| West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 Posted by grahame at 11:25, 2nd August 2026 |     |
Our speaker at WWRUG on 16th September will be Peter West, who was the franchise manager at the DfT for many years. He is now a member of the board at the Severnside Community Rail Partnership.
WWRUG meets at the Bethesda Church Hall in Trowbridge - open from 19:00 for networking and coffees, with the speaker at 19:30. It's only 100 yards or so from Trowbridge station and we finish in time for "carriages' - for you to connect with trains home around 21:15. Meeting costs are include in West Wiltshire Membership fees (which are a bargain) but guests are welcome too at £2 a head.
Edit note: I have corrected one of grahame's trademark typos here, for clarity. CfN.
| Re: West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 Posted by ChrisB at 16:20, 2nd August 2026 | |
ooooohhh....wsh I could be there.
I've always wanted to know why he ordered IETs that are so not suited to the Wests railways.....and he was the responsible civil servant
| Re: West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 16:34, 2nd August 2026 | |
Hmmm.
At the risk of possibly causing offence to Peter West: I amended grahame's original post, where he had referred to Peter West as 'the franchise manger at the DfT' - and is there any such entity as a 'responsible civil servant'?
I apologize for any offence I may cause by posting this, my personal opinion, not an official view from the Coffee Shop forum.
CfN.
| Re: West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 Posted by ChrisB at 16:42, 2nd August 2026 | |
Responsible for the order, not necessarily being a responsible civil servant!
| Re: West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 Posted by grahame at 18:22, 2nd August 2026 | |
It should be a very interesting evening. I have met Peter a number of times - both during and after his time with the Department for Transport; he was always very professional, and since his DfT days my respect for him has grown further.
| Re: West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 Posted by ChrisB at 20:00, 2nd August 2026 | |
Indeed he is. But he's still responsible for ordering & specifying the IET....
