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‘He loves his job because he gets to do and see everything that he likes every day’

A Dogsthorpe man is celebrating 50 years of working at Peterborough Railway Station this weekend.

Peter Taylor, 66, first started working for what was know then as British Rail on March 5, 1973.

An avid train fanatic from an early age, Peter believes he was destined to work on the railways, even when he was a small boy:

Peter Taylor has worked at Peterborough Station for 50 years.

“I enjoyed the railways - both my next door neighbours were train drivers,” he explained. “They used to take me down to the station.”

Peter was a fresh-faced teenager when he turned up for his very first day at work.

His initial role was as a messenger, sorting through letters and then dispatching them to signal boxes.

The self-confessed rail buff has fulfilled countless roles and held numerous titles since then.

Peter Taylor, with colleagues Mark Johnson (lead dispatcher) and Mark Carter (information controller). “Everybody knows me,” he says, “customers, railway staff - everybody.”

‘Station Support’ is his current position, a role which keeps him busy collecting tickets, maintaining platform security, and keeping an eye on the station’s three car parks.

He loves it: “Everybody knows what I’m doing and they leave me to it,” he notes, dryly.

Peter tells the Peterborough Telegraph that being a familiar face in a busy transport hub for 50 years has ensured he is “well-known.”

“Everybody knows me,” he says, “customers, railway staff - everybody.”

“I went to Spain two years ago and there was somebody who knew me in Spain - I’m world famous,” he jokes.

Peter said he’d originally planned to call it a day when he hit the 50 year mark.

“I was planning on retiring when I’d done 50 years,” he said.

“But now things are happening with the cost of living and all that, I just want to make sure that we’ve got enough to live on.”

Peter’s wife of 42 years, Diane, is very proud of her husband’s milestone.“There’s not many people that achieve 50 years in one job,” she said.

So what does she think is the secret to her husband’s lifelong love affair with working at Peterborough Station?

She said: “He loves his job because he gets to do and see everything that he likes every day.”

“He just loves trains.”

Railway worker Peter Taylor, 66, celebrates 50 years of service at Peterborough Station