A tale of two railways

A Tale of Two Railways provides a fascinating insight into the operation and management of England and Denmark’s railway systems which will be of interest to all railway enthusiasts.
During Alan Evans´ working life of 48 years, 41 were spent in the railway industry. Starting as a clerk at East Croydon, Alan soon found out that he would rather be a practical railwayman and transferred to the footplate grades at Redhill followed by promotion to Dorking and then Horsham. After 11 years with British Rail he emigrated to his wife’s home country of Denmark. After learning a new language and achieving citizenship in his new country Alan was successful in obtaining employment with the Danish state railways as a shunter and then after several years achieved his goal of driving trains again, continuing for 20 years until his retirement in 2019 as a driving instructor.
Alan has been active within his trade union and has organised several study tours for colleagues at his depot in Kalundborg. There are many anecdotes from both England and Denmark that give an insight of the daily work at the sharp end of trains. There is a direct comparison of the two careers which show that there are many similarities between the two countries and the type of people employed.

Author Biography

Alan Evans was born in Chichester in 1954 and at an early age developed a keen interest in road and rail transport. This interest was sharpened whilst attending Collyers grammar school in Horsham where the science block afforded good views of the railway goods yard where the shunting could be discretely followed! School is a chapter best forgotten but the careers master did get Alan an interview with British Rail at Essex House, Croydon in 1971.His career progressed to the motive power department where he became a train driver. During this time he met his future wife and they settled in Horsham. After some years they decided to move to her home country of Denmark and after a period of just over six years employment was achieved with the Danish railways culminating in driving trains again. Alan retired in 2019 after 41 years railway work, 11 in England and 30 in Denmark. He has  three children and seven grandchildren and he and his wife will be celebrating their golden wedding in 2026.