Donald Heath Gordon Pettitt John Tidmarsh Nick Comfort Andy Heslop Tony Pinkstone Deborah Trebinski Richard Cook William Hill Mike Pipes Alex Turner John Craik Alan Hobson Ron Puntis Keith Turner David Crathorn Maurice Holmes Reg Pugh Mike Tyrrell James Crowe Richard Horne David Rayner Ian Walmsley Steve Dentith Richard Huggins Stuart Redding Bob Walters Derek Doling John Jouques Brian Redfern Ivor Warburton Denys Dyson Clive Kessell John Rhodes Derek Webb John Ellis Ted Lancaster Derek Richards Norman West Alan Englert David Mackie Trevor Rimmer Ian Wetherell Stuart Ette Ernie Marchant Peter Robinson Jeremy White Jim Evans Andrew Marsden Michael Robson Peter Whittaker Phil Evans Richard Maund Vince Sains David Wilkinson David Fenner Andy McDougall Brian Sandham Les Wilkinson John Firth Alex McKinnell David Sawyer Bob Yorke

1. Minutes of Meeting held on 3rd November 2014 in London. These were approved, while noting the printing, not secretarial, error referring to Network Rail and the Severn Valley Railway. No-one had noticed but the Secretary wanted it correct for the record.

2. News of Members. The President regretted to report the deaths of three Members: Gareth Evans former Chief Planning Manager at Sealink on 5th November aged 90. Private funeral in Ayrshire and a Memorial Service in Hertfordshire at a later date. Ronnie McIntyre M.B.E. formerly Architect in Scotland and Network SouthEast, aged 88 on 21st November, funeral at Falkirk Crematorium on 1st December. Charles Wort, former Area Manager King’s Cross, whose railway career began on the Southern at Guildford before the war, on 22nd November aged 91. The funeral is on 11th December at Leatherhead Crematorium. And three non-members: Dr David Boocock, in October, designer of bits of the APT that worked, InterCity Engineer and no relation to the President, although they once shared a Secretary and Woking Course 35. Stan Vickerstaff, former Divisional Freight Manager, Nottingham on 5th November. Jim White, sometime Chief Trains Clerk and Controller at Wimbledon, aged 98 on 24th November. Members stood in silent tribute to their memory.

3. Welcome to Members Recently Elected. John Rhodes, Jeremy Thorne and Ian Walmsley were attending a meeting of the Society for the first time and were accorded the customary warm welcome. Ian said he had been told to say only a few words of gratitude, so he would do just that among the many esteemed names he had no wish to upset.

4. Pension and Travel Facilities Matters. John Mayfield is said to be enjoying a cruise and spending his own pension. John Meara said the national Restrictions circular is now available on the ATOC website without significant changes. Virgin Trains restrictions are only advisory, though that had not prevented one of their former Directors from being challenged. Travel by CalMac ferries requires pre-booking, while travel on NS using FIP vouchers now involves an ancilliary barcode gate pass.

5. Members Luncheon Friday 14th November 2014. 110 members and guests had signed up for the annual Members’ luncheon at the former Bonnington Hotel and the President introduced Dr Steven Brindle as Guest of Honour. His job is Senior Properties Historian at English Heritage, a position he has held for 25 years, but he is also known as a Brunel Biographer and author of a book on Paddington station. He was therefore well qualified to tell his audience why railway history and heritage matter, when just up the road was the scene of the crime of the Euston Arch. Britain he said is the place where railways were invented, going on to explain why that could only have happened here. Georgian society in Britain was in a suitable state for transport developments. Things began with the Turnpike Trusts (nowadays the A road network), then the Canals with joint stock companies. Britain was thus equipped with a bulk goods network, voluntary initiatives regulated by Parliament, but still constrained by the power of a horse. Regional economic transformations and population growth could begin, but this might outrun the food supply, as Rev Malthus had predicted in 1798, trapping the country as a subsistence economy. Output had to exceed population growth, and this happened after 1820. Steam power was essential to that, initially in pumping engines and colliery tramways, and finally railways and steamships. NE England and South Wales were the pioneering areas, but capital was also needed. Birmingham had its canals but lacked capital, whereas Liverpool had capital, derived from its role in the slave trade triangle. Thus it became crucial to finance of early railways, the Liverpool and Manchester being the first inter-city route, followed by London and Birmingham, and getting ahead of Bristol. Other parts of Europe lacked the political and economic stability for this development, France was recovering from a revolution that had been avoided in Britain, and Germany had yet to be united. The railway mania followed and this allowed the creation of a single national integrated market, from which the economy could take off. Population growth could support that rather than constrain it, in a bottom-up culture that was regulated but not directed by the state. So the railways had laid the foundations of modern Britain, and the Euston Arch was the Sistine Chapel of British Civilisation, so Steven said its restoration as part of HS2 would only be right and proper.

