A lifetime of pacing Waterloo’s platforms
JEFFREY FRY joined the railway in 1961 and is still going strong. His six decades of service have earned South Western Railway’s ‘Number One’ a special National Rail Award. PAUL STEPHEN reports
65 is an age when most men and women have retired - or are at least seriously thinking about it.
But for South Western Railway’s longestserving employee, Jeffrey Fry, that point eight years ago merely marked another milestone in what is now a 58-year career that shows little sign of winding down.
Having joined the railway aged 15 in
August 1961, Fry has spent the majority of the intervening years fulfilling a variety of roles at London Waterloo. But with the prospect of retirement after nearly six decades of despatching trains and pacing the platforms at Britain’s busiest station, he instead chose to move to a part-time role with the Meet and Greet team.
“I could have gone [into retirement], but I like working here,” he tells RAIL.
“Since I started at Waterloo at the age of 15, I’ve known quite a few people to die within only a couple of years of leaving, so I’ve got absolutely no plans to retire. What on earth would I do? Plus, it keeps me nice and fit pushing bags up and down platforms.”
Fry was originally entered for an Outstanding Personal Contribution award. But the National Rail Awards judges decided that his dedication and long service deserved the creation of a new bespoke category.
In what was a complete surprise to the audience, and with no mention of it in the official programme, the judges’ subsequent decision to hand Fry the NRA’s first ever Lifetime Achievement Award provided a fitting finale to the ceremony at London’s
Grosvenor House Hotel on September 19.
To the background of Tina Turner’s Simply
the Best ringing out across the venue, Fry received thunderous applause and a standing ovation lasting several minutes.
He adds: “It was the first awards night I’ve ever been to and it was marvellous. You’re sitting there having dinner one minute, and then all of a sudden you see your face on the screen.
“Some bloke told everyone that he was only four years old when I started on the railways, but I don’t mind being reminded of how old I am. Even now I still get people coming up to me on the concourse just to say: ‘well done’.”
That ‘bloke’ was RAIL Managing Editor and Events Director Nigel Harris, who introduced Fry to the stage by first asking for a show of hands from people who had been born after 1961.
Having vividly demonstrated the remarkable length of Fry’s career with the resulting sea of hands, guests were then told how Fry’s first wage was just £ 3.80 a week, and how he had worked for a stationmaster called Mr Downes.
Such were the strict social conventions of the time, Downes had three hats. He would enter the station wearing a trilby, before changing it for a bowler hat during working hours. He also had a top hat which was exclusively reserved for when the Royal Train called at Waterloo, in an era when the station contained a cinema (closed in 1970) and still welcomed regular main line steam services (ceased in 1967).
“They said that my first wage was £ 3.80 a week,” says Fry. “But what they didn’t say was that it was actually quite a lot of money back then.
“Standing on the platform waving to the Royal Trains is one my favourite memories, although I can’t remember if she [Her Majesty The Queen] ever bothered to wave back.”
Fry’s line manager, SWR Regional Manager for London Waterloo Chico Coulibaly, told the judging panel that he had decided to enter Fry for a National Rail Award due to his legendary status at the operator, where he is now affectionately known by the nickname of ‘Number One’.
This is due not only to his official employee number at SWR (000001), but also his reputation for being a role model to other employees, with whom he is always happy to share his experiences and impart advice.
Coulibaly says: “When I started in the railway industry many years ago, on my induction day I was told that our people are our biggest asset. This did not sink in properly
It was the first awards night I’ve ever been to and it was marvellous. You’re sitting there having dinner one minute, and then all of a sudden you see your face on the screen.
until I settled into the team at Waterloo and worked alongside someone I can only refer to as a legend - Jeffrey Fry.”
Other colleagues have described Fry as a team worker who supports them on a regular basis, and as someone who frequently offers to cover anti-social shift patterns.
They have also paid tribute to his smiley and sunny disposition, and his ability to see an issue through to the end even if a passenger is being particularly rude or difficult.
Fry is known to have told some people that he does not come to work for the pay, but for the love of the job, because being around passengers at Waterloo and helping them is all he has ever known.
Fellow SWR colleague and NRA winner Tarnia Rayment (see pages 52-53) says that everyone associated with the operator is very proud that Fry has now been properly recognised for his lifetime of dedication to the travelling public and his railway colleagues.
She, for one, is looking forward to many more years of working with him, as Fry’s career stands on the verge of entering into a seventh decade.
She adds: “Jeffrey is very well known across the SWR network. People were telling me long before I ever met him about what a nice chap he is. He’s been here forever and Waterloo just wouldn’t be the same place without him.”