Former Secretary General of CILT and founding owner of Railnews, Cyril Bleasdale has died aged 87. 

Cyril was one of the founding owners of Railnews and served as managing director until last year. He died in hospital on Sunday afternoon after a short illness.

Cyril joined the railways as a booking clerk in 1950, and later occupied a number of senior management posts under British Rail including director InterCity, general manager London Midland Region and director ScotRail, before retiring from BR in 1994. 

He also held the role of former Secretary General of CILT (UK) from 1999-2009. 

He is survived by his wife Katy and their two daughters, Jane and Emma.