11 July 1931 – 28 June 2021
I consider myself honoured to write this obituary for Peter, who was a good friend and a great colleague within The PWI, (Peter always insisted on the use of the definite article when referring to the Institution). In doing so I have drawn on a number of sources, including information kindly provided by Peter’s family, articles from PWI Journals and some personal recollections, to give what can only be a general outline of his rich and long life as a true ‘Railwayman’.
Peter’s education included three years at both Acton County Grammar School and Acton Technical College, on completion of which he started work on the Western Region (WR) of British Railways in 1946 as an engine cleaner at Old Oak Common loco shed. After examination by the Divisional Locomotive Superintendent, in September 1948 he was appointed to the Motive Power Department of the WR, but his early working life was interrupted by two years of National Service spent mainly with the R.E.M.E. in the Middle East. During this time Peter commenced his involvement with welding using both gas and M.M.A. At the end of his National Service Peter held the rank of Sergeant (acting) and was in charge of a vehicle recovery and maintenance workshop.
Peter returned to British Railways in January 1952, and in September 1954 was promoted to the Civil Engineer’s Department. This move away from working with locomotive traction was driven in part by the arrival of ‘those multifarious poison-gas plants’ as Peter described diesel locomotives. After some time in the Works Section, Peter was promoted to the Permanent Way Office where he was taught permanent way design.
The benefits of on-track mechanisation were by then being realised and, with a mechanical engineering background, Peter was moved into the position controlling pre-assembled relaying, automatic ballast cleaning, the first tamping machine to be employed on the WR and the Matisa Recording Car. Peter also had personal control of track welding on the London Division of the WR with a team of about a dozen men carrying out gas and Thermit welding, and his responsibilities included training and quality control.
Peter was again promoted in April 1958 to the WR’s Chief Civil Engineer’s Office at Paddington in the Production and Depots Section, extending his responsibility for track welding to the whole of the WR at a time when long welded rails (LWR) were being introduced. Peter initially set up three temporary LWR depots using Thermit welding, and then established a single depot using flash-butt welding to supersede them with responsibility for ongoing quality control.
Promoted to Senior Engineering Assistant in August 1966, Peter oversaw the change from gas to M.M.A. weld repairs, including the selection of the equipment and consumables and developing the training and quality control procedures.
Peter was appointed to be Works Manager of the WR Rail Welding Depot at Shrewsbury in April 1969, and in that role achieved a 30% increase in production as well as improved weld quality. A further appointment came to the role of Regional Welding Assistant in May 1970, accountable directly to the Chief Civil Engineer for all aspects of track welding and during his time in this role Peter updated procedures, standards and equipment.
His next appointment came in 1975 as the Assistant (Welding), and further promotion in 1983 led to Peter becoming the Assistant (Materials), later titled Materials Manager.
Peter attended many courses connected with the majority of welding processes used on the railway, including Thermit, powder-spray, electric-arc and M.M.A. This training took him to a number of locations in the UK and also abroad. Peter also co-ordinated welding research and development across WR, the BR Research Centre and manufacturers, including implementation of site trials, and he was Chair of two BR Welding Working Parties. Through his hard work and study Peter was appointed to full Membership of The Welding Institute in 1978.
Retiring from the ‘big railway’ in 1989, Peter redirected his energies into a variety of activities, helping others as a volunteer ‘taxi’ driver taking people to medical appointments, as a collector for several charitable organisations and involvement with various church activities. More time was given over to The PWI, together with many hours at the Great Western Society’s Railway Centre at Didcot. Here, by special arrangement, this genuine GWR locoman could still occasionally exercise his skills, as well as oversee the permanent way work. Peter frequently referred to ‘standard’ gauge track as ‘narrow gauge’, because of course the GWR had originally been laid to a gauge of 7’ 01/4”!
After their marriage in 1958 and until her death in 1990, Peter’s wife was a great supporter of him and all of his activities and attended many PWI events with him. Also, having learned her craft on the Marlow Branch, in steam days, she was also a good steam engineman on the main line! They had two children, both of whom understand the importance of the GWR and the great respect and regard to be shown to a certain lsambard Kingdom Brunel, which has also been imparted to Peter’s three grandchildren. When he was a very young boy, Peter had been taken by his Father to visit a ‘Mr. Williams’ who was a retired former GWR employee who had once actually met Brunel, and the memory of this meeting was treasured by Peter throughout his life.
Peter joined The PWI on 25th September 1956 and was elected as a Fellow in March 1980. He was very active in Institution business over many years, giving numerous talks and writing papers for publication in The PWI Journal. I ‘only’ knew Peter for about 25 years of his extraordinary life, having met him through The PWI at various meetings and seminars. I had the great pleasure of working alongside him on the London Section Committee from 2007. Amongst the many PWI events which Peter helped to organise he was instrumental in proposing and then supporting the 2009 Convention to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the founding of The PWI.
As in so many other areas of his life, Peter was a fount of useful, (sometimes esoteric), knowledge and information on the work of The PWI, and was always able to guide and advise the Committee on how to go about things. Personally, I felt that with Peter around the Committee always had a safe pair of hands to rely on. However, woe betide you if you stepped out of line in Committee meetings, since you would be on the receiving end of the dreaded ‘Lugg Look’, as we came to call that very chilly stare which Peter used to indicate his displeasure with something!
At our Section meetings, Peter was always particularly welcoming to visitors and newer members and was nearly always our Attendance Book ‘monitor’. Peter eventually retired from Committee activities, although he continued to attend Section meetings until his deteriorating mobility eventually forced him to stop. Despite this, Peter continued to be a valuable source of knowledge and information via telephone calls and his immaculately typed letters, not only to the Committee but also to me professionally. I cannot recall any question I put to him which he did not have the answer to, even if he had to go and ‘have a think’ about it.
Peter was very much a Gentleman, patient, kind, generous in spirit and willing to listen to people. He also had a great sense of humour and we shared many laughs over some of the ironies in the railway and in life. Peter also had a great love of music, and had a strong Christian faith, supporting his parish as a Church Warden for many years.
A wonderful Service of Thanksgiving for Peter’s life was held in St.Paul’s Church, Wooburn, at which family, friends and colleagues gave many fond tributes to Peter, speaking warmly and with great feeling about what he had meant to them and the influence he had made on their lives. To those who had the great good fortune to have known him, whilst Peter may be gone from our sight he will always remain in our hearts.