David H. Ward was born in 1931 and began working for British Railways as a Probationary Clerk in the York Yardmaster's Office in 1948, before moving to the Central Control Office in York. He became a Traffic Apprentice in 1956. He worked on merging road and cartage services in Norwich and then moved to being the General Assistant, Works, Signalling and Accidents at Cambridge, working in the Line Manager's Office at Liverpool Street and as the Divisional Terminals and Cartage Manager in Norwich. In 1969 he became Passenger Marketing Manager for British Rail: London Midland Region until 1982. He was appointed as Director of the Special Trains Unit for InterCity in 1982, serving in this role until 1994.