Adrian Shooter | |
---|---|
Born | Adrian Shooter 22 November 1948 London, England |
Died | 13 December 2022 Switzerland | (aged 74)
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1970–2022 |
Spouses | Diana Crombie
(
m. 1970;
div. 2002)Barbara Harding (
m. 2006) |
Parents |
|
Adrian Shooter CBE FREng FIMechE FCILT (22 November 1948 – 13 December 2022) was a British transport executive.
He is best known for leading the newly privatised Chiltern Railways between 1996 and 2011, and for founding the Vivarail engineering company in 2012. A lifelong railway enthusiast, he had many other involvements with railways, both commercial and preserved, including the Ffestiniog Railway, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and his own Beeches Light Railway.
Adrian Shooter was born on 22 November 1948 in London. His father was Reginald Arthur Shooter, a microbiologist and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, best known for chairing the enquiry into the 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom. His mother was Jean Shooter (née Wallace), who was also a doctor. The two had met whilst serving in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. [1]
Shooter was educated at Kingswood House School and Epsom College. Having failed his mathematics A-level, he lost his accepted place at the University of Leeds and instead studied mechanical engineering at North Staffordshire Polytechnic. [2]
Shooter joined British Rail in 1970 as a management trainee. He became maintenance engineer at Bletchley in the mid-1970s, then depot manager at Heaton, then moved to Carlisle as area maintenance engineer. He worked on expansion projects at Bournemouth and Selhurst, before becoming area manager at St Pancras, then was involved in the establishment of Red Star Parcels and Rail Express Systems, before joining Chiltern Railways in April 1994. [3][ clarification needed]
During the privatisation of British Rail he headed up the M40 Trains management buyout consortium that was awarded the Chiltern Railways franchise. Shooter was the first managing director of that franchise in 1996, and went on to become its chairman. In early 1999 three managers of Chiltern Railways, Shooter, Alex Turner and Owen Edgington, sold their controlling stake in Chiltern to John Laing Group for £1.5 million. [4] With the acquisition of John Laing by Deutsche Bahn in 2008, he became chairman of DB Regio UK. He retired from this role in December 2011.
Shooter had introduced the use of driving simulators for training Chiltern Railways' train drivers. [5] During his time at Chiltern he is credited with the doubling of its passenger numbers through innovation and investment in the ambitious development of train services and infrastructure, [6] [7] [8] [9] and overseeing "the strongest growth record of any rail business in Europe". [10] In November 2016 Shooter delivered the annual railway lecture to the Institution of Engineering and Technology on "Innovation and Realism". [11] Shooter was a director of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) between 2001 and 2011. He chaired the organisation in 2007. [12] [13]
Shooter was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Chartered Institute of Transport. [14] He was chairman of the West Midlands and Oxfordshire region of the Confederation of British Industry, chairman of Bicester Vision, director of Wabtec, and was chair of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership for three-and-a-half years until late-2015. [15] [16] [17] In mid-2011, Shooter had joined the advisory board of the National Railway Museum. [18]
In 2012, Shooter founded Vivarail, a company purchasing London Underground D78 Stock and rebuilding them into the Vivarail D-Train family, including diesel class 230s and third-rail electric class 484s. [7] [19] [20] During the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) short demonstration trips with a prototype pure-battery D-Train were organised from Glasgow Central station with Shooter and Henry Posner III of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) on board. [21]
In 2013 Shooter became chairman of Churnet Valley Railway, and a vice-president of Railfuture along with Andrew Adonis, Chris Green, Roger Ford and Barry Doe. [22] Shooter was a director of Vintage Trains from 2018 until 2020. [23] [24]
During 2002 Adrian Shooter received an honorary doctorate (DUniv) from Staffordshire University. the successor body to North Staffordshire Polytechnic. [25] A decade later in 2013, he received an additional honorary doctorate (DUniv), this time from the University of Birmingham. [26] In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). [27]
In the 2010 New Year Honours list, Shooter was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to the rail industry". [16] [28] [29] [30] In June 2019 Shooter was recipient of the chairman's award of the Institute of Directors West Midlands branch. [10] On 16 September 2021, Shooter received the lifetime achievement award at the Rail National Railway Awards. [31]
On 30 August 2022, a 2.7-metre (9 ft) bronze statue with a bust of Shooter created by Luke Perry and crowdfunded by rail industry leaders and close associates, was unveiled beside platform 1 at Marylebone station in London. The bust sits on top of a girder and plinth and is secured to the ground using railway-inspired loops and bolts. [32] At the same time, Clubman DMU 168 001, the very first train ordered by Chiltern Railways, and the first new train in the UK ordered following the privatisation of British Rail, was named Adrian Shooter CBE. [7] [33]
On 23 November 2022, Shooter was awarded the Japanese Foreign Minister's commendation by Hayashi Hajime [ jp], Japanese ambassador to the United Kingdom, for work on rail safety and establishing the UK–Japan Railways exchange programme in 1993. [34]
Shooter married his first wife, Diana Crombie, in 1970 and they had a son and a daughter together. The marriage was dissolved in 2002, and in 2006 he married Barbara Harding. [35]
Besides his professional interest in railways, Shooter also owned the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Class 'B' steam locomotive 778 (originally No. 19), [36] [37] which he operated on the Beeches Light Railway in the grounds of his residence in Oxfordshire. [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] He also commissioned carriages to accompany the locomotive from the Ffestiniog Railway's Boston Lodge works, [43] [44] [45] together with a replica Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad 'Model T' inspection locomotive commissioned from the Statfold Barn Railway. [46]
Shooter was chairman of the Model 'A' Ford Club of Great Britain. [47] In 2014 his Model 'A' suffered a seized bearing during a classic rally race in Myanmar. [48] He also owned an Indian Hindustan Ambassador car. [41] [44] [45] In April 2022, Adrian and Barbara Shooter welcomed two refugees into their home during the 2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis with Barbara Shooter driving to the Polish border to collect them and drop off emergency supplies. [49]
By early 2022, Shooter had been diagnosed with motor neuron disease but planned to continue driving his Darjeeling steam locomotive for as long as possible. In March, he visited Siliguri and Darjeeling in India in his role of president of the UK-based Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society. [50] [51]
Adrian Shooter died on 13 December 2022, at age 74. [7] [52] [53] [54] [55] In a statement written by him and released by his wife after his death, he described how his symptoms had rapidly worsened, and said that "by the time you read this I shall have gone peacefully to sleep in a clinic in Switzerland". [51] [52] [56] By late-December 2022 [update] Shooter's memorial service had been planned to be held near Henley-on-Thames on 7 January 2023 at the Fawley Hill Railway museum, created by the late Sir William McAlpine. [57]
Reggie and Jean became engaged two weeks after they met and married in Bristol on 6 December 1946. Their first child, Adrian, was born in 1948 in London. He became, amongst other things, head of Chiltern Railways.
