Railway Veteran Retires After 48 Years Of Service, Reflecting On A ‘Fantastic’ Career Journey

Posted: 16 April 2025 | Gabriel Higgins | No comments yet

Geoff Price retires after 48 years with Northern, starting as a carriage cleaner and ending as conductor team manager.

Credit: Northern

A Northern manager has retired after 48 years on the railway, calling time on a “fantastic” career that began with cleaning carriages and ended with managing teams at Blackpool North station.

Geoff Price, 67, from Warton, joined British Rail in July 1976 after a short stint in a factory. His first job was as a carriage cleaner at Enfield Road Carriage Sidings in Blackpool, secured with help from his uncle, Tony Bretherton, who was a train driver at the time.

“I really enjoyed it,” Geoff said. “It was a good job and I still can’t stand dirty windows or any muck.”

Geoff spent 12 years as a shunter, moving trains within the Blackpool North area. When diesel units with automatic couplings were introduced, he foresaw the role’s decline and shifted to a new position.

In 1990, he became a station chargeman at Blackpool North, ensuring timely train dispatches. “It was another challenge and something different,” he said. “I had a clean, smart uniform and interacted with the public, which was new to me. I wasn’t getting filthy and soaking wet anymore or crawling around under locomotives and coaches.”

Two years later, Geoff was promoted to station supervisor, leading the team that won the Best Kept Station Award three years in a row in the 1990s.

He later moved to Manchester Piccadilly as a revenue protection inspector. “I didn’t know much about tickets, validities and railcards when I started and had to work a lot of things out for myself,” he said. “But I was working as part of a good team and soon developed a sixth sense for spotting fare dodgers.”

Geoff returned to Blackpool in 1997 to become a trains inspector, later known as a trains manager and then conductor team manager, a role he held until his retirement.

“One of the best parts of the job was finding a good candidate, giving them a chance and then seeing them do really well,” he said. “When everything about them is spot on and you see them get promoted and move up through the ranks – that gives you a real sense of satisfaction and pride.”

Reflecting on nearly five decades in rail, Geoff said: “Everything I’ve got and been afforded over the years has come to me through working on the railway. The experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve worked with have shaped me into the person I am today. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

He added: “I’m going to miss everybody, it’s like being part of a family. But it really is time to go as I’m not getting any younger. I want to spend some quality time with my lovely wife Patricia and Roxy Dog, my 11-year-old Chocolate Labrador.”

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.

Movers & Appointments, Operational Performance, Passenger Experience/Satisfaction, Safety, Station Developments, The People Behind the Wheel, The Workforce, Training & Development

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Geoff Price