IRSE Sept 08.indd

PERSONALITY PROFILE
Personality Profile - Alan Fisher
by Robin Nelson
IRSE
Photo: Roger Phelps
If either nature or nurture had played its hand properly, we would never have
known Alan. His career would have been
“On the Buses” just like his father and his grandfather.
A
lan was born in Reading in 1952 where his father
was the Office Manager for Thames Valley
Traction, the bus company that provided out of town services
from Reading to destinations such as Newbury and Oxford from
1920 to 1972. His grandfather was a bus driver with Plymouth
Corporation though he moved on to be a driver for Tucketts
Confectionery and then to do likewise for the local undertaker.
Alan’s mother was born in Plymouth and, following marriage,
became the Post Mistress of Southcote Post Office in Coronation
Square in Reading. The coronation of whom is not known.
His school years took him from Wilson Junior to Battle Junior
and then to Stoneham Grammar School. Decision time arrived
at the age of eighteen – University or an apprenticeship? He
favoured the latter but where presented difficulties as
apprenticeships in the Reading area had all but disappeared.
Fortunately, he found a company that continued to have faith in
this method of attracting youngsters. The Western Region of
British Railways was in the midst on an extensive programme of
resignalling and bright young men were required.
In 1970, Alan became one of the Region’s electrical and
electronic apprentices with the Signal and Telecommunications
Department in Western Tower.
For the following four years, he was kept busy with practical
tuition and ONC/HNC studies and that would have led to a Senior
Technical Officer’s post had fate not intervened again, this time
in the shape of the Local Departmental Representative, Eddie
Meadows. He persuaded Alan to apply for the British Railways
sponsored management training course in electrical and
electronic engineering at London’s City University. It would
involve another four years of study with David McKeown for
company but he rose to the challenge, graduating in 1978.
In fact, 1978 turned out to a year to remember for Alan.
There was his first managerial level appointment, this being in
the London Midland Region’s design office at Carlow Street. He
was hardly in the door at Euston when an opportunity for
promotion arose with the BRB technical development team at
Marylebone. Just to add to the general excitement of the year,
he married Jennie. She also is a native of Reading.
For six years, he commuted from his new home in Reading
working with Basil Grose on track circuits and axle counters and
with Cliff Latarche on SSI data verification. By 1984, the pull of
his Devon ancestry was proving to be over-powering and he
moved to ML Engineering in Plymouth where he became John
Rose’s assistant on technical sales. However, his BR experience
was too good to waste and soon he was involved in development
work of products in the TML range, ferrite cores and the
micronome timer.
In 1992, it was back to sales, taking over from John Rose
who had retired and the scene seemed set for Alan to complete
his signal engineering career in these idyllic surroundings. After
all, ML Engineering was in good shape, there were four children
to look after and where better to have a home than in Tavistock,
right on the edge of Dartmoor. Home was within easy reach of
ML’s premises that also had a view of Dartmoor from the office
windows. However, nothing lasts forever.
He was no sooner in the job when the upheaval of the rail
transport organisation commenced. Who could forget the
privatisation of British Railways? Not to be outdone, the railway
engineering industry underwent major change with the name of
ML being an early casualty. Local sign writers and printing firms
enjoyed the profitable business that came with the ever
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Issue 137 September 2008
IRSE
NEWS