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Thursday 3 Nov 2005

BRITAIN’S LONGEST-SERVING SIGNALLER RETIRES

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Britain’s longest-serving signaller retired last week after almost 52 years service on the railways. Keith Brown, who retired last week on his 66th birthday, began working for the railways in December 1954 as a train recorder when he was just 14 years old. Jo Kaye, General Manager (Manchester) said: “This is a truly remarkable achievement and one that is unlikely ever to be repeated again.  Keith is a well-respected and valuable member of the Manchester team and will be greatly missed by all his friends and colleagues at Network Rail.” Keith, who lives in Woodford, has worked in a total of 265 signal boxes across the Greater Manchester area, many of which are now closed. He has spent the last few years of his railway career working at Stockport No. 1 signal box, which is situated on platform 4 at Stockport station. He has thoroughly enjoyed working as a signaller and was very sad to be retiring. Keith says what he loved most was being in a position of responsibility and trust. Keith has seen many changes during his time working on the railways. When he began working all trains were run by steam and he has witnessed the introduction of electricity onto the Greater Manchester railways and more recently he saw the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line through Stockport and the introduction of the new Virgin pendolino trains. In his spare time Keith enjoys gardening on his allotment and he is looking forward to spending more time there. He is also a member of the Woodford Engine Group, with seven friends. They travel to shows across the North West to demonstrate agricultural engines and Keith says a lot of his weekends will be taken up doing this.