Oral history interview with Philip (Phil) Graham conducted and recorded by Frank Paterson on 8 March 2016 (session 1) at the National Railway Museum in York. Duration: 2 hours 16 minutes. [Track 01] Career start; childhood, interest in signalling; [00:06:00] homelessness, Hunts Bank station; [00:10:00] leading railwayman, transfer to booking clerk, pay comparison; [00:13:00] 12 hours working day, overtime; Runcorn; [00:15:00] clerical duties; relief clerk, Liverpool Lime Street, duties, pay checks; Birkenhead maintenance staff; staff free tickets; [00:20:00] Area Manager (Gordon Fox), mentor; British Rail management training scheme; grade A supervisor; train register books, timekeeping policy, justifying delays; [00:23:10] supervising grades, relief supervisor duties; carriage cleaning supervisor, Downhill carriage sidings, staff turnover, gender work differences; [00:27:00] Mark 1 carriages, destinations, sleeping cars; [00:30:00] night shift; pit road examination; [00:33:00] management lessons learned, carriage cleaners; [00:35:00] yard supervisor, Canada Dock, wagon load traffic, import, morning/evening trips from Garston, private siding; [00:38:00] 350 diesel shunter; restricted driver allocation; [00:42:00] grade B supervisor, Edgehill carriage sidings; derailment hand worked points; steam heating vans on electrified stock; [00:46:00] Apollo 19 runaway; [00:49:00] 08 shunter and class 86 collision, inquiries; [00:51:00] management training scheme, Stoke Division, NEBSS certification; [00:53:00] meeting Les Holding, Shrewsbury Area Manager, extent of Shrewsbury area, comments on Welsh branch, trust in workers, economies; [01:00:00] Cambrian coast difficulties, track conditions, late running; [01:02:00] Chester signal boxes, attitudes to divisional functions; end of training, supervisor grade C at Shrewsbury, report to Area Operations Manager; supervisor duties, staff supervised, carriage cleaning capacity [01:08:36] [end of track 01] [Track 02] supervisor at Shrewsbury, rules and regulations exam, Great Western rules; [00:04:00] move to Liverpool, promotion grade D supervisor, relief supervisor at Edgehill; job applications; career plan, personal choices; role of regulator, absolute block signalling; [00:10:20] March 1983, Traffic Manager Chester, responsibilities, 7 signal boxes, stations on North Wales coast; issues with staffing, run down of mechanical power boxes, 1984 introduction Chester Power; [00:15:00] night shift, filling-in to open unstaffed Chester Number 5 signal box; [00:17:45] enjoyment in traffic management jobs; Wrexham cash retention safe, wages paid cash, checking train account book; [00:21:20] 1986 job change, closed listing jobs, vacancy system; Traffic Manager Hull application, area and responsibilities; manually operated level crossings, Scarborough line, weekly issues on Bridlington to Hull, timekeeping; [00:27:15] automatic open level crossings, accidents, Lockington accident, fatalities ; [00:32:05] change in level crossings, AOCL (automatic open crossing locally monitored) and AOCR (automatic open crossing remotely monitored), comparison with Europe, modern level crossing technologies, obstacle detector, CCTV; [00:38:30] comparison London Midland and Eastern Regions, signal box design; chairing LDC meetings, 1985 carriage cleaners no longer working on Sundays, NUR advert Hull Daily Mail, BBC, ITV news; [00:44:30] NRM 10th anniversary, documentary; [00:45:25] miners’ strike, impact on railways; [00:49:05] Goole Docks activities, import; Goole Swing Bridge, planned closure prevented by refurbishment, accident [00:57:25] Birmingham Assistant to Operations Manager (Ian Gibson), passenger services, New Street station, extent of area, responsibilities; [01:02:10] mobility for work, renting or buying property, British Rail’s support, disturbance allowances; [01:04:30] Bentley Heath DMU fire; on call arrangements [01:07:41] [end of track 02] [end of session 1]

Oral history recording made in continuation of the NAROH project (National Archive of Railway Oral History), recording stories of people who worked on the railways