Richard Hope
Railway journalist who campaigned against rail closures and helped save the Talyllyn Railway
RICHARD HOPE, who has died aged 85 after a long illness, was, as editor of Railway Gazette International for 21 years, the most authoritative railway journalist of his time, and the mainstream media’s first choice to explain developments in the industry to the public; his assessments of high-profile train crashes such as the Clapham disaster were particularly valued.
An electrical engineer by training, Hope joined the Railway Gazette in 1964, beginning an association with the title that would last half a century. He was its editor from 1970 to 1991 – when he was appointed OBE for services to railway journalism – then its consulting editor, also contributing extensively to its sister newsletter, Rail Business Intelligence.
The pivotal moment of Hope’s career came in October 1972, when the Railway Gazette’s offices were raided by police trying to identify the leaker to The Sunday Times of a government “Railway Policy Review” document envisaging contraction of the network from 11,600 miles to 6,700.
Officers questioned staff at their homes and tapped their telephones without Home Office authority, leading to questions in Parliament about the freedom of the press as well as railway policy.
Approached by The Sunday Times, British Rail’s chairman Richard Marsh said the paper was one of a number of hypothetical studies, and “there are another dozen copies in the cupboard here”. But he read the Riot Act to the Department of the Environment, saying the resulting headlines were immensely damaging to BR. As every copy of the paper was numbered, he demanded that the Secretary of State, Peter Walker, call in the police.
In 2013 it was revealed that the leaker had been Reg Dawson, a principal in the Department and a fellowvolunteer with Hope on the narrow-gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales, who had died the year before. Dawson had surreptitiously prevented closure of the Cambrian Coast line, which connected with the Talyllyn, in the 1960s by arranging a grant to BR to operate it on Sundays.
Dawson had moved on from the Railways Directorate when he stumbled across the document. Finding to his horror that it proposed closure of every railway in Wales except those to Holyhead and Fishguard, he risked his career by lending a copy to Hope, who in turn tipped off The Sunday Times.
Six months after the Attorney General told Parliament that no one would be prosecuted, the Transport Minister announced that the cuts rumoured “following the escape of a regrettably mobile document” were no longer seen as a solution.
Hope was twice caught up himself in railway accidents. In Australia he was involved in a fatal collision on a level crossing, then in October 1984 he was on a commuter train out of Euston when it collided with a freight train at Wembley Central, killing three passengers and injuring 17 plus one of the drivers.
Identifying himself to the guard, Hope put down a track circuit clip and detonators to make sure another train did not run into his, or plough into carriages that had overturned on to the next track.
Richard Hope was born in Sheffield on January 13 1934, the son of Group Captain Eustace Hope and Evelyn Balfour, daughter of the 1st Baron Riverdale.
After his father was killed in action over France in August 1941, Richard and his brother were evacuated to Canada; his interest in railways started in Ottawa aged eight. He returned to England in 1944, completing his schooling at Eastbourne College.
In 1951 he started an apprenticeship with GEC in Birmingham, interrupted by National Service with the RAF. His mother remarried in 1953, to Lt-col John Rivett-carnac, Chief Constable of Huntingdonshire.
Hope entered the railway industry in the late 1950s to work on electrifying BR’S Liverpool Street suburban routes to Enfield, Chingford and Bishops Stortford. He then worked in Queensland on constructing the Townsville-mount Isa railway.
During his career with the Railway Gazette, he reported on developments around the world. When he visited Mozambique during the country’s civil war, his train was stopped and searched by armed rebels looking for “foreigners”. They did not find him, as he was in the cab of the locomotive.
Hope campaigned against closing railways in the face of road and air competition, being convinced a more efficient railway had much to contribute. He served briefly as an adviser to the Transport Select Committee, and assisted Eurotunnel with developing cross-channel rail operations.
His pride was the Talyllyn, the world’s first railway to be rescued and run by enthusiasts. Hope first encountered it in 1955 and became an active volunteer, travelling from his home at Berkhamsted. He was secretary of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society for more than 30 years, and finally its president.
When he retired from the Talyllyn’s board in 2013, the railway re-ran for him the Coronation train it had operated in 1953, with the original fireman and guard. Despite his struggle with Alzheimer’s, he visited the Talyllyn as recently as last February.
In 1962 Richard Hope married Audrey Rogers, who died in 2016. He is survived by their son and daughter.
Richard Hope, born January 13 1934, died October 14 2019