Richard Topham Hatt

* **Spouse**: Roseen Kelley
* **Married**: 3 May 1997

**Richard Topham Hatt**, nicknamed "**the Fat Controller**", is a Sudrian railway executive, businessman and member of the Hatt family, who has served as the Managing Director of the North Western Railway since 2010. He has presided over a programme of modernisation, started by his father, with the aim of bringing the railway into the 21st century, while preserving its unique character.

## Biography

### Early Life

Richard Topham was born on the 15th of June 1972, at Saint Tibba's Hospital in Wellsworth, the first child of Stephen Topham Hatt, son and heir of Sir Charles Topham Hatt, the Controller of the North Western Railway, and Helen Margaret Dreswick, from a prominent clerical family. He was baptised on the 30th of June at St Tibba's Church with The Rev. W. Awdry (with whom he shared a birthday), The Earl of Sodor and The Viscountess Harwick as his godparents. At the time of his birth, his father was on transfer to the Midland Region of British Rail, and spent most of Richard's first year and a half on the Mainland, while he was raised by his mother in the family home, Hatt Hall. His father returned to Sodor in December 1973, and became more active in his son's upbringing - and Richard would gain a brother, Charles Nicholas, in August 1974, and a sister, Emily Helen, in April 1977.

Richard's upbringing was a privileged one, but his parents and grandparents ensured he was installed with the strong ideals and principles of the Hatts - hard work, honesty, humility and working for the good of others. His social circle growing up included the fellow children of Sodor's elite, but also local children. He was a Boy Scout from the age of 8, serving from the Cubs to the Venture Scout as part of the 1st Wellsworth Scout Group, and finished as a Queen's Scout.

He first attended the local Wellsworth CoE Primary School from 1976 to 1979, then attended the Suddery Cathedral School, where he was a chorister, from 1979 to 1985, before moving up to the Abbey School, Sodor's prestigious public school, at Cronk, which he attended until 1990 - finishing with four A Levels in History (B), Business (A), Design & Technology (B) and Classics (B). He was then the second Hatt to attend St Luoc's College, studying a Master's in Mechanical Engineering, and graduating with honours in 1994. The course was one of a number sponsored by the railway to train future generations for railway service, and the course included practical training at the railway's Crovan's Gate Works. He was, unsurprisingly, head of his various schools railway clubs; and in later years would secure visits to the railway for his friends and clubmembers.

As the heir of Sodor's preeminent railway family, he was introduced to railways at an early age, with an expectation he'd follow his ancestors into the North Western Railway. He routinely visited railway facilities with his grandfather and father growing up, and became friendly with many engines and staff. Beginning at 13, he would spend a portion of his school holidays working part-time on the railway, mostly in operational duties at the shed and station at Wellsworth, but in his university years his father would dedicate some time in showing him how the railway was run, with Richard assisting his father in his duties at Tidmouth and even observing a few board meetings.

### Career

Richard formally began his career on the North Western Railway in September 1995, when he became a Traffic Apprentice. The railway's usual Traffic Apprenticeship course lasted four years; however Richard was placed on a special course that had been created for his father back in 1962 that lasted for seven years, to allow more in-depth training for his planed future role. His first two years revolved around learning ground-level operations, followed by a year of footplate training, two years of headquarters training, and finally two years of junior management training, finishing in 2002.

When he ended his stint at Cronk, he was given his first role of importance as the Assistant District Superintendent of the Arlesburgh Branch Line, serving for just over a year.

## Family

* Bertram Topham Hatt (born 25 January 2000)
* Jane Roseen Hatt (born 3 July 2002)
* Stephen Robert Hatt (born 3 July 2004)