Katie Eeles interviewed by Roberto Martinez Luis

Made:
2024-05-29 in York

Interview with Katie Eeles recorded by Roberto Martinez on 29th May 2024 at the National Railway Museum, York. Duration: 54min 34secs. Joining the railways, Network Southeast British Railways (BR), signaller role Watford, 1992, application, recruitment, signalling course Waterloo, training Stratford signal box; early career training, Bedford to Bletchley line, transfer to other signal boxes, Woburn Sands, Millbrook, East Midlands freight line, Kew East signal box, upgrade to Willesden High Level signal box, 1994 to 2009; [00:05:50] resignalling of line for London 2012 Olympics, moved from Willesden to vacancy at Cambridge, signaller team, shift work; 2016, coming out as transgender to colleagues, starting transition; coming out to her wife, knowing she was trans since childhood, challenges coming out, transitioning journey, mental health; [00:08:50] challenges for trans people to be openly trans; relationship with colleagues after coming out; issues, how management handled her transition, impact on her mental health, lack of support; incident leading to suspension, investigation and disciplinary hearing, being dismissed; appealing dismissal, bias, appeal case demonstrated same error made by a cisgender signaller was not sanctioned the same way; regained job, penalised by reduction in grade; jobs after appeal, medication impact on job allocation, transfer to Liverpool street offices, course, secondment Milton Keynes offices, capacity planning, freight traffic; redundancy, notice in November 2023, impact of ADHD; [00:17:20] coming out as transgender at work, management reaction; support, Inclusion and Diversity team, Archway staff network; LGBTQIA+ community at work, joining Archway, friendships, events; how operational jobs are isolated from rest of company, not knowing LGBTQIA+ colleagues before coming out in 2016 [00:23:10] comparing operational environment and office environment, operations being a male dominated environment, small changes, few women in operations, need more change; childhood, interest in hobbies seen as traditionally female, bored by traditionally male hobbies; Danny La Rue, drag entertainer on television, trying to talk about her own trans identity; [00:28:10] experience coming out outside of work, LGBTQIA+ community support for her then, transvestite group in Milton Keynes but not what she needed; transitioning took time, impact of starting medication, felt accepted and integrated, anecdote on commute to Liverpool street; how it felt to be gendered correctly by strangers for the first time; [00:32:40] personal experience with hormone therapy, medical process and support, anecdote with nurse taking blood, waiting list on public health; impact of transitioning, being herself, relationships with friends and family, anecdote about her name; [00:43:03] relationship with her wife, how they met, how she came out to her wife, support from her wife; learning about being transgender, impact of watching BBC television series ‘A Change of Sex’ with Julia Grant, looking out for tv programmes about gender transition; worrying about impact of gender reassignment surgery on relationship with wife, mental health; [00:45:57] hopes for the future, having retired, hobbies, motorsport, race marshal at Silverstone, joining Racing Pride for LGBT inclusivity in sports industry, Formula 1, recruiting more transgender marshals, making racing more inclusive, circuits being a safe place; advice for younger self, being yourself and being open [00:51:23] story of an incident at Peterborough Signal box, after she came out as trans, exposed to abusive and offensive behaviour, deadnaming, misgendering, using wrong pronouns, filling in a complaint/grievance against the person, how she hoped they would learn from incident and educate others; her views on how to educate people to inclusivity, importance of sharing personal stories, understanding people want to be themselves without a mask [end of interview]

This interview was made as part of People Pride and Progress (PPP) project. The project was initiated in 2023 to record the stories and memories of the LGBTQIA+ community in a new oral history archive over two years. It aimed to connect past, present and future through intergenerational interviews, offering opportunities for colleagues across all parts of the rail industry to connect, reflect on and learn from each other’s lived experiences while creating an archive of oral history interviews.

Details

Category:
Corporate Archive
Collection:
People, Pride and Progress
Object Number:
2026-23
type:
oral history interview
rights:
Science Museum Group
credit:
People Pride and Project Archive created by the Science Museum Group, made possible with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the players of the National Lottery.

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