Roger Ford is a British

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

specialising in

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. He is Industry and Technology Editor of the monthly trade and technical magazine ''

Modern Railways ''Modern Railways'' is a monthly British magazine covering the rail transport industry, which was published by Ian Allan until March 2012 and Key Publishing since then. It has been published since 1962. The magazine was based originally in Shep ...

'', where he is probably best known for his column ''Informed Sources'', noted for its in-depth analysis of railway technical, commercial and policy issues. He is also founding editor of ''

Rail Business Intelligence ''Rail Business Intelligence'' was a fortnightly subscription newsletter for senior managers, investors, lawyers, contractors, consultants, local authorities, trade unionists, manufacturers and service providers working in the United Kingdom's ...

''.

Biography

Ford trained as a mechanical engineer with

English Electric The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, made munitions, armaments and aeroplanes. It initially specialised in industrial el ...

at Rugby, specialising in prime movers, and on qualification joined the head office of the company’s Traction Division. While at English Electric Traction he was seconded to the Maintenance Division, spending time at

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in Harringay, north London, England. The park lies on the southern-most edge of the London Borough of Haringey. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal ...

and Stratford locomotive depots. He subsequently pursued a career in industrial publicity management, with

British Standards British Standards (BS) are the standards produced by the BSI Group which is incorporated under a royal charter and which is formally designated as the national standards body (NSB) for the UK. The BSI Group produces British Standards under th ...

Chloride The term chloride refers to a compound or molecule that contains either a chlorine anion (), which is a negatively charged chlorine atom, or a non-charged chlorine atom covalently bonded to the rest of the molecule by a single bond (). The pr ...

and Fairey, before deciding to become a full-time writer in 1976, specialising in railways. In the 1980s he also edited the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

Railway Division's quarterly technical journal '' Railway Engineer'' and the

Railway Industry Association The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the main industry trade group for railway equipment manufacturers in the United Kingdom. Eligibility for membership to RIA is simple in that it is open to all UK-based companies in the railway supply in ...

's ''Railpower'' magazine, promoting the UK rail industry abroad. With the start of privatisation of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in 1993 Ford began a parallel career as an independent consultant, with clients including the former Office of Passenger Rail Franchising and a number of leading banks and leasing organisations. He has also presented technical and commercial papers to a wide range of learned societies and industry conferences. In March 1995 he became the founding editor of the fortnightly subscription newsletter '' Rail Privatisation News'', created to provide inside information for financial, legal and commercial organisations taking part in the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

. Initially conceived as a short-term project linked to the privatisation programme, the

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a British monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by tran ...

newsletter saw circulation continuing to expand after the 1997 general election, and in 1998 the title was changed to

to reflect its ongoing role. To support his writing activities Roger Ford launched his own websit
Alycidon Rail
(named after the

British Rail Class 55 The British Rail Class 55, also known as a Deltic, or English Electric List of British Rail power classifications#Type 5, Type 5, is a class of diesel locomotive built in 1961 and 1962 by English Electric for British Railways. Twenty-two locomot ...

locomotive). This provides on-line resources including archives, research material and an acronym translator. The e-Preview newsletter offers a monthly e-mail outlining the contents of the next Informed Sources column in

, developments since the column went to press and a short blog. The 500th edition of Informed Sources was published August 2024.

Writing style and media appearances

Roger appeared on the Equinox TV programme series on Channel 4 entitled "Running to time" in 1988. He has also appeared before the government

Transport Select Committee The Transport Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport The D ...

on several occasions. His style can be scathing and he is credited with inventing the term "Bionic Duckweed." He also came up with the idea of Informed Sources Laws which are an irreverent and tongue-in-cheek way of looking at railways but also based on experience. They are: * First Law ‘Never assume railways are rational organisations’ * Second Law ‘You can’t have too many spanners’ * Third Law ‘Always mistrust schedules based on the seasons’ * Fourth Law ‘When in doubt – build a demonstrator’ * Fifth Law ‘Any change to a prototype will be for the worst’ * Sixth Law ‘Don’t engage in joint ventures with the French’ * Seventh Law ‘The attractiveness of technology is directly proportional to the square of the distance of its factory of origin from London’ * Eighth Law ‘Nothing works out of the box’ * Ninth Law ‘Do not try to solve physical design shortcomings with software’ * Tenth Law ‘If something has to be claimed as declared “world-beating” it almost certainly isn’t’ * Eleventh Law ‘A claim that “safety is our first priority” or “safety is paramount” usually follows an event that proves it isn’t and ignores the reality of ALARP * Twelfth Law 'If an innovation is categorised as First Of A Kind it almost certainly isn’t'

Awards

Roger Ford was the Chartered Institute of Transport's Journalist of the Year in 1993 and received the same award from the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport in 2003. He is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics & Transport and an Associate of the

Institution of Railway Signal Engineers The Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) is a worldwide professional body for all those engaged or interested in railway signalling and telecommunications (S&T) and allied disciplines. Half its members are in the UK and half are outsi ...

. Class 90 locomotive 90006 is named ''Roger Ford'' on one side, and ''

'' on the other.

External links

Alycidon Rail

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Roger British rail transport writers English magazine editors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)