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| BR (Or Big Four) "Management"/Inspectorate Structure??? 08/08/2016 at 12:29 #83998 | |
BoxBoyKit
166 posts |
Hello all, Mainly focusing on the signalling side, but thought I'd put it here just in case other departments could be incorporated as well. My query is this: I've been reading Adrian Vaughn's trilogy of Signalling tales, and am curious to see if anyone here has, or could provide, or knows where I could find, a sort of management structure chart from the bottom to the top for BR (or Big Four) Inspectors and Management? Something like Signalmen - Station Masters - Divisional Inspectors - Regional Inspectors - etc or whatever the case may be. Likewise if anyone knows where I might be able to find such info, would be happy to produce my own chart. Hope this all makes sense... Many thanks! Log in to reply |
| BR (Or Big Four) "Management"/Inspectorate Structure??? 09/08/2016 at 11:15 #84006 | |
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kbarber
1712 posts |
As so often, it depends quite a bit on era. At lower levels I suspect (but can't be sure) the big four would have been similar to each other and to BR, but at higher levels things would have diverged to take account of quite different management structures. There might also be quite a few variants for larger stations & localities. Taking a simple, relatively quiet area and starting at the sharp end (which, traditionally, is the bottom of the organisation chart even though it's the most important for day-to-day operation)... Each signalbox was (for much of its day-to-day management at least) under the control of the Stationmaster. If you look at an old Sectional Appendix, you will find most signalboxes are clearly associated with a station but are specifically labelled 'Station Box', even though very few were ever named 'X Station'. It is believed this was to make it clear that they were under the relevant stationmaster's control rather than for any operational reason. The stationmaster's duties would include regular box visits, at which he was supposed to observe the working, ensure the rules & regs were being properly adhered to and sign the book accordingly. The next level up was the District (in general, I think). The Stationmaster would report to one or other of the district officers, perhaps more than one (there may have been separate lines of responsibility to the passenger, goods and operations superintendents). Meanwhile, the District Operating Superintendent would have a Chief District Inspector who in turn would have a team of DIs. They were responsible for box visits (as per the stationmaster), examination of signalmen (and shunters and other operations staff and maybe guards as well unless there were separate guards' inspectors) and just about any other operations issues. 'The Chief' was a power in the land, not to be messed with (my father, an awkward Yorkshireman to the fingertips if he needed to be, thought nothing of telling an executive several grades above him exactly what he wouldn't be permitted to do even if he gave a written instruction). And an old fashioned DI had huge respect, for he knew how the job was done just as well as he knew how it ought to be done! There weren't many things they hadn't done in their time and they knew exactly how to tell what was really happening, even if they let it go. Unless you took the mickey, in which case they'd drop on you like a ton of bricks... So there was a parallel chain of command. (That ignores the role of Control, who also had a role in day-to-day management, making regulating decisions and instructing signalmen as necessary. They, too, would come under the DOS but their authority would run parallel to that of the DI.) Around larger stations there might well be a Regulator in one of the signalboxes. His job would be to make regulating decisions within his area of control (and liaising with Control over regulating decisions beyond his immediate area). Sometimes a box would be under the control of a yardmaster rather than the stationmaster, though that would tend only to be goods line boxes and yard boxes, some of which would be more like a shunt frame than a signalbox. When powerboxes started to come in, the Regulator was often called a Signalbox Supervisor and started to have additional responsibilities and powers - they would become the first level of supervision for the signalmen, and it would be they who reported to the stationmaster, for example. They would also be able to authorise the use of goods lines by passenger trains, and would take the place of Control in the passing of messages for OHLE isolations. That was a bit of a prelude to the stationmaster being superseded by an Area Manager. I have a feeling the early AMs were just super-stationmasters, looking after 2 or 3 stations but with little extra authority (that's based on things I heard people say but I never specifically asked so treat it with caution). By the time I knew the railway (late 1970s) the Area Manager usually had an 'Assistant Area Manager (Operations)' (by the mid-80s it had become the more sensible 'Area Operations Manager'), who would usually be responsible for one or more Area Movements Inspectors. The AMIs would cover many of the duties of the old DIs, but with a much more local area. Stationmasters no longer existed, although most AMs also had one or more Traffic Assistants (later Traffic Managers, later still Station Managers) who covered many of the old SM's duties (including box visits). Above the area offices were the Divisions. They covered an area similar to the old districts, but relied on the areas for station management and such. They did, though, have a Divisional Operating Superintendent who had a Chief Divisional Movements inspector and a team of DMIs. AMIs and DMIs were usually, like the old DIs, ex-signalmen who knew absolutely everything there was to know about the rule book and how to make the railway work. (They also knew, if a difficult question was raised, exactly where the rule was that could/should be interpreted a particular way to get to the answer that was needed. I reckon, based on some job analysis work I did later in my career, they needed a similar level of knowledge and verbal reasoning skills to a top level barrister. If only they could have commanded a salary of the same level...) In the mid-80s, the divisions were done away with under the 2-tier reorganisation. Then, at the beginning of the '90s, came 'Organising for Quality' (the last British Rail reorganisation), which established something similar to the old districts but with specific commercial responsibilities; so I think Inter-City had Routes, I know Network Southeast had Divisions and Trainload Freight had Areas and I believe Regional Railways had Districts (all would disappear, of course, under Restructuring for Privatisation in 1994). All had a quota of movements inspectors, according to how many signalboxes, yards and other ops locations they were responsible for; my father, as Chief DI of 'Southcentral' (what's now, essentially, Southern Railway of some notoriety) had a team of half a dozen or so (I believe) DMIs under him, whereas Freight South, covering the whole of Southeast England, eventually had one Area Movements Inspector (after we became responsible for a couple of signalboxes in 1993). Sorry to go on a bit. Hope some of that's useful. As you can see, it's been quite complicated at times. Log in to reply The following users said thank you: BoxBoyKit, JamesN, KymriskaDraken, postal, Steamer, IanS |
| BR (Or Big Four) "Management"/Inspectorate Structure??? 09/08/2016 at 11:40 #84007 | |
BarryM
2158 posts |
What an outstanding reply! Well done Keith. Barry Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Log in to reply The following users said thank you: postal, JamesN |
| BR (Or Big Four) "Management"/Inspectorate Structure??? 09/08/2016 at 12:42 #84009 | |
KymriskaDraken
963 posts 
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How's the book coming along Keith? Kev Log in to reply The following users said thank you: headshot119, JamesN, BarryM, postal |
| BR (Or Big Four) "Management"/Inspectorate Structure??? 09/08/2016 at 13:33 #84015 | |
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BoxBoyKit
166 posts |
Wow Keith, thank you for that! Couldn't have asked for it any better, thank you!
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| BR (Or Big Four) "Management"/Inspectorate Structure??? 09/08/2016 at 22:01 #84022 | |
northroad
870 posts |
Try looking for a clip on you tube called "This is York". This does go a little way to explain the station masters roles, duties and shows who is responsible under him. At the end it does mention area control as well. As I say it does not explain everything you want to know but it is a good watch of life as it was. Geoff Log in to reply |