6. Talk by Andrew Nock, DfT Rail Executive, on the Northern Rail Franchise. The President welcomed Andrew as a former BR Trainee of 1974 vintage who had worked in South Wales, with Freight into EWS, then the SRA and now found himself a Civil Servant at the DfT. Andrew said he knew we had asked for Pete Wilkinson, who would outdo him in charisma but is just too busy. Not too long ago he had met Hugh Gould, who told him that one day, but not too soon, he should join the Society, and looking around the room he saw intimidating names of people once demi-Gods. He is still on Active Service, although planning to retire, because they begged him stay on, to support the Northern refranchising. So that’s what he would talk about as franchising is such a broad subject that it needs to be narrowed down. Northern is a good real life example, with its Leeds electrics the jewel in an otherwise dowdy crown. It extends from Chathill to Nottingham or Whitehaven to Bridlington, and runs 1/9 of all passenger trains in Britain, accounts for 1/16 of all journeys and has 1/6 stations. It operates in several markets and is managerially complex, being made up of two former BR profit centres with Trans-Pennine taken out. This rump has 272 DMUs, 41 EMUs (average age 22) and 4,880 staff. The franchise let in 2004 ran an inherited train service pattern, on an assumption of no growth. It was seen as too costly and such were the affordability concerns that there was a break-clause in the Pacer leases, as a reduction in the fleet was envisaged, with possible route closures. Fares, compared to SE England, were also seen as too low. All this led to a review, completed in 2006, which came to a conclusion that did not surprise any seasoned railwayman. Cost escapement was illusory and that almost every train served a main city peak. Pricing people off and rationalising services was not value for money. Indeed Ministers actually wanted to be told there was no case for doing anything, and that the BR legacy of John Edmonds and his successors was as efficient as it could be. There had also been the embarrassment of the Great Western franchise where planned cost cuts were reversed and trains reinstated. And then there was traffic growth, 3.6% pa despite the poor train service and a recession. The reason for that is that the northern cities are becoming more like London with new central area white collar employment replacing traditional industry, but the scale of commuting there remains loss making. Demand growth is also coming from other sources, such as young people (students and high motoring costs) and crowded roads. As it was Northern could not meet this demand so an economic case was made for 6o+ extra trains, which involved reinstating Allerton depot, and the North- West electrification, due to complete with Blackpool in 2017. New services like Leeds–Sheffield–Nottingham were also introduced. All of this had proved much more complex to do, compared with the BR of our youths. It should be said that enlightened investment by BR in the 1980s had probably saved the regional network. Pacers might not be popular now, but they remain a cheap resource that will not be easy to replace, and acceptable for certain journeys. It is true that Northern has the highest subsidy per passenger mile of any English franchise (Scotland and Wales are another case) at 51.5p, but it has novelty lines that were once freight and carry only a limited service, while routes like the Settle & Carlisle had changed from a low axle-weight Sprinter railway to one carrying heavy coal trains, thanks to changes in other industries (mining and electricity generation), with consequent increases in cost while freight rates fell. So much has changed since 2004. Closures appear to be off the political agenda, and rail is now seen as an agent of growth. It is hard to define what this new Northern Powerhouse is meant to be, but we have secured investment in Manchester with the Ordsall chord, extra platforms at Piccadilly and capacity improvements to Liverpool and Sheffield. Many lines in the north are now designated as Community Rail Partnerships, credit for which should go to Chris