Appointment of Managing Director

The Board would like to welcome David Nelson-Brown to the management team in the position of Managing Director (part-time). Many of you will know David as a well-connected ambassador for us with the HRA and across the Heritage Railway sector. He has been a volunteer with the railway for over 30 years as a fireman, driver and guard, and most recently has served as our Chairman.

Since David was elected as chairman in 2019 he has had to steer the company through the ORR inspection and other challenges, including the pandemic and associated financial challenges, an overhaul of our Safety and Competence systems, and the shortage of locomotives and rolling stock. In short, David has successfully lead us through the most challenging period of trading since the BWR began. Over the past 3 years David has effectively acted as our Managing Director, this appointment is a formalisation of that, and David will work with Chris, Julie and Rory as well as our other stakeholders to continue to provide guidance and stability to the business.

The role of Managing Director will be to manage the business on a day-to-day basis, enhancing communication between the Board and the Management Team and other stakeholders to make sure that we operate safely and remain financially viable.

The creation of the Managing Director role resulted in a vacancy for Chairman, to which Paul Foster has been appointed by the Board. Paul is a volunteer fireman, guard and guard’s inspector and has served as Vice Chairman for the past three years, and has been a volunteer with the
railway for 15 years. Paul will chair the Board of directors, which provides governance to the business.

The role of Vice-chairman is currently vacant but is expected to be filled by the next board meeting in January next.