 Through these efforts in 1955 he was directly appointed by Sir Brian Robertson to the British Transport Commission's Eastern area board.As a result, in 1959 he was on the footplate of the LNER Class A4 "Sir Nigel Gresley" as it broke the postwar steam speed record by hitting south of Grantham.In 1951, Pegler was approached by friends to buy and clear the outstanding debt on the derelict Ffestiniog Railway, which having opened in 1832 ran from the slate quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog to the seaport town of Porthmadog.