RIP Adrian Shooter

[Bletchleyite]

Modern Railways has Tweeted today that Adrian Shooter has sadly passed away.

https://twitter.com/Modern_Railways/status/1602959969539817475

Very sad news to wake up to this morning - Adrian Shooter, legend of the industry and most especially of Chiltern Railways, has died. Of course, his legacy will live on in so many ways. Our condolescences to his family and friends, and may he rest in peace.

Such a shame Vivarail didn't manage to hang on just a few more weeks.

 

[zwk500]

A very great shame. Gave such a vast amount to the railways.

Condolences to his family and friends, and RIP.

 

[sammyg901]

Very sad news. Met him once, a peak train was cancelled from Aylesbury (to be fair a rare occurence even now but very rare back in those days!) and be bought everyone a coffee and chatted whilst we waited for the next one. Lovely man and very passionate about the railways. RIP

 

[snowball]

Very sad. First his company, now him. A big disappointment for him at the end of his life.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Sad news

 

[Elecman]

i had a very long chat with him at Cyril Bleasdale’s funeral at the end of April, Great man, another great loss to the railway community

 

[hexagon789]

Very sad news, I heard rumours he had passed away yesterday but confirmation that it's true is hardly what you want to see.

A great loss to the railway.

I'm happy that he at least got to see the tribute to him at Marylebone, a nice reflection of the esteem with which was he was held.

 

[Mag_seven]

Another career railwayman who cut their teeth in the BR era gone.

 

[Elecman]

At least He went at a time and way of his choice. MND is a terrible disease

 

[Ken H]

To me he was Mr Chiltern. But a sound career railwayman. He was also area manger at St Pancras. I think Modern railways did a 'day in the life of' feature on him then. Sad loss.

 

[warwickshire]

Very sad loss. True railman to the helm.
Very sadly missed. Such a great loss to the rail industry. RIp Adrian Shooter.
Condolence all around.

 

[the sniper]

Sad news at a particularly unfortunate point. Much of the infrastructure of the Chiltern Main Line will remain and can be considered as part of his legacy though.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

so sad. A great railway man.

 

[6Gman]

Sad news at a particularly unfortunate point. Much of the infrastructure of the Chiltern Main Line will remain and can be considered as part of his legacy though.

His transformation of that part of the network was truly extraordinary. I used to do the diagrams out of Marylebone for a period pre-Shooter. A very basic service operated by suburban-style first generation DMUs (Marylebone - Banbury on one must have been awful). His vision to transform that to what we have today was remarkable and his ability to actually achieve it even more so.

 

[david1212]

I am sad to learn of his death.

At least He went at a time and way of his choice. MND is a terrible disease

Someone I knew well and a few years younger was diagnosed with MND nearly 5 years ago and the died in the summer. The last time I saw him face to face was about 4 years ago then virtually about three years ago. For the last 12 months he was bedridden.

Hence given Adrian's very active life I can understand his choice.

To me he was Mr Chiltern. But a sound career railwayman. He was also area manger at St Pancras. I think Modern railways did a 'day in the life of' feature on him then. Sad loss.

Sad news at a particularly unfortunate point. Much of the infrastructure of the Chiltern Main Line will remain and can be considered as part of his legacy though.

If at privatisation he had not brought the M40 Trains team together, they had not been the successful bidder then in 2000 awarded the 20 year franchise the transformation of the Chiltern route probably would not have been carried out.

