Don (pictured left) on the roof of the old Curzon Street station in the 1960s (wearing a tweed hat rather than a hard hat!)

28 August 1928 to 17 June 2021

Donald Geoffrey Halliday (left in hat), a long standing member of the Permanent Way Institution, died peacefully on 17 June 2021 after a sudden illness.

Don was born near Slough in 1928. His father and both his grandfathers all worked for the Great Western Railway, and he too joined GWR as an apprentice draughtsman in 1944. He started in the Permanent way offices in Paddington, surveying, drawing and making calculations for track layouts, particularly for switch and crossing layouts. Conscripted into the RAF in 1946, he trained as a wireless technician and took classes in architectural drawing before returning to what had become British Rail.

He studied civil engineering at night school, eventually becoming a lifelong member of the Permanent Way Institution as well as the Institute of Civil Engineers. In 1955 he moved to the Permanent Way Section of the Chief Civil Engineer’s Office at Euston. He worked on track drainage, large switch and crossing layouts and estimating costs and programming phases of work. He contributed to the financial assessment for the Continuous Welded Rail Policy, proving that by concentrating on re-laying the most heavily used lines completely, the savings in maintenance more than offset the initial outlay.

Notable surveying jobs were at Reading West in 1954, Manchester Central Station in 1956 and Colwich Junction in 1960. At Manchester Central the aim was to straighten the alignment so standard locomotives could be used and passing clearances improved. Don calculated clearances based on the largest coaches then using the station: the LMSR and LNER dining cars.

In 1961 he was appointed Assistant to the District Engineer (Modernisation) in the Midlands, and continued his studies at Wolverhampton. He was involved in the planning and execution of the West Coast Main Line electrification. His particular work included the amalgamation of Wolverhampton Low Level and High Level stations, Birmingham New Street’s 1960s modernisation and a new bridge at Chester Road, Birmingham. At Chester Road, the old bridge was removed and the new bridge put in place in one 30 hour procession of the line.

Don retired to Devon in the 1980s, but remained actively interested in civil engineering and the permanent way until his death. When the South Devon Railway sea wall needed to be rebuilt in 2014, he took great interest in the use of filled shipping containers as a temporary fix, and recalled holding the blueprints for the aborted Dawlish Avoiding Line whilst in the Paddington offices in 1944.

From childhood, Don was a passionate railway modeller, using his professional skills and knowledge to build detailed historical sets. He also wrote articles about historical railway properties for the specialist press, and would happily provide advice about details in old photographs, based on his extensive knowledge.

Don married Phyllis in 1957, and remained her devoted husband until her death in 2019. He is survived by four children, five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

The family have set up a memorial fund, collecting for the Institute of Civil Engineers’ Benevolent Fund. Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/dhalliday