Gordon John Dudman joined the railways as a signal box lad at Haywards Heath in 1967. He then became a Trainee Signalman before moving to the freight section. From 1973 he was involved with Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) implementation in Inverness, Glasgow, Miller Hill, and Grangemouth. He was then an Area Freight Assistant and Relief Supervisor. He then served as Assistant Station Manager at Salisbury, Station Manager in Oxted and Station Manager at Haywards Heath. He then moved to work as the Area Parcels Manager at Brighton and Waterloo and then moved to be Regional Manager for Red Star Parcels in 1987 and Terminals Manager in 1990. He then joined the Freight Privatisation Team in 1992 and in 1996 joined Railtrack as Contracts Manager, serving in this capacity until 2004.