 

[lakeland844]

Sad news -A true railwayman through and through ! First knew him in the late 70s when he was the manager at Heaton Depot in Newcastle - he inherited some very worn out Class 105 Cravens units cascaded from the the Kings Cross electrification - the exhaust pipes passed up through the guards van roof leading to excessive vibration and noise throughout the passenger saloon. It was Adrian's idea to re-route the exhaust system to the end of the carriage and sorted the problem ! The solution was adopted all over the network - Clever man !
He was also passionate about the Ffestiniog Railway and he organised half term working parties for me and my schoolfriends to Boston Lodge works. He would set us a project for the week which we tried our best not to b%lls up ! Didn't always go to plan but his knowledge, patience and expert advice offered I still value to this day !
An inspirational man to meet and work with who went on to greater things - will be sadly missed by all !
RIP Adrian

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

His transformation of that part of the network was truly extraordinary. I used to do the diagrams out of Marylebone for a period pre-Shooter. A very basic service operated by suburban-style first generation DMUs (Marylebone - Banbury on one must have been awful). His vision to transform that to what we have today was remarkable and his ability to actually achieve it even more so.

Therefore one could say that the late veteran has left behind a good legacy on the Chiltern Main Line And of course, at Vivarail he helped transform what looked like a silly speculative idea into a real, feasible project that worked as a solution for Island Line and saw off the knackered Sprinters over at LNR. How very sad that he passed so soon after Vivarail’s administration.

 

[Merle Haggard]

His transformation of that part of the network was truly extraordinary. I used to do the diagrams out of Marylebone for a period pre-Shooter. A very basic service operated by suburban-style first generation DMUs (Marylebone - Banbury on one must have been awful). His vision to transform that to what we have today was remarkable and his ability to actually achieve it even more so.

Indeed, it's hard to remember how low the Marylebone service fell before he re-invigorated it. One of my mates was a M'bone driver for a bit. He mentioned that North of, I think he said, 'Risborough was operated one engine in steam (or 'spark') and it was pretty lonely, completely dark in the winter late afternoon, no railway life at all, bowling along in a nearly empty 4 car suburban unit. He wonders what would have happened if the d.m.u. had failed between there and Banbury (before mobile phones). A very long walk in the dark presumably.

I worked in Parcels Marketing (when it was part of Freight) for a while and it coincided with Adrian Shooter's tenure at 222. I do remember then that things were going so well, probably thanks in part to him, but not for long; Sectorisation meant that Red Star was no longer conveyed at marginal cost and our Inter City colleagues (/s) hammered us for station overtime loading Red Star. Ditching C&D as well ended the good days and I had to move on. Working for the railways good times & bad times, looking back, neither seemed to last long. Constant change to give the illusion of constant progress, as a famous Roman (?) once said in not so many words.

 

[fgwrich]

Very sad. One of the finest career railwayman around. I don't think I can say anymore about him that what has been posted above - the transformation and revolution of the Chiltern Lines his finest legacy.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Not mentioned so far was Adrian's part in persuading the DfT to restart an electrification programme in 2009, which led to the GW and NW wiring projects (and more).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Not mentioned so far was Adrian's part in persuading the DfT to restart an electrification programme in 2009, which led to the GW and NW wiring projects (and more).

Very much so , (shame the proposals went so wrong on the grounds of cost and got curtailed) , he was also a staunch commentator on other "macro" issues through his work at ATOC and chairman of various schemes there , and a non supporter of the IEP programme , describing it as "the Camel class"

His ordering of a modest number of new trains for Chiltern broke the 1000 day hiatus of "no new trains" before the privatisation "experiment" ....

 

[3141]

Indeed, it's hard to remember how low the Marylebone service fell before he re-invigorated it. One of my mates was a M'bone driver for a bit. He mentioned that North of, I think he said, 'Risborough was operated one engine in steam (or 'spark') and it was pretty lonely, completely dark in the winter late afternoon, no railway life at all, bowling along in a nearly empty 4 car suburban unit. He wonders what would have happened if the d.m.u. had failed between there and Banbury (before mobile phones). A very long walk in the dark presumably.

It is a very sad loss, and particularly sad that he had an illness which made him decide to take this route to end things.

But I expect he would like to be remembered accurately, so let's recall that BR had carried out "total route modernisation" on the Chiltern route in the late 1980s and early 1990s (though it wasn't quite total). and it included building the Class 165 turbos, which entered service in 1991/92. Adrian became director-designate of the Chiltern Train Operating Unit in 1993, and it was in 1996 that the operation was privatised. I am not seeking to play down Adrian's achievements, but he definitely had one of the better TOUs to take into the privatisation era.

