Gerry Fiennes

Gerry Fiennes (full name: Gerard Francis Gisborne Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes OBE, MA) (7 June 1906 – 25 May 1985) was a British railway manager who rose through the ranks of the London and North Eastern Railway and later British Rail following graduation from Oxford University.

He joined the London and North Eastern Railway as a Traffic Apprentice in 1928, and his subsequent appointments included:

• Assistant Yardmaster, Whitemoor Yard, Cambridgeshire, 1932
• Chief Controller, Cambridge, 1934.
• Various appointments at York, London Liverpool Street station, Edinburgh, and Shenfield.
• District Operating Superintendent, Nottingham, 1943.
• District Operating Superintendent, Stratford station, east London, 1944.
• Operating Superintendent, Eastern Region, British Rail, 1956-57.
• Line Traffic Manager, London King's Cross station, 1957-61.
• Chief Operating Officer, British Rail, 1961-63.
• Chairman of the Western Region Board, and General Manager, Western Region BR, 1963-65.
• Chairman of the Eastern Region Board, and General Manager, Eastern Region, BR, 1965-67.

Fiennes was largely responsible for pushing for the purchase by BR of the 22 English Electric/ Napier "Deltic" locomotives in 1959 (in service 1961-82). These were deemed necessary as they were capable of prolonged running at 100 mph (160 km/h), in order to compete with the electrified West Coast Main Line.

He was fired from British Rail in 1967 for publishing the book I Tried to Run a......
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