Donald Leslie Heath
27th October 1939 – 12th August 2026
Donald Heath passed away peacefully aged 86 on 12th August 2026. In a remarkable railway career, Donald is revered for his exceptional project management of the hugely successful East Coast main line (ECML) electrification in the 1980s. He later led the original BR/LUL Crossrail project, which unfortunately the government aborted in the 1990’s. However, Donald’s detailed scheme formed the basis for the subsequent works that delivered London’s very successful Elizabeth Line.
Donald attended Hertford Grammar School in 1951, and it was about this time that he first became involved with railways upon joining the newly formed Tallylyn Railway Preservation Society. He went on to volunteer on this railway from 1956 to 2010 serving as a guard and driver. He had to give up the latter role following injuries he sustained as a survivor of the ECML Great Heck train crash in 2001. The disaster was caused by a Land Rover and trailer crashing off the M62 at a bridge, fouling the ECML railway line below, and being struck by the train Donald was travelling on. A freight train travelling in the opposite direction then ran into the wreckage. There were ten fatalities and Donald always considered himself to be very lucky to have survived.
As a Civil Engineering graduate of Sheffield University, Donald joined BR as a Junior Scientific Officer in the Research Department in 1961 where he gained his quite extensive permanent way knowledge.
Moving on to project management in 1970, Donald’s first major scheme was the South East Lancashire North East Cheshire PTE’s ‘Picc-Vic’ tunnel project. This scheme was projected to provide a through connection between Manchester’s Piccadilly and Victoria stations, but unfortunately was never implemented.
Disappointed but not dejected, Donald then took on a Project Manager role within the BR Transmark Consultancy working on a proposed Iranian high-speed line between Tehran and Tabriz. With the fall of the Shah and the subsequent fast moving political events that befell that country in 1980, this project too was frustratingly scuppered.
However, for Donald at least, there was to be silver lining. For on his return to the UK, he was appointed Project Director for the ECML Electrification – a dream post! With his usual deft management style, he delivered the Leeds phase a year earlier than originally planned in 1989, and the full scheme on time and within budget in 1991. Of particular significance was how nimbly and sensitively Donald handled the Grade 1 Listed Building consents, particularly with regard to the wiring of the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-on-Tweed.
Donald then moved to head up the aforementioned Crossrail scheme but, on its cancellation, he retired from BR in October 1996.
Following this, he became an independent consultant working for a variety of schemes including the West Coast Main Line (WCML) upgrade between1999 and 2005. Later, he also proffered advice to the Network Rail Great Western Electrification team, which caused him to question the direction the scheme was taking. Unfortunately, the course of the project was already firmly set, so this proved to be a challenge too far.
In 2019 a colleague, John Buxton, persuaded Donald to share the authorship of a book detailing the history of UK railway electrification, including his own significant contribution to the subject. Being modest, and a somewhat self-effacing character, Donald wasn’t all that keen initially – in particular, he didn’t want to be seen to be ‘blowing his own trumpet’.
However, when John explained that condensing the stuttering past progress of UK electrification into a book could help readers learn the lessons from the past, he quickly came round to the idea. ‘Lines of Power: The Electrification of British Railways Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs’ was published by Unicorn in 2025. Now, with his passing, his written words in this tome form part of the true and special legacy he leaves for politicians, stakeholders and rail practitioners to assimilate, and hopefully act upon, in order to deliver electrification more efficiently and cost effectively going forward.
Throughout his entire career, helped by his extensive rail engineering and operations knowledge, Donald always ensured that he had a total grasp of the subject he was dealing with. He was inspirational character who was well respected, not only by the teams he led, but also pretty well everyone he dealt with. Even in the most challenging circumstances he had a knack of getting people round to his way of thinking and achieving a consensus. His understated approach often involved much ‘wicket-rolling’ in advance of a meeting and the injection of humour during the proceedings!
Donald was awarded the OBE in 1991 New Year’s Honours List for services to the rail industry and project management. He was the chairman of the Robert Stephenson Trust and was a member of the Gresley Society. Donald chaired the Railway Engineers’ Association in 2015 and for many years was treasurer of St Michael and All Angels’ Church at Sutton-upon-Derwent, near York.
Donald married Alison Godber in 1961. Alison survives him, along with their daughter Sally and son Jamie.