Chairman – Les McDowell

Hello. My name is Les McDowell and I have been privileged to be the Chairman of the British Transport Pensioners Federation for the last two years.

I joined the Railways after leaving school at 18 and enjoyed many and somewhat varied jobs including Railman, Signalman, three Inspector positions, Performance Officer and then into Management. Initially, I was involved in the St Pancras Area and the introduction of the electrified service from Bedford and left the Area in 1988 as Area Manager.

I moved on to become Area Manager, West Midlands Freight at Bescot until the first throws of privatisation, when I became a Director of Transrail at Crewe. When English, Welsh and Scottish Railway won the bidding process for four of the Freight businesses, I became a Director of EWS.

I retired from the Railway five years ago after completing more than one role as a Contractor to Network Rail – the last one being involved in West Coast Route Modernisation.

It would be quite true to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my diverse career on the Railway and in particular meeting so many people. Within the BTPF I am striving to continue to meet as many people as possible and attend Branch and Council meetings. Along with the rest of the Officers, I am working to introduce a new recruitment effort and to improve communications. However, uppermost in all our endeavours are the two key areas of Pensions and Travel Facilities and I am adamant that these continue to be very closely monitored and safeguarded.

Please let me know your views on what the BTPF is doing, or should be doing, using the email link on this site. I look forward to hearing from you.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]