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Durham E-Theses Railway and grade: the historical construction of contemporary Strangleman, Tim How to cite: Strangleman, Tim (1998) Railway and grade: the historical construction of contemporary, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4870/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: e-theses.admin@dur.ac.uk Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Tim Strangleman Railway and Grade: The Historical Construction of Contemporary Identities The copyright of this thesis rests with tlie author. No quotation from it should be published PhD. Thesis without the written consent of tlie autlior and information derived from it should be acknowledged. University of Durham o 1998 Thesis Abstract This thesis attempts to understand the role and meaning of occupational identity in the contemporary British railway industry. It examines the way in which culture change initiatives and prograrrmies have explicitly targeted an older 'railroad culture'. The study explores the way such a culture was portrayed by successive Conservative Governments and management as being a major obstacle to change, and a historic reason why the industry has under performed. The notion of the past failure of the industry, and a cultural analysis predicated on such assumptions, is challenged. Employing a historical and comparative research strategy, it is argued here that grade and industry culture is an emergent autonomous property of the workforce itself and as such attempts to change it are misguided, and at times positively harmful to the organisation. The research uses a variety of material collected from London Underground and former British Rail companies, including documentary sources, semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation techniques. 12 nAY ™ List of Abbreviations APT - Advanced Passenger Train ASLEF - Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen ASRS - Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants BA - British Airways BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation BPR - Business Process Reengineering BR - British Rail/Railways BRB - British Railways Board BTC - British Transport Commission DOM - Duty Operations Manager EFL - Exterior Financing Limit ER - Eastern Region EWS - English Welsh and Scottish (Railways) GDP - Gross Domestic Product GER - Great Eastern Railway GLC - Greater London Council GNR - Great Northern Railway GNER - Great North Eastern Railway GRWU - General Railway Workers' Union GWR - Great Western Railway HRM - Human Resource Management HST - High Speed Train IBS - Intermediate Block Signal ICEC - Intercity East Coast IIP - Investors In People JIT - Just In Time LDC - Local Departmental Committee LMR - London Midland Region (BR) LMS - London Midland Scottish (Railway) LNER - London North Eastern Railway LNWR - London North Western Railway LPTB - London Passenger Transport Board LT - London Transport LUL - London Underground Limited MIC - Mutual Improvement Class MMC - Monopolies and Mergers Commission MR - Midland Railway NER - North Eastern Railway NUR - National Union of Railwaymen O for Q - Organisation for Quality PSO - Public Service Obligation RCA - Railway Clerk's Association RCH - Railway Clearing House RE - Railway Executive RES - Rail Express Systems RfD - Railfreight Distribution RMT - Rail Maritime and Transport Union ROSCO - Rolling Stock Operating Company RRNE - Regional Railways North East SR - Southern Railway SWT - South West Trains TCL - Train Crew Leader TCS - Train Crew Supervisor TOC - Train Operating Company TOU - Train Operating Unit TQM - Total Quality Management TSSA - Transport Salaried Staff Association UPSS - United Pointsmen's and Signalmen's Society WR - Western Region III Acknowledgements In undertaking this research I have been very privileged to meet so many kind and generous people. My thanks go to all those members of 'The Club' in Newcastle. I am especially indebted to George Deownly who so kindly introduced me to a selection of his former colleagues, Morris, Bob, Gilly, Stan, Walter, Tom Richardson, Tiny, Tom Storey, Joe Brown and Harry Friend. I am also grateful to Julie Marr for giving me George's address in the first place. Thanks must also go to all those current railway workers who still work 'on the job', both in LUL and former BR organisations. I hope I have done justice to their views. I am grateful to Norry Greg for lending me several books that I have kept for far too long I am grateful to the former Loadhaul organisation for allowing me access to their company and staff at what was a busy and very difficult period in their short history. I acknowledge the kind assistance of staff in the Ken Hoole Study Centre at Darlington Railway Museum. Throughout the period of study I have been helped and supported