Rock 'n' Rail

Join author Richard Clarke as he takes a nostalgic look back at the railways and rock music of yesteryear. Rock ‘n’ Rail chronicles the changing scene of the rail industry from steam to privatisation – and the music industry from ballad through pop to rock.

Privately educated in a third-rate public school and rejecting the silver spoon of the family business, Richard instead chose a route through rock music and railways.

His career in rail began with stints working signal boxes from the mid-to-late 1960s, just in time to witness the end of main line steam, before a radical career shift in 1969 saw him managing the hippest rock bands in Soho, London. Three years later, he was back working as a signalman, spending the 1970s on boxes across the East Midlands and beyond. During the 1980s he was promoted into management at British Rail before it was all-change again with the advent of privatisation.

Never entirely sure which profession he preferred, Richard nonetheless took a lead role in both through the halcyon years of the 60s and 70s heavy rock period and the catastrophic privatisation years of Thatcher. This is his tale.