A member of railway staff now working for Northern Trains says, ‘I love it, and I’m going to keep ploughing on’ as he looks back at his 60-year career working on the National Rail Network.

76-year-old Mick Clarke from Hull began his career in 1965, aged 16, where he worked in the local British Rail Freight yard as a messenger. His job involved cycling round the city in all weathers, delivering invoices and messages to the various coal merchants and shipping companies.

In the 1970s, he changed roles and worked in the sorting office at Hull station, where he worked in the lost property department and sorting parcels, before he became a porter on the station’s concourse and platforms.

Always on the lookout for other interesting roles in the rail industry, Mick applied to become a signalman. Following a six-week training course, he started working in various signal boxes as a box lad across East Yorkshire at Dutch River, Crabley Creek and Beverly Park boxes, before progressing to become a full-time signalman.

“I loved that job. Out in the open country, sat watching the seasons go by.

I found it fascinating, figuring out how the signalling system worked to keep the trains running. It’s like being part of a big jigsaw.

Even now, if someone offered me a chance to go back to the signal box, I wouldn’t hesitate, I would just go.”

Mick Clarke

Following upgrades to the signalling system, which centralised the control of all the signals in the area away from Hull, Mick moved on following the closure of the last signal box in Hull at Beverly Park. Having spent the best years of his career in signal boxes, he took up a job at Arram, where we worked in the ticket office for three years before becoming a conductor on the trains.

“I enjoyed it. It was like that programme ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’, with all these local village stations where you knew everyone and the gossip travelled by train.

I was proud to do my bit. When trains were cancelled or delayed and I could help passengers out and put a smile on their face, I would go home thinking I’d achieved something.”

Mick Clarke

Having done this for 26 years, Mick decided it was time to move on, and he became part of the Revenue Protection Team in 2019.

Mick describes him self as “a railway eccentric” and considers that his career has been a hobby rather than a job. He has always been fascinated with railways ever since he was younger and remembers trips to Germany by boat and train.

At home, he has a large model railway that covers two rooms and is connected by a tunnel passing through the wall. He also has a library of over 1,000 railway-related books. His back garden includes pieces of railwayana, he has built his own signal box, which contains much of the signalling equipment and the lever frame from Filey signal box, which closed in the mid-1980s.

“I once met a sailor who told me he got cravings to go to sea because it was in his blood. That’s how I feel about the railway. “I’ve never thought about doing anything else.

“People say to me 60 years is a long time, but it’s flown by. I love it and I’m going to keep ploughing on.”

Mick Clarke

Several railwaymen across the UK have had long careers working on the nation’s railways. Earlier this year, a rail worker in Scotland retired after a 47-year career, while a chef for Avanti West Coast celebrated a 50-year career in on-board catering.