This book traces railwayman John Davies' career through British Railways and beyond. From leaving school in 1961, he progressed to become the first ever Commercial Manager for passenger train services over all of Wales.
From joining the railway during the steam era, John kept his enthusiasm for the railways, despite the demise of steam in the early years of his career.
Ten years into his career, he saw the chance to apply for a freight salesman's post and rapidly climbed the commercial ladder, bringing innovation and energetic marketing that would in time, transform passenger train services throughout Wales.
Commercial: It's not railway work! traces John's career from beginning to the present day via various chapters, covering different stages of his career:
- How I Became Interested in the Railways
- Operations Clerk: A Disappointing Start
- A Station Master at Age 20!
- Railway Student aka General Relief Clerk
- Unholy Grail: Computer Train Planning in Leeds
- An Obligatory Posting in Area Operations
- Commercial at Last: Freight and Parcels Salesman
- Marketing Executive for Iron & Steel Traffic
- Passenger Sales & Marketing in East Anglia
- Divisional Passenger Manager at Cardiff
- A Pioneer in Emerging Sector Management
- The First All-Wales Railway Manager in History
- Regional Railways Manager, Wales
- My Transport Career from 1994
The book is illustrated throughout with photographs taken during John's railway career. 120 pages.