RIP Adrian Shooter

[zwk500]

"Way of his choice"
What does that mean?

It is reported that he travelled to Switzerland as the final act of his life. https://www.dhrs.org/

 

[Goldfish62]

It is reported that he travelled to Switzerland as the final act of his life. https://www.dhrs.org/

I am absolutely not at all surprised that he chose this path.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Adrian's Widow has setup a page for people to share memories/stories and (optionally) make a donation to the Motor Neurone Disease Association: https://adrianshooter.muchloved.com/

 

[falcon]

It is reported that he travelled to Switzerland as the final act of his life. https://www.dhrs.org/

Thanks. I did not see that.

Much admiration to him.

 

[Elecman]

"Way of his choice"
What does that mean?

He went to Switzerland . That’s all I’m saying on this

 

[Taunton]

Mrs Taunton Senior had this sad disease, which we saw through to the end. I doubt she would have done the same, but each to their own.

The MNDA support group is well run, did not squander money, and is worthy of continuing support.

Are there any tributes around his statue at Marylebone?

 

[WillPS]

Sad news.

Massive respect to the man for all he did and achieved to the very end. Legendary name in the industry.

 

[Tim M]

Adrian Shooter was simply an ‘Enthusiastic Railwayman’, a term much used by the Ffestioniog Railways General Manager Allan Garraway. A sad loss to the whole railway industry, RIP.

Adrian Shooter - Festipedia

www.festipedia.org.uk

 

[alf]

Adrian Shooter realised a key to making a railway efficient was to eliminate or greatly reduce intermediate speed restrictions that waste energy, passengers’ time & driver & rolling stock productivity.

I always did & will continue to think of him when a Chiltern train leans into the curve at high speed when passing South Ruislip, or when we swoop through Princess Risborough at full speed on the down line with a double track route stretching miles ahead, or race through Neasden junction south of Wembley at 75mph instead of the pre Shooter 50 mph, or through Beaconsfield at 100 mph instead of the old 40mph.

A thousand cheers for Adrian Shooter.
I shall continue to think of him & wish there were more like him on the railway...& imagine how good our British railways would have been if he had controlled it all.

 

[Tony2]

Sad news indeed and condolences to his family.

He explained his vision of recycled trains to me on board 230001 at Bo’ness in such a clear fashion I finally ’got’ the concept.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

His transformation of that part of the network was truly extraordinary. I used to do the diagrams out of Marylebone for a period pre-Shooter. A very basic service operated by suburban-style first generation DMU

Never met the chap in person, but by all accounts a true Railwayman on all fronts. Very few such people now left in the industry as far as I can tell, and the industry is the poorer for it.

 

[adamedwards]

Time for Chiltern to name a train fast pair the Morning/Evening Shooter?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

168001 is named Adrian Shooter and there is a bust of him placed very prominently by the buffer stops of Platform 1 at Marylebone. Both of these things happened at the back end of the summer, Adrian would have been there to see them and, I presume at least, some of his closer friends who were still at Chiltern would have been aware of his plans.

168001 being named after him is a fitting tribute given it’s status as the first post privatisation train and that bust is going to be in situ at Marylebone for decades. I’m not saying Chiltern won’t name a service in his honour but the tributes have already been made and they are classy.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Such Sad News
Was privileged enough to attend an Open Event at the Narrow Gauge Railway that ran around the grounds of his Oxfordshire Home a Few Years ago now.

 

[NickBucks]

Unusual that neither The Daily Telegraph nor The Times have published an obituary to Adrian Shooter ( at least to my knowledge) in the past few days. Given his stature in the rail business I would have thought this to be a given.Does the journey to Switzerland cause issues I wonder?

 

[James H]

Newspaper obituaries can take a while to appear - a fortnight or more is not uncommon.

 

[Gloster]

Unusual that neither The Daily Telegraph nor The Times have published an obituary to Adrian Shooter ( at least to my knowledge) in the past few days. Given his stature in the rail business I would have thought this to be a given.Does the journey to Switzerland cause issues I wonder?

It could be that it has slightly caught the papers on the hop. Even those who knew his situation may not have been expecting his death so soon, and any obituary is either not yet written or still being revised following developments at Vivarail. And they are probably going to ensure that the journey to Switzerland is going to be carefully handled, not just added on at the end by the last remaining sub.

