Thirty Years on the Footplate

Lee Davies brought us Thirty Years on the Footplate on 20^th October. This was a view of his career to date working for the railway system in the UK. Starting off as a trainee secondman at Ellesmere Port, working freight trains in and around the Wirral, passing his exams on cl.25, cl.37 and cl.47 locomotives amongst others. As a passed secondman he was permitted to drive (initially under supervision) around yards and on some local journeys out on the main line. Progressing, Lee passed his driver training on a number of traction types, also the various routes around the area. Lee witnessed the breakup of British Railways with the freight sector being sectorised into aggregates, automotive, coal and petroleum businesses); Freightliner (the sector business name – not the company at that point!), and Rail Express Systems (which handled the Royal Mail traffic). Organisational name changes brought us Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail. Moving over to Rail Express Systems, Lee travelled further and learned new traction types – cl.67 and cl.90. As the Royal Mail business was largely lost to the railways, Lee transferred to the passenger business and currently works for Cross Country Trains working out of Newcastle and has learned HST and Voyager traction types and a number of new routes. Lee is grateful for being able to enjoy a wide and varied career on the footplate.