Ebony Soltani-James

Said the following about James Gatley:

“Joining Linbrooke in 2012 as a CAD assistant, James Gatley began his career in the rail industry with little knowledge about the railway. Attending his interview as a nervous and self-conscious individual, he utilised his CAD role to learn about telecommunications and has since flourished to become an exceptional Design Engineer.

Mick Miller, Linbrooke’s Engineering Director, Telecommunications and Power, stated that “James has excellent SISS skills and can prepare designs quickly and efficiently, developing new and innovative ways of presenting designs through differing software packages. He is conscientious, committed and accurate in his works, and always handles pressure well.”

With drawing skills that are ‘second to none’, James truly displayed his abilities throughout his contributions to our high-profile Thameslink project over the last 2 years – particularly through his pioneering design and installation of both our ‘rapid deployment brackets’ and a ‘retrofit safety handrail’ for passengers.

As the Thameslink project represented the first official application into service of new CIS display screen formats, Linbrooke were extra vigilant in planning the project, utilising James for his logical solutions and consistent delivery prowess. Completing GRIP 5-8 of the project works, and installing 225 new CIS displays across Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon and London St Pancras stations, designs had to be amended to best suit each station. Catering to the differing architecture of each, displays with screen sizes of 32 inches and 42 inches were provided, enabling our team to build bespoke ‘rapid-deployment brackets’ – designed by James - to accommodate the differences in size, while maintaining uniformity in aesthetics, project-wide.

As well as being instrumental in the design and build of the rapid-deployment brackets, James also undertook all of the functionality testing for the screen cluster prebuilds. During which, James highlighted issues in the firmware which was then addressed in the manufacturers firmware updates. During that time, James took it upon himself to become competent with the manufacturers diagnostic/programming software ‘IRIS’ for the benefit of the Thameslink programme.

The ‘retrofit safety handrail’ for passengers was also designed by James as an innovative solution at London St Pancras – one of the UK’s busiest stations. While a handrail was necessary to meet station safety guidelines, it would also make the cleaning vehicles unable to access all areas. Designing a bespoke blanking plate, James single-handedly provided a solution to satisfy all, stating that “if it needs doing, I will get it done”.

Committed to self-improvement, and with marked loyalty to his team, James completed an HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, alongside working full time at Linbrooke. Becoming an active Member of the Institution of Engineering Technology (MIET), he is currently working towards becoming a chartered engineer while supporting his young family. Engineering Manager, Mat Siddall, stated that “James is never phased by obstacles. He consistently provides solutions and he always delivers fantastic results. It is an honour to both mentor and work alongside him.”“