Oral history interview with Timothy Gilbert, conducted and recorded by Chris Kinchin-Smith at Porterbrook offices, Derby on 18 January 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 34 min. 32 sec. Personal background; appointed Senior Technical Officer Leeds Neville Hill; Shift Production Manager Heaton Depot 1982; Depot Manager at York Clifton carriage maintenance depot 1984; Plant & Freight Rolling Stock Engineer British Rail: London Midland Region; management development; Depot Engineer Toton 1988; Trainload Coal Business Manager East Midlands 1990; contracts for moving coal to power stations; Personal Assistant to Bob Reid 2; developing privatised rolling stock companies (ROSCOs); splitting-up passenger fleets; indifference pricing for capital lease costs of fleets; Design and Endemic Faults; Development of Master Operating Lease Agreement (MOLA) for ROSCO leases; sale of ROSCOs; Senior Commercial Manager Porterbrook Leasing; management buyout (MBO) bids; Porterbrook bought by Stagecoach; Bombardier Turbostar; Alstom Class 458 Juniper; Bombardier Electrostar; engineering Director Porterbrook; Development of new ROSCO models; fleet quality in franchise bid evaluation; personal factors; European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS); President European Passenger Trains and Traction Operating Lessors’ Association (EPTTOLA)

One of over 150 oral history recordings made as part of the Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) archive project. BRAC was set-up to cover gaps in documenting the railway privatisation process in the United Kingdom, between 1994 and 1997, when the government-owned British Rail was dismantled into over 100 privately-owned companies. The interviews capture the recollections of people involved in the planning and implementation of the privatisation process, the management of change and running the railway during privatisation.