Christopher Leah interviewed by Neil Butters

Oral history interview with Christopher Leah, conducted and recorded by Neil Butters at the Railway Heritage Trust, 1 Eversholt St, Euston on 17 July 2018. Duration: 2 hr. 2 min. 51 sec. Early career; Budget Clerk Rugby; Traffic Management Trainee (Staff Entrant) British Rail: London Midland Region 1970-1972; General Purpose Relief Supervisor; Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) Project; Assistant Area Manager; Motorail; Royal Train; Personal Assistant to David Bowick (Vice Chairman British Railways Board); Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC); Station Cleaning Manager; Divisional Freight Officer; John Prideaux (Divisional Manager); sectorisation; Resource Manager Iron Steel and Motor Vehicles; Passenger Marketing Manager Scotland; Chris Green; Brian Souter; bus deregulation; working with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (SPTE); Scotland became part of Provincial; ScotRail; reporting to Chris Green and John Edmonds (Director Provincial); Class 15x Sprinters introduction; move to Birmingham; working with PTEs; dividing sub-sector; Regional Railways (RR); Gordon Pettitt; future career prospects; joining Railtrack; creation of Railtrack; dividing assets; organisational structure; Gerald Corbett; Ladbroke Grove accident; inquiry; Railtrack in Administration; gauge corner cracking (GCC); benefits of privatisation; sitting on Railway Heritage Trust Advisory Panel; Ffestiniog Railway; Welsh Highland Railway; Wensleydale Railway; Bressingham Steam & Gardens

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.