{"id":293874,"date":"2025-09-30T20:32:01","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T10:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=183218"},"modified":"2025-09-30T20:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T10:32:01","slug":"railway-200-four-generations-of-railway-service-and-still-loving-life-on-the-rails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=293874","title":{"rendered":"Railway 200: Four generations of railway service and still loving life on the rails"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday 27 September marked a landmark moment in British history \u2013 200 years since the world\u2019s first passenger railway journey between Stockton and Darlington.<\/p>\n

Since the early days of Locomotion No. 1, the railway has became the backbone of Britain, moving people and goods, connecting communities, and evolving through steam, diesel and now electrification.<\/p>\n

For many, the railway is more than a job, it\u2019s a calling, and, for the Chandler family it\u2019s been a way of life for over two centuries.<\/p>\n

Tony Chandler, Shift Signaller Manager at the Wimbledon area signalling area, has dedicated 37 years to the railway, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who each served 50 years. His brother worked on the railway for 38 years, his uncle for 30, and now his son Joseph continues the family\u2019s railway legacy, working as an isolation planner on the Wessex route.<\/p>\n

 \u201cI joined in 1989,\u201d Tony recalls. \u201cIt was probably inevitable. I asked my dad to get me on for six months as I needed something to do and I never left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony started as a booking boy at Woking signal box, later moving to Waterloo which he describes as an \u201cincredible and amazing experience\u201d to see and learn from the signallers who worked there.<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/figure>\n

Technology has transformed and streamlined the railways, but, prior to this automation, Tony and his colleagues would have to rely on a sharp set of eyes in the event of failures.<\/p>\n

 \u201cWhen I was a box boy at Waterloo, we had a train describer system that would describe the trains as they\u2019d come on to the panel,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen this failed, we weren\u2019t sure what trains were coming. We used to open the window at the end of the box and they would send me out with a pair of binoculars and tell the signallers the train headcodes. I thought they were joking and I couldn\u2019t believe it at first. The memories of doing that always stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony left Waterloo to look after Wokingham signal box and, in 1994, he moved to Wimbledon Signalling Centre, which now controls Waterloo. Over the years, he\u2019s seen the railway evolve dramatically.<\/p>\n

 \u201cI love the pressure and the fact no day is ever the same. With the resignalling project and moving onto axle counters and computer-based systems, the railway is always progressing. I played a part in the Feltham to Wokingham resignalling, carrying out the axle counter training for new staff and loved seeing the progression. It’s surprised me how quickly things have changed. When Wimbledon came in 1990 that took out 15-20 smaller boxes. The Basingstoke Rail Operating Centre has replaced many smaller signal boxes. It\u2019s frightening how quickly the railway progresses how quickly 37 years have gone. It\u2019s a good thing. I love my job and I love working on the railway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n

Tony\u2019s upbringing, naturally, had plenty of talk about the railway and, even today, family gatherings often result in \u2018talking shop\u2019. His grandfather led the way, joining the railway in 1937, partly because of his experience with horses as swathes of the railway were still horse driven at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandad was handed a job as a goods guard \u2013 everything was delivered by steam train and he did that for many years. In the 1970s he then became a senior railwayman at Strawberry Hill station. He finished at Feltham \u2013 his two sons were senior railmen at Feltham. Because he was on the railway pre-war, he didn\u2019t get called up as the railway was playing a vital part of keeping the company going delivering coal, milk, cattle. Everything that used to go by rail, he used to transport. He helped keep the country going by being on the railway. He would cook his breakfast on the footplate as he delivered the goods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony\u2019s father began as an engine cleaner, aged just 15,  in 1956, working his way up to become a driving instructor in 1966, training the next generation of drivers.<\/p>\n

 \u201cIt was long hours and dirty work,\u201d Tony says. \u201cBut that was the progression into the driving grade. He was a fireman for three years at Feltham Marshalling Yard. He was given a railway house where we were all born. He was either going to go onto the footplate but with the phasing out of steam, my dad decided he wanted to go down that route, going to Strawberry Hill in 1965\/66. He was a driving instructor and trained many drivers throughout his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/figure>\n

Tony\u2019s son Joseph made it four generations of Chandlers to work on the railway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a call of the railway,\u201d Tony says. \u201cIt was never my intention for my son to join. It was his choice. He saw the life and the enjoyment it gave me. We do long hours but it\u2019s the reward you get from it. It\u2019s an amazing job. Every day is different. You can go in and nothing will happen and the next day everything will happen. It was a calling for him and long may that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony is passionate about the opportunities the railway offers.<\/p>\n

He says: “I think the wonderful thing about the railway is there are so many facets. There\u2019s driving, signalling, P-Way (track maintenance). You can progress in any direction and Network Rail encourages that. That\u2019s a massive selling point and a credit to the industry. My son is now moving to the isolation side and could go on to become an ECRO (Electrical Control Room Operator). It\u2019s the opportunities that it gives you and long may that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image credit: Network Rail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Saturday 27 September marked a landmark moment in British history \u2013 200 years since the world\u2019s first passenger railway journey between Stockton and Darlington. Since the early days of Locomotion No. 1, the railway has became the backbone of Britain, moving people and goods, connecting communities, and evolving through steam, diesel and now electrification. For [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16013,16017,8221,47,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-industry-news","category-people","category-rail-news","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=293874"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293885,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293874\/revisions\/293885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=293874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=293874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=293874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}