NO MAIN LINE STEAM WITHOUT DAVID WARD?

By the time steam finished in 1968, David Ward had already been on the railway 20 years. But how did he become involvedwith steam again? As with so much at that time, the answer goes back to Alan Pegler, who’d bought Flying Scotsman in 1963.

David recalls that “when Pegler started running Flying Scotsman, all the special trains work was done at divisional level…. he went and found a division that was sympathetic and, being Pegler, he could always cadge things. That was the way he was.

“BR HQ got very concerned about the amount of work that was being done for him and no charges were being raised. So, they decided they would appoint one man in each region who would be his contact. I was on the Eastern at Norwich at the time as divisional commercial manager.”

“When the engine came to Norwich, I was the nominated person to look after it.”

In 1969 – by which time the ‘ban’ was on and No. 4472 off to North America – David Ward moved to Euston. But then came 1971’s ‘Return to Steam’.

“By 1976, the London Midland was doing most of the steam work, because it had Carnforth, Tyseley… and Dinting, so it was then devolved to me, and I took over for the whole of the BR network in my role as regional passenger marketing manager.”

However, contends David, if he hadn’t taken it on, steam’s new era might never have become established. “Because,” he says, “the railway needed someone to take charge of it, and I fended off those who wanted it banned for one reason or another. Steam had a very shaky start pre-1978.”

“I think if I’d not promoted it and kept it going, in the 1970s and 1980s it would have finished. Many people who were about at the time would tell you that was the case. Successful business needs a critical mass. It cannot survive on only a few trains. The fixed costs are too high.”