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Business News Railway legend retires after 60 years


Legendary locomotive driver Ray Churchill has hung up his signature red scarf and grease top to retire. From junior train spotter to


Vintage Trains steam train driver, Ray has enjoyed a long and illustrious career on the railway. Born in 1941 in Wednesbury, Ray


recalls a happy childhood travelling to holiday destinations in his father’s motorcycle and sidecar and his first close encounter with steam, waving to passing Great Western Railway Dukedogs at Barmouth. In 1957 Ray landed a job as


a cleaner at Bescot freight depot, for the princely sum of 72 shillings and six pence a week, before qualifying and taking up a role as a passed fireman in 1966. As well as being


responsible for tending to the fires on steam locomotives, passed fireman are able to drive locomotives under supervision. Ray undertook further training to


qualify as a driver in 1972. He continued to work at Bescot, driving for various freight


Retiring: Ray Churchil Inset: Ray on a Bescot locomotive in the 1960s


companies until he eventually retired from English, Welsh and Scottish Railway in 2001. He was awarded a certificate of


special merit after assisting a person electrocuted on a 25,000 volt overhead line system. Apart from a few forays into


heritage steam driving while he was at Bescot, in 2002 Ray was approached by West Coast Railways to drive steam specials across the UK network. In 2018 he was appointed by the


reborn Vintage Trains (VT), now a train operating company, with plans to grow its business in the heritage rail tour sector. Michael Whitehouse, chairman of


Vintage Trains, who met Ray in 1963, said: “Only recently did I learn that Ray and I first met on the footplate of the very last Harborne Express in 1963. Little did we know then that our paths would cross again in the new millennium. “His willingness to step out of


retirement in 2018 and drive on VT tours was an enormous help in establishing our own operations as a TOC. “Vintage Trains is a strong,


integrated team and the Churchills have been a core part of our operation, Ray delivering some spectacular performances on the main line with his usual finesse and care for his steed, while his wife Nickey is busy on board selling souvenirs to our passengers. “We wish them both a long and healthy retirement.”


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