Austin. Initially this was seen as a possible prelude to closure and Local Authorities were cautious, but they have proved a good means of engaging local support and can get things done. With micro-franchising now seen as impracticable due to the high costs of entry, this has been a good way to bring in local knowledge and expertise, as an antidote to the idea that things are being decided by officials in SW1. The Northern franchise had originally been due to end in April 2014 but a direct award extension takes it to February 2016. This has been negotiated by Michael Lee and had sought some cost reductions, but it has led to the unsatisfactory option of increasing fares in the evening peak. The ITT for the new franchise has yet to be issued, so Andrew was limited in what he could say about it, but changes in the train service map are foreseen, some to achieve better resource efficiency, such as the Furness Line split with TPE. Devolution is a new factor. The 5 Northern PTEs were signatories to the original franchise but always had less influence than they would have liked. All local authorities have now subscribed to the Rail North concept, but there is a potential democratic deficit in such a body, and somewhere like Hull is not happy with decisions being made by Leeds or Manchester and could prefer SW1. Andrew said Northern is an example of life being a choice between wrong answers and the trick remains to choose the least worst. ------No. 1639 Agenda for Meeting. To be held at 13.45 in the Gascoigne Room at the Union Jack Club, London SE1 on Monday 5th January 2015. 1. Minutes of the Meeting in London on 1st December 2014. 2. News of Members. 3. Welcome to Members Recently Elected. 4. Proposed New Members. Mike Tyrrell will propose and Clive Kessell will second that HEDLEY JOHN CALDERBANK be elected an ordinary member of the Society. Hedley was borne in Billinge, Lancashire on the sixth of March 1951 and joined BR as an engineering student on the Eastern Region in 1970. He did STO jobs in York and Sheffield 1974-6 before moving to Scotland, where he held S&T posts in Edinburgh and Glasgow. He was Telecommunications Engineer in Scotland 1984-8 and then Signal Engineer there until 1991. He was the S&T Engineer with Regional Railways North East until 1993, when he became Zone Infrastructure Manager for Railtrack. He was Head of Asset Reporting for Railtrack/Network Rail 1996- 2004, then becoming Deputy Director at ORR. In 2005 he went to London Underground as Client Engineer for the Metronet/Sub- surface lines resignalling project, retiring in 2014. Stewart Palmer will propose and Andy Pitt will second that BRIAN LESLIE COOK be elected an ordinary member of the Society. Brian was born in Horsham on the eleventh of August 1958 and joined BR in the footplate grades at Gillingham in 1974, becoming a driver in 1980. In 1990 he was appointed a Traction Inspector at Victoria and in 1992 a Traction Trainer at Waterloo. He became Training Manager for South West Trains in 1995, then Operations Standards Manager in 1997 and Head of Safety 2007 - 10. He retired as SWT’s Safety & Environment Director in 2013. Ted Mansfield will propose and Alex Turner will second that MAURICE RONALD WILSDON be elected an ordinary member of the Society. Maurice was born in Worthing on the twenty fourth of November 1951 and joined BR on the Southern Region as sponsored engineering student in 1970. After STO posts on the SR he moved to Manchester in 1978 as an Assistant Project Manager. He returned to London in 1981 to work on the Bedford and Anglia electrification projects, becoming Investment Planning Manager for InterCity in 1985. He was on the Channel Tunnel project 1987 – 90 and then Project Director for the WCML project with InterCity, going to Railtrack Midlands Zone until 1996. He was a Consultant at TCI/AEAT Rail to 2001, before moving to the RSSB as Head of National Programmes (Rail Operations), retiring in 2014. 5. Pension and Travel Facilities Matters. 6. Any Other Business. 7. Talk by Howard Smith on Crossrail. Richard Malins, Honorary Secretary: 7 Orient St, London SE11 SR E-mail: [email protected] Vale Press: 01386 858900