Nick Derbyshire (architect)  Nick Derbyshire (20 July 1944 - 21 August 2016) was the last chief architect for British Rail. He joined the architects’ office of the Eastern Region of British Railways in York in 1970. In 1991 he was appointed Chief Architect for British Rail, leading the Architecture and Design Group, which was a stand-alone company under the control of British Rail. In 1994 he took it over from British Rail as Nick Derbyshire Design Associates, but left in 1997 and set up his own firm, Nick Derbyshire Architects.