Inside British Rail: Challenges and Progress on the Nationalised Railway, 1970s-1990s

Stephen Poole worked on three of British Rail's five geographical Regions and then for three of the BR business sectors, thereby experiencing a vast range of operational, business and management styles and issues. His experience included stations, depots, freight, parcels, yards, signalling, catering, major projects and business development. Being told in 1973 that his employment may not last long, he became an "outsider on the inside," dodging from post to post for 20 years and always being acutely aware of how it all related to the social, industrial, political and economic issues of the time. In this engaging book, he looks back on the BR years, with an awareness of how on-going arguments about privatization affect the issues.