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Friday 11 Feb 2005

CUMBRIAN SIGNALLER RETIRES AFTER 45 YEARS SERVICE

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A Cumbrian signaller retired last Saturday after almost 45 years service on the railway. Karl Nordovics, who is 65 next month, was born in Hungary but came to Britain in 1956, aged 16, after the country’s uprisings, leaving his family behind. He first settled in Bedfordshire before getting a job as a bricklayer with a Manchester construction company and then in 1961 he became a signaller in Bootle. Karl then spent the next 40 years working as a relief signaller at various signal boxes across Cumbria before returning to Bootle as a permanent signaller a few years ago. He said: “I love my job and have enjoyed my time as a signaller. I have a lot of good memories and a lot of good friends from working on the railway – it’s not goodbye, just au-revior.” Last year Karl, who has been married for almost 40 years and has three children, was awarded a special recognition award for the garden he created and has helped to maintain at Bootle station. When Karl arrived at the station the garden was in a very bad condition and he decided to transform it, as this was one of the reasons Bootle had lost out on the best-kept village award. With the help of local residents and some of the other signallers, in particular George Armstrong, who he says deserves a lot of the credit for the garden’s transformation, he set about the work. Carlisle Council gave them a grant of £100 for materials to get the garden underway but Karl says it is a never-ending project and he hopes he will be able to help maintain the garden during his retirement. Karl also raises a lot of money for charity with the help of wife, Patricia and this is something he says he will be able to devote more time to. In the past he has raised money for Age Concern and various animal rescue charities by holding coffee mornings, tabletop sales and plant sales. Network Rail's area operations manager Ian Buckley, said: "Karl has devoted his life to the rail industry and has seen a great many changes during his years on the railway. However, retirement is perhaps one of the greatest changes any of us will face, so we all wish Karl well for the future."