HOPS Team

About Tools & Services HOPS Team Implementation Who Uses HOPS?Advanced HOPS & Support Packages & Pricing

HOPS is run by a mixture of professional and heritage railway staff, and professional developers. Nearly all are hybrid workers who are based in locations around the UK, and all are passionate about both system development and the heritage railway community.

Directors

The directors will provide strategy direction for HOPS, remove a potential single point of risk from having one person in charge, and ensure that big decision-making is scrutinised and controlled. Directors are appointed to represent the interests of HOPS and its users, they are not representatives of their home railways. All are committed to ensuring HOPS provides long-term benefit to the sectors and communities it serves through the provision and development of services and technology that meet the needs of its customers and users.

	Graham Hukins, Director (Chair) Graham has very wide experience in heritage railway and wider tourism and commercial management, including in his current role as the General Manager of the North Norfolk Railway, which is a big HOPS user, and one of the largest users of the retail systems. Graham's business management expertise, especially in contexts outside heritage railways, will be very useful in HOPS's continued business development.
	Alex Seal, Managing Director Alex has a strong background in main line and heritage railways, having been a signaller in Network Rail and a heritage railway Operations Manager, and HOPS Admin for a number of years, and has been providing support to HOPS in various forms since about 2011. In 2026 Alex was appointed Managing Director and is now responsible for the day-to-day management of the HOPS program and the HOPS business.
	Rob Green, Director Rob is one of the founding HOPS Admins (he has been serving long enough to have a three-digit U number!). He has been involved with HOPS for many years both as a HOPS Admin at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and through being involved in internal discussions about many HOPS developments. Rob was closely-involved in the original competence elements implementation in 2016. Rob has a lot of experience of governance and commercial both in a volunteer capacity and in his professional main-line role, bringing valuable skills to the table.
	David Nelson-Brown, Director David is Managing Director of Bodmin Railway, as well as running his own 15-inch narrow-gauge railways at Perrygrove and at Evesham, giving over 20 years of experience in managing both volunteer and employed railway business and financial management.
	Ernest Elsworth-Wilson, Director Ernest has also been a senior user of HOPS for a more than ten years, through his various roles at the South Devon Railway where he is now General Manager. Ernest has a background in main-line operations management as well as nearly all aspects of operating and locomotive work on heritage railways.
	Danny Scroggins, Director (and developer) Danny's background is in railway operations and safety, with 20 years in the main line railway (Network Rail), including as a signaller, shift manager, and local operations manager at locations such as the Thames Valley Signalling Centre and Edinburgh Waverley. This was followed by a period in infrastructure maintenance, and then heritage railway operations management roles at the South Devon Railway. Danny also has a wealth of business management experience from running, as well as HOPS, companies such as Absolute Aspects (model signals) and IST Simulations (railway training simulators). Danny is a founder director of HOPS since 2009, and was manager of HOPS from 2009 to 2026.

Operations & Customer Service

	Alan, Office Manager Alan has been a South Devon Railway volunteer for a number of years, as well as having a strong background in IT and business systems. HOPS invoicing, booking keeping, and other business delivery systems are managed by Alan, having worked for the company since 2018. Like all heritage companies, he also turns his hand to a wide range of other tasks, including driving heavy machinery!
	Steve, Retail Systems Manager Steve has a background in retail management on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, as well as a history in transport management including on the main line railway. Joining HOPS in 2023, Steve deals with all customer support and onboarding for new clients into the Retail Systems including ticket sales, shop sales, membership system, shareholders, vouchers, gift cards, and much more!
	Alastair, Shop & Post Room Manager Alastair joined HOPS in 2024, and deals with all aspects of HOPS's own online shop including obtaining and trialling new products, fulfilling orders and dealing with shop enquiries. He also operates the post room which deals with the production and sending of HOPS ID cards, membership cards, shareholder cards, and postal tickets. Alastair has a strong background in retail management, IT systems, and heritage railways having worked at Bressingham Steam & Gardens where, amongst many other roles, he was the HOPS Admin.
	John, Onboarding John provides support to new railways joining HOPS, helping them set up the system in such a way to meet the railway's needs and risks and to gain maximum benefit from its use. John was HOPS Admin for a several years, as well as working on the footplate, at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and was instrumental in the development of some of the roster functions when the Support Licence Scheme was introduced in 2016.
	James, Customer Support James provides support to customers by responding to incoming support tickets from Advanced HOPS subscribers. He also has railway volunteer experience having worked at Bressingham Steam & Gardens for a number of years. James joined HOPS in 2023.
	Bob, Documentation Author Bob takes care of developing the HOPS Help system, which is a never-ending task as HOPS continues to evolve and develop to meet its community's needs. Bob has a main line background implementing Customer Information Systems and now also works on the Great Central Railway where, among other roles, he is the project manager for the HOPS roll out.

Development

	Carl, Developer Carl has a professional background in systems development, and also spent a number of years working at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Carl's focus is primarily the development of HOPS's retail systems such as the online sales systems and point of sale software - a subject about which he is very passionate!
	Ed, Developer Ed is a professional developer, whose main focus is the development of HOPS compliance tools, conversion of old HOPS pages and tools to New HOPS, and developing and enriching existing HOPS tools. One of Ed's greatest pieces of work was the conversion of rosters to New HOPS - one of the oldest and most complex parts of HOPS.
	James, Developer James is a professional developer and runs Heron Web. He is responsible for many of the major developments in HOPS since 2019, including the commencement of New HOPS and conversion of some of the early (and difficult) features such as user-management, HOPS Comms, News and Time Register.
	Josh, Developer Josh's background is in main line railway operations as a signaller for Network Rail, and he also volunteers at Rudyard Lake Railway in Staffordshire. Drawing on his developer skills, Josh takes care of the Raildays website, as well as assisting in the development of retail systems.