We are delighted to announce that Ray Pettit has been elected as the new President of the Society at our recent AGM. Ray will serve as President for the next 2 years and has set himself the goals to increase Membership, Outreach and Participation of the Society.
A video of Ray’s Presidents Address, where he sets out his vision for the Society moving forward, along with some anecdotes from his career is now available from within the Members Area.
Below is a short biography of Ray’s career and about his passion for railways…
Having gained a Mechanical Engineering degree in Manchester, Ray served a Graduate Apprenticeship with Brush Traction in the early sixties and subsequently became Design Engineer. An early move into the computer industry (still at Brush) was followed by a period working with Hawker Siddeley Group Management Services and PERA at Melton Mowbray.
The new computing discipline offered better rewards than those available in the railway industry at the time and Ray switched to commercial Data Processing whilst still employed by Brush.
Ray’s career in computing advanced steadily; he became a programmer, systems analyst, manager of a technical support team and a partner in a software house during a ten-year period. Later, he was involved in direct sales and finally reinvented himself as a project manager, because he believed that he was getting too old to be a salesman.
Ray believes that his best commercial experience was gained in his period as a Technical Support Manager for Burroughs Computers – the American computer company was extremely dynamic and had very short chains of command.
Coming from a family of small-business owners, Ray was keen to try his hand as an independent supplier of software and in 1977, he joined a colleague from Burroughs in buying a growing software house in Halifax, which was renamed QRH Software.
In those days, small and medium sized organisations would purchase a computer and then get a software house like QRH to design and install the system. As a Director of QRH, this was the job Ray did for some thirteen years, involving him in some very interesting projects, including computerizing an Anglican Diocese, an order processing system for the manufacturer of Bailey Bridges (Mabey Bridge) and supplying stock management systems to thirty cold stores within the National Freight Corporation.
In the year 2000, a career change came when Ray accepted a position with Willis Limited as a Risk Manager. His railway knowledge proved useful as Willis placed insurance for many railway operation world-wide. Ray worked closely with several UK and foreign railway operators, including HS1 from its commencement of public services in 2003. Ray says that he only retired in 2018 because of a change in the management structure occurred at Willis, otherwise he may have carried on working!
Ray is a Chartered Engineer and life-long enthusiast for every aspect of railways. He is a log-term supporter of Tornado, The Unknown Warrior, the PRCLT at Butterley West Shed, the GCR 4-4-0 project at Ruddington and the Duke of Gloucester. He is an active volunteer on The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway and enjoys constructing model locomotives.
Photograph by Phoebe Start