a former trio of British Rail managers who backed the 1996 buyout, will share £1.5 million after selling a controlling stake to John Laing.
anecdotes are the difficulties of working with bodies such as the Office of Rail Franchising, Strategic Rail Authority, and Network Rail. … every train was to be washed every day … use of simulators as part of their drive to improve driver training
During his tenure, he oversaw the strongest growth record of any rail business in Europe. … the final words should go to Adrian himself: "I have spent the last 50 years learning a little about people, engineering, railways, and how to encourage continuous improvement in many fields of endeavour. I am far from finished!"
in 2007 Iain Coucher, Network Rail's Chief Executive, and Adrian Shooter, Chairman of the Association of Train Operating Companies, sent a three-page letter to the Department of Transport which strongly argued the case for electrification.
Chiltern Railways chairman Adrian Shooter is the new West Midlands vice-chairman of the CBI. He will take up the year-long appointment in December before becoming regional chairman in 2011. … Chairman of DB Regio UK which owned Chiltern Railways, DB Tyne & Wear Metro, 50 per cent of London Overground Rail Operations and Wrexham & Shropshire. He is also a non-executive director of the Rail Safety & Standards Board.
chairman of Oxfordshire's Local Enterprise Partnership has stepped down after a "successful" three-and-a-half years.
National Railway Museum Advisory Board … Mr Adrian Shooter CBE – from 23.08.11
Departing from Glasgow Central station … The three-car unit concerned, 230 001, was the prototype diesel unit … On board, Vivarail's founder, Adrian Shooter, advised that the unit had been re-engineered as a battery-only train, with each coach having two 70kWh battery packs … Also on the train was Henry Posner whose Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) ordered a two-car, class 230 unit which is now running trips to demonstrate RDC's pop-up metro concept.
five 'big hitters' to become vice presidents of Railfuture: Lord Adonis, Adrian Shooter, Chris Green, Roger Ford and Barry Doe. … In May 2012 … Adrian Shooter CBE (who is a Railfuture vice president) became MCR chairman.
2002; Honorary Degrees were bestowed on: … Adrian Shooter; DUniv
Adrian Shooter; DUniv; 2013
Chairman, Chiltern Railway Company Ltd. For services to the Rail Industry.
Adrian Shooter. Chairman Chiltern Railway Company Ltd. For services to the Rail Industry. (Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire)
Chiltern Railway chairman Adrian Shooter, who lives in Steeple Aston, was made a CBE.
presentation of a very rare Lifetime Achievement Award (only the second to be presented in 22 years of the NRA) to Adrian Shooter, chairman of Vivarail and career railwayman of more than 50 years.
On 23 November 2022, Ambassador HAYASHI Hajime awarded the Foreign Minister's Commendation to Mr Adrian Shooter, Chairman of Vivarail Ltd. … In particular, he established the UK-Japan Railways Exchange Programme with Japanese railway companies in 1993
three-acre estate at Steeple Aston, near Bicester.
owns Beeches Light Railway. Indeed, it operates out of his residence in Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire.
Shooter bought an "arts and crafts" style house in Steeple Aston village, shipped in a Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) steam locomotive and set up his own private railway—the Beeches Light Railway—in his three-acre garden.
model number 778 … run it in his personal garden … tracks over 1.5 km is in the form of a loop … Ambassador car that runs by the train when it chugs through his garden to give it a real feel of Darjeeling. … station that looks exactly like the original Sukna station
A Darjeeling Himalayan Railway B-class steam locomotive that originally went to an American museum now runs on a private steam railway belonging to British rail expert Adrian Shooter in Oxfordshire.
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two replicas of DHR carriages were constructed at the Boston Lodge Works of the Ffestiniog Railway. These and the locomotive run in Adrian Shooter's private garden railway.
Model T railcar … based on a Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railway (Maine, USA) Superintendent's Inspection Car. … built for Adrian Shooter at the Statfold Barn Railway in 2008 and resides at Adrian's private Beeches Light Railway
Adrian and Barbara Shooter's 1930 Ford Model A was temporarily sidelined by a seized wheel bearing
By the time you read this…
contacted a Swiss voluntary-assisted dying organisation called Pegasos.
7 January 2023 at Fawley Hill Railway, Henley-on-Thames … by kind permission of Lady Judy McAlpine.
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