My father, Richard Keam, who has died aged 69 from cancer, was an engineer who spent many years designing traction systems for trains all over the world – a railway enthusiast’s dream job.
He was born in New Malden, Surrey, to Elsie (nee Hopgood), a secretary at the BBC, and Norman Keam, who worked for the Automobile Association. With his elder sister, Jennifer, and younger brother, Peter, Rick had a happy childhood in a close-knit family – and the railway line on the other side of the park from the family home in New Malden instilled in him a lifelong love of trains. Family holidays were spent camping with the OWC (the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry) and, as a teenager, Rick also went on trips with Forest School Camps. He continued to enjoy the outdoor life until well into retirement.
From his junior school, Richard won a scholarship to King’s College school, Wimbledon. He was a good all-rounder, winning caps for rugby and cricket and also rowing, a sport he continued at Keble College, Oxford, where he read engineering. Rick’s degree was a sandwich course, and included time spent working at Associated Electrical Industries in Manchester, a company he returned to after university. While living in Manchester, he played for Metrovick Rugby Club, later turning out for the veterans – and more recently turning up just to socialise.
Rick married Suzanne Graham in 1972, and my sister, Liz, and I were born soon after. Apart from a brief spell in Suzanne’s family jewellery business, Rick worked on many different engineering projects. Our family spent two happy years in Orkney while Rick worked on a prototype wind turbine. After my parents went their separate ways in the late 1980s, my dad and I moved to Bolton, where he returned to work on train control systems at GEC Alstom in Preston. Not long afterwards he met his partner, Carol Gardner Shaw.
His great delight was to be allowed on the test tracks to drive the trains he was trialling in so many cities around the world. He retired very gradually, and up until last year was still being consulted about traction systems and software.
Rick was a lifelong socialist – a kind, amiable and generous man who made friends wherever he worked. He enjoyed tackling crosswords, hill-walking and cycling, as well as good beer, good red wine and good food.
He is survived by Carol, Liz and me, and by his siblings, Jennifer and Peter.
