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Peter D T Pescod B.Sc., MICE Collection
Peter was born in Stockton, showing an early interest in railways which then lasted
his lifetime. The family moved to Finchley when his father, who worked for one of
the Tees-
On being demobilised, Peter studied from 1946 to 1948 in Kings College, London
University, for a degree in civil engineering. Having worked for the Southern Railway
during vacations, he joined the newly nationalised British Railways, as an assistant
under agreement. Following the usual railway training round, he spent some time in
New Works on station rebuilding using recovered materials, necessitated by post-
The change to a divisional organisation (where Peter was responsible for hundreds
of miles of track and well over a thousand staff) came at a difficult time for engineers
on the Southern Region. The spotlight was on track condition as a result of a serious
derailment elsewhere on the Region. Those parts of the railway which had not been
improved during the brief modernisation plan of the 50’s had been stretched to breaking.
Peter set out to consolidate what was good and carry out an extensive programme of
track and bridge renewal on the remainder. He had no time whatever was the latest
management fashion, concentrating on his assets and staff to get the work done. By
1983, when Peter retired, much had been achieved -
During his time at Wimbledon, Peter walked many hundreds of miles of track with his assistants and outside staff judging condition and planning work, gaining an intimate knowledge of both the assets and the people working on them, which was meticulously recorded. He made a point of trying to see personally as many of his staff as possible prior to their retirement to thank them for their service. On the difficult aspect of disciplinary and trade union matters he tried hard to improve relations, dealing patiently, and charitably, with cases brought before him. In the office and elsewhere he was invariably courteous, but firm, sometimes admitting privately that he was a little cross but with no histrionics.
Peter maintained a balance in life with his hobbies of stamp collecting and railway
photography, as well as tending his garden. He loved his cricket and badminton. Finally
after retirement he found a new interest advising the Mid-
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