Mike Crabtree interviewed by David Maidment

Made:
2018-05-29 in Crewe
maker:
David John Maidment

Oral history interview with Mike Crabtree, conducted and recorded by David Maidment at the interviewee's home in Crewe on 29 May 2018. Duration: 2 hr. 17 min. 24 sec. Personal career; early career; Acting Superintendent Doncaster Works 1979; building Class 56s; Superintendent of Wagon Works 1980-1984; Works re-organisation; British Rail Engineering Ltd (BREL); British Rail Maintenance Ltd (BRML); BREL privatisation; sectorisation; new contract systems; staff benefits concerns; BREL management buyout (MBO) preparation and involvement; Production Manager British Railways Board (BRB); Level 5 Maintenance Depots preparation for privatisation; financial arrangements; General Manager of Departmental Traffic; preparation for privatisation; MBO; three freight companies set-up; personal situation 1994; Fleet Manager for Trainload Freight South East: MBO; Mainline Freight MBO; split of locomotive and wagon repairs management; National Power; wagon policy; MBO progress; management style; Wisconsin Central; Ed Burkhardt; English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS); Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI); new organisation; Scottish depots; scope for action under privatisation; staff reductions

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.

Details

Category:
Oral Histories
Collection:
Britain's Railways All Change
Object Number:
2022-646
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) oral history archive, created in partnership with the Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Retired Railway Officers’ Society and the National Railway Museum.