Margaret Jones, an Avanti West Coast employee who worked in Route Support, has retired after 37 years of railway service.
Her retirement brings an end to her family's longstanding commitment to the railway, which overall stretches back over 90 years.
Her family were involved in many aspects of the railway. Her father worked in the booking office at Carlisle after leaving the army, while her mother undertook various clerical roles in the payroll and track maintenance departments, before she began working on the trains before her retirement 12 years ago.
Margaret's great granddad drove a wide range of steam locomotives on trains between Carlisle and Glasgow and his son (Margaret's great uncle) was also a driver, before moving to Euston where he worked on Steam, Diesel and Electric traction on the West Coast Mainline out of London.
With railways playing a prominent part in her family's life, Margaret decided to take after her mother, so she applied for a typing job at Carlisle station, where she was successful, and her career started on the 8 December 1986.
She undertook various jobs, including photocopying and typing a range of letters and memos. Margaret stayed in this role until the late autumn of 1989 when she was offered a permanent position.
Now aged 21, she carried on in the same line of work before moving on to admin roles, which also included being a Roster Clerk at Carlisle Station, a position she held for seven years.
In the spring of 1996 Margaret became part of Clerical Support in Preston, her time here saw her cover the whole Anglo Scottish route from London to Scotland, supporting onboard and station staff between Warrington and Glasgow & Edinburgh.
Her position also covered teams of staff based at Liverpool and Runcorn, which covered a span of six years.
Although there were various changes in the stations and depots that she looked after, her commitment and enjoyment of helping others kept her in this role for 28 years.
Her day-to-day efforts, often behind the scenes, enabled station and onboard colleagues along with managers to be supported and able to do their jobs by ordering uniforms, equipment and performing general admin.
Margaret moved back to Carlisle in 2022 after a three decade spell at Preston. She said: “Carlisle is close to my heart – it's where I live and the place where my Mam and Dad were based during their railway careers. It has been great to have started my career here, as well as finish it.”
Across her career, Margaret has seen many things change. The advances in technology means her first job she had on the railway can now be performed on a laptop or smart phone instead of a typewriter which were still in use in 1986.
She has also witnessed the changes of uniforms, train companies and their brands and the evolution of First Class travel, which includes some of her fondest memories such as serving tea and coffee to passengers onboard MK3 intercity coaching stock, before the Pendolinos were introduced.
Reflecting on her time on the railway, Margaret said: “I've been fortunate to have enjoyed my job and blessed to have worked with lovely people. I'm proud to have worked in the same place as my family – following in their footsteps and contributing towards our decades of service on the west coast. The railway is my extended family and I'll remain in touch with them. I'm excited for a new challenge with retirement but I'm sad to be leaving friends and colleagues who I've known for a long time.”
Warren Grigg, Customer Experience Manager at Avanti West Coast, said: “Margaret has devoted her working life to the railway in a variety of roles and always been committed to the job. She's a wealth of knowledge and if Margaret doesn't know the answer, no one will! She has been a great support to me personally during my career, as well as many others who have had the pleasure of working with her. We appreciate all she has done for us, and the railway and we'll miss her very much. On behalf of Avanti West Coast, I'd like to wish her a happy retirement!”
