Oral history interview with David Russell, conducted and recorded by Frank Paterson at the National Railway Museum, York on 1 October 2018. Duration: 2 hr. 25 min. 44 sec. Early career; Paddington Senior Technical Officer; troubleshooting Old Oak Common 1964 Assistant to Depot Engineer; Quality Control Engineer Old Oak Common 1966; working with contractors; Cardiff Canton 1967; Area Maintenance Engineer Old Oak Common 1970; staff shortages; Divisional Maintenance Engineer King's Cross 1973; preparation for Great Northern (GN) electrification; Class 43 High Speed Train (HST) replacing Class 55 Deltics; Regional Traction Engineer British Rail: Eastern Region 1976; HST; Freight Engineer Derby 1982; sectorisation; scale of business; range of locomotive types; Class 56; design concepts; Class 58; British/American design approach differences; Foster Yeoman; proposal to Director Freight for own locomotives; American locomotive procurement agreement process; contract signed for first Class 59s 20 November 1984; comparisons with British locomotives; delivery; maintenance staff seconded to Foster Yeoman; first Class 59 hauled train February 1986; further Class 59 imports; success criteria; Class 59 lessons not applied; Class 60 contract awarded to Brush; John Welsby; Class 60 development; late delivery; freight business reorganisation for privatisation; Director Railfreight Distribution; retirement; Head of Engineering Mendip Rail; created a licenced Vehicle Acceptance Body for heritage locomotives and carriages; processes and procedures outlined

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.