[1] Ronald John Fitch was born on 8 June 1910 in Melbourne, Victoria and was brought up in a railway family in the Perth suburb of Subiaco.

The 1930s depression affected the WAGR and a large number of staff lost employment due to the lack of work.

Fitch spent the next four years as engineer in charge of design work for the Western Australian railway gauge standardisation report.

In May 1949, Fitch left the WAGR after 22 years service and relocated with his family to Port Augusta in South Australia to commence work for the Commonwealth Railways (CR).

During 1951 and 1952, Fitch was a member of the Royal Commission into the route of the proposed new standard gauge railway line from Port Augusta to Leigh Creek.

It was during this time that the working relationship between Fitch and then CR Commissioner, PJ Hannaberry, began to break down.

[citation needed] After retiring from the railways, Fitch moved with his wife to Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, for four years before returning to Adelaide.