An Avanti West Coast employee has completed her final working day on the railway after a 35-year career on the railway in a multitude of roles.

Karen Grimshaw retired from her role as Station Manager at Stockport in Greater Manchester, where she was in charge of a team of 47 people at the station from where over 400 trains depart each day.

After previously working at a McVitie’s factory packing biscuits, Karen joined the railway in January 1989 at the age of 24 after she saw a job advert in a local newspaper, and started her railway career as a carriage cleaner at Longsight depot, where Avanti West Coast’s Pendolino fleet is now maintained.

That was followed by a stint in the Ticket Office at Davenport station, before becoming a ‘chargewoman’ at Manchester Victoria station where she dispatched trains and led a team of platform assistants.

After a period of maternity leave, Karen resumed her railway as a mobile cleaner where she cleaned trains while in passenger service before once more becoming a ‘chargewoman’, this time at Stockport station.

Her next role was as a Revenue Protection Inspector on the West Coast Main Line, then as an Onboard Manager looking after traincrew based at Preston and Carlisle, followed by Liverpool and Manchester.

Karen’s last years on the railway have been as a Station Manager across the North West and Midlands, including at Manchester, Stockport, Macclesfield, Crewe, and Stoke-on-Trent. One of her proudest achievements while working on the railway was to attain a Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership.

Karen’s son, Adam, also works on the railway and credits his mum for choosing a career on the railway. Nearly 10 years ago, he started as a Customer Service Assistant at Macclesfield station and is now a Train Manager at Manchester Piccadilly.

Adam commented that his mum inspires him, and that hard work and dedication outweigh anything. Since starting on the railway, he has received amazing comments from colleagues telling him how much respect and appreciation they have for Karen.

That inspired him and showed just how much of an impact she has had on the railway and colleagues.

In March last year, Margaret Jones, an Avanti West Coast employee who worked in Route Support, retired after 37 years of railway service, and in 2022, Tommy Michalek retired from Avanti West Coast’s platform operations team at Carlisle after 50 years of service working on the West Coast Main Line.

“It’s been a true pleasure working alongside colleagues and I’m incredibly grateful for the memories I have from my time onboard and at stations. It’s the teams I’ve worked with that have made my time on the railway a special one. There’s way too many of them to thank and I’m so privileged to have been part of the journey. While I’m excited for this new chapter, I’ll miss being part of the team.”

Karen Grimshaw