I Tried to Run a Railway, Gerry Fiennes .

I wonder if any of our older English members recall this rather interesting character.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Fiennes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tried-Run-Rail ... 8&qid=&sr=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not me, but it's an unusual name, and as soon as I saw it I guessed that he must be related to those other better-known Fiennes.

I must be too young to remember those names as been familiar .

David Benton wrote:I must be too young to remember those names as been familiar .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Fiennes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
He was related to the actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, and the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Gerry Fiennes (full name: Gerard Francis Gisborne Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes OBE, MA) (7 June 1906 – 25 May 1985) was a British railway manager who rose through the ranks of the London and North Eastern Railway and later British Rail following graduation from Oxford University.

From what I've read, he was very well liked but tended to get under the skin of some of the stodgier management types. My favorite story is the one about when he headed the Eastern Region of BR and was called one morning about 3 a.m. about a derailment, I think somewhere around Colchester, with all four tracks blocked. He drove out there to find everyone doing what they were supposed to do and knew how to do, with the likelihood of having at least one track back in service by 6 a.m. for the morning rush hour. Shortly thereafter a message arrived from some new broom in the ivory tower at 222 Marylebone Road, reading TOUCH NOTHING TILL I ARRIVE. He gave it the attention it deserved and got the railway back in service as soon as possible.

Very entertaining read if you can find a copy.

https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=DLf ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The preview option of this google books page seems to let you read almost all the book.

ExCon90 wrote:From what I've read, he was very well liked but tended to get under the skin of some of the stodgier management types. My favorite story is the one about when he headed the Eastern Region of BR and was called one morning about 3 a.m. about a derailment, I think somewhere around Colchester, with all four tracks blocked. He drove out there to find everyone doing what they were supposed to do and knew how to do, with the likelihood of having at least one track back in service by 6 a.m. for the morning rush hour. Shortly thereafter a message arrived from some new broom in the ivory tower at 222 Marylebone Road, reading TOUCH NOTHING TILL I ARRIVE. He gave it the attention it deserved and got the railway back in service as soon as possible.

Very entertaining read if you can find a copy.

I can certainly imagine something like that happening.

David Benton wrote:https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=DLf ... &q&f=false

The preview option of this google books page seems to let you read almost all the book.

Thank you for that link; I'll be able to reread the book.
Correction: some of the chapters are blocked, but there's still a lot left.