 

[45669]

I knew Adrian years ago through his Ffestiniog Railway connections. I only met him once or twice in recent years, and enjoyed a couple of visits to his Beeches Light Railway. It was hard to imagine him suffering from MND, and devastating to read that he's no longer with us. He might be gone, but he's certainly not forgotten.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

It is a very sad loss, and particularly sad that he had an illness which made him decide to take this route to end things.

But I expect he would like to be remembered accurately, so let's recall that BR had carried out "total route modernisation" on the Chiltern route in the late 1980s and early 1990s (though it wasn't quite total). and it included building the Class 165 turbos, which entered service in 1991/92. Adrian became director-designate of the Chiltern Train Operating Unit in 1993, and it was in 1996 that the operation was privatised. I am not seeking to play down Adrian's achievements, but he definitely had one of the better TOUs to take into the privatisation era.

Very true - (but he did build on a good legacy to very good effect - and more !)

The old Marylebone area had been significantly neglected - partly due to obvious funding gaps - and had been played "swop the parcel" between 2 Regions ,and despite the direct access to the BRB at 222 Marylebone Road and serving an affluent catchment area - had not seen much pre NSE attention. The lowest grade of BR Area Manager at one time.

I think the first "improvement" he did was the extra platform at Princess Risborough , then Warwick Parkway and thanks to the 20 year franchise under Sir Alastair Morton , the expansive stab towards Brum.

 

[Bald Rick]

I first became aware of him in an article by Roger Ford in Modern Railways, where he shadowed him for a day as Area Manager St Pancras. Must have been about 1984/5.

I only met Adrian a couple of times through work, a force of nature. RIP.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

It was single track for about thirty miles between Princes Risborough and Aynho Junction until 1998.

The doubling of that stretch and the improvements in speed and frequency that followed was very much under Shooter’s watch.

 

[htafc]

RIP Adrian. Great man. Sad, sad news.

 

[grumpyoldman01]

I never met Adrian Shooter, but the first time I heard his name was in 1975; I had contact with a man who worked in the LMR CM&EE's at Nelson Street and he raved about him. As he only joined BR in 1970, it clearly didn't take him long to make an impression!

His book 'Chiltern Railways The Inside Story' is a good read and as well as describing what went on in detail, it includes a chapter covering plans that nearly happened; these included reopening the GC main line north to Leicester and the construction of an interchange at West Hampstead. Both were dropped because of timing; West Hampstead relied on external funding and was ready to go just as the financial crash happened in 2008, and the GC scheme (in 2009) because of HS2 conflicting with its plans at several places

The book states that the plan for the GC line was worked up by former BR employees working for Corus who "new what they were talking about"; the spec given to them included:

Design speed 125mph
Mixed use railway
Capacity at least 10 trains per hour
ETCS Level 1
Bi-directional signalling
All stations to accommodate 8-car trains

The project they worked up included 4-tracking between Gerrards Cross and High Wycombe, and the budget cost for the project was £530m

Shooter's view on the project? "I think it would have worked and would have been very successful"

As his vision for Chiltern proved to be a success, will anyone disagree with him?

He - and his Darjeeling 'B' - were at Statfold Barn for the Indian Steam event last June; at that time he was still able to stand with the help of crutches.


RIP

 

[norbitonflyer]

But I expect he would like to be remembered accurately, so let's recall that BR had carried out "total route modernisation" on the Chiltern route i I am not seeking to play down Adrian's achievements, but he definitely had one of the better TOUs to take into the privatisation era.

And unlike some of the TOCs, he carried on where Chris Green left off, instead of just reaping the benefits of recent modernisation. (Thames Trains and Connex SE also benefitted from new units in the Network SE era)

 

[falcon]

At least He went at a time and way of his choice. MND is a terrible disease

"Way of his choice"
What does that mean?