 

[Mojo]

168001 is named Adrian Shooter and there is a bust of him placed very prominently by the buffer stops of Platform 1 at Marylebone. Both of these things happened at the back end of the summer, Adrian would have been there to see them and, I presume at least, some of his closer friends who were still at Chiltern would have been aware of his plans.

I was just thinking of that. Thought it a bit unusual to have a statue placed for someone still alive, however with hearing this that it was "planned" makes more sense now.

I remember seeing Adrian on the train a few times, travelling First class from Aylesbury. Random memory but I remember as a child going down to London with my Dad to see him sat in First class. His PA was on the phone to someone in fleet because he was very annoyed that the automatic doors between First class and the vestibule were stuck open.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Sad news, and a horrible condition.

Mr Shooter is a good example of how an enthusiastic and capable person can make a difference, but he would surely give credit to the team around him. However, a team with a great and inspirational leader can do wonders.

 

[AndrewBiro]

It could be that it has slightly caught the papers on the hop. Even those who knew his situation may not have been expecting his death so soon, and any obituary is either not yet written or still being revised following developments at Vivarail. And they are probably going to ensure that the journey to Switzerland is going to be carefully handled, not just added on at the end by the last remaining sub.

I too was expecting an obituary in the Times and/or Telegraph. Maybe next week ?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have known some newspaper obituaries to be sometimes two, three, four months after the event. It depends on how up to date their files are and on which others are waiting to be published.

We must be patient. They will get it done.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There is an obituary of Adrian Shooter in the Telegraph.
This is an indirect version:

MSN

The author is anonymous, but must have known Adrian well.
He started his working life at Bamfords (now JCB) in Uttoxeter.
Hopefully we'll get more detail in Modern Railways and elsewhere.

Tall, lanky, amiable but challenging, Shooter – a traction engineer by training – had a professional gift for getting the best out of a railway and its staff, and a passion for most forms of transport, from narrow-gauge steam to vintage cars.
...
Adrian Shooter was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Chartered Institute of Transport. At various times he chaired the West Midlands and Oxfordshire region of the CBI, the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Bicester Vision.
He was or had been chairman of Vivarail, Vintage Trains, the Churnet Valley Railway and SLC - a project management and driver training company - a vice-president of Railfuture, a director of Wabtec, and a non-executive director of the Railway Safety and Standards Board.
Shooter was the author of Adrian Shooter: A life in engineering and railways (2018) and Chiltern Railways: The inside story (2022).
He held honorary doctorates from the universities of Staffordshire and Birmingham. He was appointed CBE in 2010, and this year given a Japanese foreign minister’s commendation for his work on rail safety.

 

[Goldfish62]

There is an obituary of Adrian Shooter in the Telegraph.
This is an indirect version:

MSN

The author is anonymous, but must have known Adrian well.
He started his working life at Bamfords (now JCB) in Uttoxeter.
Hopefully we'll get more detail in Modern Railways and elsewhere.

Nice. Roger Ford in his monthly e-newsletter said he's doing a write-up in the February issue of Modern Railways.

 

[THC]

There is a full obit by Christian Wolmar in the Guardian, which due to its length I won't repeat here. Link below.

THC

Adrian Shooter obituary

Rail executive who was the driving force behind the success of Chiltern Railways after privatisation in the 1990s

www.theguardian.com

 

[Wivenswold]

A sad loss, I've recently read his 2018 book "A Life in Engineering & Railways" and it's a fascinating and thought provoking read.

My thoughts go to his family and all of those within the industry who've lost a great friend.

​

 

[45669]

A sad loss, I've recently read his 2018 book "A Life in Engineering & Railways" and it's a fascinating and thought provoking read.

My thoughts go to his family and all of those within the industry who've lost a great friend.

​

I'm glad you recommend it. I had a book token at Christmas and I've used it to order a copy of Adrian's book.

 

[MotCO]

There is an obituary of Adrian Shooter in the Telegraph.
This is an indirect version:

MSN

The author is anonymous, but must have known Adrian well.
He started his working life at Bamfords (now JCB) in Uttoxeter.
Hopefully we'll get more detail in Modern Railways and elsewhere.

I read his obit in the Telegraph and recall one anecdote where a passenger, having alighted from a train (presumably at Marylebone), then rushed back on. Adrian noticed this and went to investigate. The passenger had lost his pen, and both he and Adrian were on their knees in the carriage looking for it. How many senior directors literally get their hands so dirty? (Btw, the passenger found his pen in his bag, but didn't mention this to Adrian!)