Neil's Beer & Rail Website

I live in the cathedral city of Hereford, the county town of Herefordshire in the West Midlands and my main hobbies are (not surprisingly!) beers & railways which has also led to interests in photography & travel. My job on the railway provides me with the most enjoyable way of getting around and pursuing my hobbies, which all tend to blur into one after a few hours!

I've worked on the railways since 1992, starting as a "Trainman D" at Stonebridge Park but with most of it as a train driver based at Hereford. My depot lost its last passenger jobs due to the rail privatisation process as I was about to pass out as a driver so almost all of my time has been spent working on freight trains. During my time at Hereford I have worked for the Welsh Freight Division of BR which became Transrail, one of three freight companies formed prior to privitisation. Wisconsin Central bought Transrail in February 1996 along with the other two freight companies (Loadhaul and Mainline) and Rail Express Systems (RES), becoming English, Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS). Currently I work for DB Schenker (UK). Germany based DBS bought EWS in June 2007 and at the start of January 2009 the EWS name was replaced by DB Schenker (UK) to bring us in line with other companies owned by DB Schenker. This is the start of a new chapter in my career, made slightly unpredictable by the global recession so who knows what the future will hold. DBS has made a start on replacing the old EWS logos as well as repainting a few locomotives in their house colours.

Sadly, much of the enjoyment and variety that existed on the railways up until the 1990's has been lost due to the nature of the UK rail privatisation, with all rail companies seeking to maximise profits while lowering overheads - not too surprising but a bit sad when staff morale isn't always considered in the equation. Hopefully, my website will help to show that not everything is doom and gloom on the railways and there is still some enjoyment to be had both in the UK and abroad.

Since the formation of CAMRA in 1971, the British beer scene has also undergone major changes with a wealth of brewpubs and microbreweries now scattered around the country including several in my home county. Thanks to some friends in Lichfield I developed a taste for real ale and in particular dark beers although in the last fifteen years I've spread my wings and tried many beers when on my travels abroad. Although not cask conditioned, there is a huge range of beer styles out there and some superb flavours waiting to be sampled. More information about these can be found on my beer pages as well as in my trip reports.

The website is split (at the moment) into six pages with links at the top and bottom of this index page to the other five. Rather than just being about me, I've tried to make the web pages more of a general interest nature based around my hobbies and the things I enjoy. So far, my girlfriend hasn't had chance to get involved with my web pages but I'm confident that she'll get to grips with things quite easily and then start badgering me for a page of her own!

This is my first attempt at a website and rather than use the assistance of software like FrontPage, I've decided to spend a bit of time learning about HTML to understand the language behind website creation. Obviously I'm learning more as I'm going so please bear with me as my web pages are likely to change format and appearance (hopefully for the better!) as over the next few months. I have been warned that creating a website is fairly easy compared with keeping it up to date so just like the freight trains I drive - things might move quite slowly!

I'd also like to point out the numerous typo's that will no doubt creep into my web pages - But I will not be providing a prize for the person who finds the most!

In the meantime, if you'd like to contact me with any thoughts/suggestions/queries/feedback, you can do so by e-mailing me on hfdned@hotmail.com

Out of interest, the photo at the top of the page was taken for me in 1997 by Jeff Ferris, who was then one of the local signalmen. Much has changed since then, Jeff has retired, the 37's have all but finished with EWS and I've lost some hair!!

Neil Aitken