by a number of colleagues. My thanks go to Pandelli Glavanis, Gill Callaghan, Adam Swain, Dave Wilson, Clive Groome, Colin Divall, George Revill, Andrew Grantham and Joan McArthur. Special thanks must go to Richard Brown for his many kind remarks while reading earlier drafts. Ian Roberts has been throughout the most supportive supervisor one could hope for (apart from the constant barrage of train spotting jokes that have peppered his advice!). Thanks must also go to the ESRC for granting me an award (R00429334335). I am also extremely grateful to my two new bosses at IV Manchester, Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson for their allowing me the space and time to complete the thesis. On a more personal note my thanks go to my Mum and Dad and Brother Robin who have supported my return to learning in various ways. My love also goes to my partner Claudia without whose support this work would have been unimaginable. Finally I want to acknowledge the immense debt that I owe to the railway men and women who I worked with before embarking on my second chance. I feel very privileged to have become a railwayman in such honourable company, I thank all those I worked with including Ted, Terry, Phil, Sean and 'Uncle' Ernie at Aldgate, and John Davidson who gave me a push in the right direction at the right time. Contents Thesis Abstract I Abbreviations 11 Acknowledgements IV Contents VI Introduction 1 Part One Chapter 1: Organisation and Management of the Railway Industry 1825-1947 11 Notes to Chapter 1 50 Chapter 2: Grade and Occupation 1825-1948 53 Motes to Chapter 2 114 Part Two Chapter 3: Organisation and Management oftiie Railway Industry 1948-1979 123 Notes to Chapter 3 157 Chapter 4: The Experience of Labour 1948-1979 160 Notes to Chapter 4 208 Part Three Chapter 5: British Railway Management and Organisation 1979-1997: From Commercialisation to Privatisation 219 Notes to Chapter 5 276 VI Chapter 6: Occupational Identity, Commercialisation and Privatisation 1979-1997 296 Notes to Chapter 6: 360 Conclusion: 375 Bibliography: 381 Appendix One: 425 Appendix Two: 430 Appendix Three: 433 Appendix Four: 437 VII Introduction The British railway worker has long exercised a fascination over popular and academic imaginations. In the Victorian era they form the respectable uniformed working class of mid-century stability, in striking contrast to the anarchy of the navvy culture witnessed in the industry's construction phase. Some of their number form part of an aristocracy of labour, while others were instrumental in the creation of the Labour Party through their trade union structure. This group are also key actors in the 'strange death of liberal England' with their industrial action in the middle of the Edwardian high summer. This militancy is repeated during the inter-war period with the railway workers crucial role in the Triple Alliance, alongside the miners and other transport workers. Railway work has, at other times also conjured up heroic images - be it wind-swept footplatemen on the speeding locomotive on its 'race to the north', or later, as the stalwart figures who kept the country moving during the aerial bombardment associated with W.W.II. In the post-war world the footplatemen enjoyed their Indian summer of popular acclaim, with a public eager for tales of the footplate from an 'Engineman Extraordinary' (Semmens 1966) or a 'Legendary Railwayman' (Hooker 1994). In another register these same workers are seen differently, viewed as the victims of corporate oppression, or later, as outdated operatives of a once great industry now suffering terminal decline. Indeed it could be argued that the very length of this fall, possible dating from the 1920s, has contributed to the continued return to this group as a symbol of occupational declivity. Given such a history this thesis attempts to understand how railway work has been experienced by those employed in the industry, particularly over the last two decades. I have chosen to look in depth at this period because of the much heralded shift from what is characterised as a traditional public service ethos to a commercially driven focus, a process accelerated by the privatisation programme instituted in the early 1990s. I wanted to understand the depth to which employees had identified with their work and what such attachment produced. Given an understanding of this traditional occupational identification, the question is raised as to how it has fared in the face of great organisational upheaval and change. In particular what has been the effect on the workforce of the managerially inspired shift from collectivism to an increasingly individualised employment strategy? To this end this thesis examines the experience of two groups of employees within the contemporary railway industry - signal workers and train drivers.