"31 years have flown by" - Swanage Railway volunteer retires after long service
Alan Greatbatch helped train, mentor and examine more than a hundred signallers throughout his three decades service.
A volunteer who set up the Swanage Railway’s first signalling school has retired after 31 years of voluntary service.
Alan Greatbatch, 68, from Branksome in Dorset helped train, mentor and examine more than a hundred signallers throughout his three decades service.
He said: “The most enjoyable part of my job has been seeing people achieve their dream of becoming a signaller.”
Alan told us that from the age of 8, all he ever wanted to do was work on the railway and he fulfilled that dream when he joined British Rail at Bournemouth station in 1971.
“I never had a bad day”, Alan said, reflecting on the 44 years he spent working on the main line railway as a signaller between Brockenhurst and Dorchester.
Then, in 1991 he doubled his workload and set up a school, on the heritage line to train signallers ahead of the first signal box being built.
He added: “The past 31 years have flown by. I don’t know where the years have gone. It has been a challenge but also fun and I have worked with many good people,”
As a volunteer signalling inspector on the Swanage Railway, Alan visited the heritage line’s signal boxes every week to see the signallers and sign the train register which records all train movements.
During his 31-year volunteer career on the Swanage Railway, Alan has signalled thousands of trains between Norden, Corfe Castle, Harman’s Cross and Swanage.
Alan retired from Network Rail in 2015 but continued his volunteer work with Swanage Railway until this weekend.
He said: “I am very proud of what we have achieved on the Swanage Railway over the years. I am one small cog in a massive machine and without all the other people, it would not have happened.”
Robert Patterson, chair of the Swanage Railway, said: “Alan is a credit to the Swanage Railway because he epitomises its spirit of dedication, enthusiasm, professionalism and enjoyment.”
Swanage Railway Trust chair, Gavin Johns added: “he has been an excellent role model and example to our team of volunteer signallers in their training and continuing development as they signal trains safely and efficiently.”