In Episode 5 (Published 8th November 2023), we were delighted to be joined by Great Western Railway Managing Director Mark Hopwood CBE.

Mark has such an impressive CV of railway experiences, that we promised to share here more of his CV than we were able to talk about on the show:

He has been on the railway for more than 33 years and it’s a big list of places he’s been and jobs he’s done in that time, beginning with British Rail…

• Telephone Enquiry Bureau Clerk, British Rail, Reading, Berkshire (June 1989 — September 1989)
• Ticket Office Clerk, British Rail, Reading, Berkshire  (September 1989 — February 1990)
• Traffic & Customer Services Clerk, British Rail, Reading, Berkshire (February 1990 — September 1990)
• Sponsored Student – British Rail, University of Essex (September 1990 — June 1993)
• Duty Manager, British Rail, Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom (November 1993 — July 1994)
• Station Manager, British Rail, Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom (July 1994 — October 1996)
• Access & Planning Manager (incl period as Commercial Restructuring Manager), Reading (October 1996 — November 1998)
• Performance & Control Manager, Thames Trans, Reading November 1998 — (January 2000)
• Passenger Negotiations Manager, Railtrack, Euston, London (January 2000 — March 2001)
• Operations Director, First North Western, Manchester (March 2001 — February 2004)
• Operations Director, National Express LondonLines, London (February 2004 — April 2006)
• Managing Director, National Express LondonLines, London (April 2006 — January 2008)
• Chair – Non Exec, National Task Force, London, United Kingdom (October 2016 — September 2019)
• Interim Managing Director, South Western Railway, London Waterloo (January 2020 — January 2021)
• President, Cholsey and Wallingford Railway, Wallingford, England, United Kingdom (February 2021 — Present)
• Managing Director, Great Western Railway (GWR), Swindon, United Kingdom January (2008 — Present)

Mark was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by HRH The Queen in the 2021 New Year honours lists, for services to transport.

He has also held a number of voluntary roles over the years including being Director of the Institution of Railway Operatory (from June 2011 – August 2018), Deputy Chair & Committee Member of the Railway Ball (April 2015 – Present), and the most surprising one… DJ/Present for Hospital Radio Basingstoke (September 2010 – April 2016).

Night Riviera Sleeper

If you listened to our conversation with Mark in Episode 5 about the GWR Sleeper and (unlike Richard!) you want to see more of what it’s all about, here’s a little taster…

Cholsey & Wallingford Railway

If you were inspired to find out more about the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway, you can find out more on their website, where there’s a great little page about its history.

Okehampton reopening

You can read more about the reopening of the Okehampton – Exeter line on the fantastic Dartmoor Line website, where there are some great historical images and even a list of books if you fancy doing some more in-depth reading about it.