THE LONG READ: Charlie recalls a lifetime working on the railway in Offaly stations

"I'VE been working on the railroad all the livelong day."

The classic song – made famous by Pete Seeger – aptly describes most of Charlie Finlay's working life.

The Colehill native worked in Geashill and Tullamore railway stations from the late 1960s until his retirement in November 2005.

During the almost four decades he worked for CIE – later Iarnrod Eireann – Charlie oversaw the introduction of new technologies and witnessed the extraordinary growth in passenger numbers from the Celtic Tiger period onwards.

The affable country man's love of railways continues into his retirement where he remains busy farming and doing voluntary work with Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society.

Charlie is also a keen amateur photographer and over the years he has chronicled many activities in Tullamore, Offaly and the wider Midlands area. His photographs regularly appear in the pages of the Tullamore Tribune and Midland Tribune.

"I missed the railway for a good while after my retirement but don't anymore. I still dream about it and in the dream I meet the late Tullamore stationmaster, Joe Craig and some of the other people I used work with," outlined Charlie.

Last year Charlie marked the 40th anniversary of the closure of the old fashioned signal box at Tullamore railway station.

Up to then trains had to be manually signalled through by Charlie and his colleagues but from 1984 onwards all trains are centrally controlled from Conolly Station in Dublin.

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The exit of the familiar signal box was truly the end of an era, said Charlie, who recounted it had originally opened in 1856 when the railway line was extended through the Midlands to Athlone.

Charlie grew up on a small holding at Coleshill, just outside Tullamore, which he and his family still farm.

"It was bleak in Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s and it was nearly impossible to get a job unless you served your time. Lots of young people emigrated.

"My father was a very hard worker but around 1955 – five years before he died – his health started to decline and I had to leave school to help on the farm. Back then farm work was more physical that it is now. We ploughed with horses and sowed barley, wheat, oats and potatoes. Back in the 50s we didn't have to buy much because we were very self sufficient, growing our own cabbages and turnips. Mt mother baked griddle bred and we had a churn to make butter from our cows milk."

Charlie recalls that Cobbe's had a mill in Durrow where corn was ground to make porridge and provide feed for the animals.

His first job outside the farm was in Gilson's electric shop in Patrick St in Tullamore in 1959. "We installed the first televisions around the area – for Dr Sullivan and Sam Deverell in Annaharvey," remembered Charlie who said he had to leave the post to look after the farm as his father's illness worsened. He passed away in November 1960, aged 67.

There wasn't much money in farming and Charlie also worked in the building trade with his cousin, the legendary Johnny Flanagan. He toiled on the development of Connolly and Kearney Park housing estates in Tullamore and many other projects.

The Colehill native got his first taste of railway work in 1967 when the late Des Walsh told him the stationmaster was looking for holiday relief.

"I had three job offers in the same week but I decided to go for the railway. I met the stationmaster on a Monday morning and left 38 years later."

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Charlie trained as a signalman and worked in that role in Geashill from September 1969 before transferring to Tullamore when Geashill station closed.

"Everything came by rail for all the shops and my day started at 6am which later changed to 4am when two goods trains started to arrive earlier. I worked six days a week and every second Sunday. I'd go to bed at different times every night depending on the workload."

During his almost forty years on the railway Charlie met many famous faces including President Eamon De Valera who travelled through Geashill in the presidential carriage. He also met Presidents Erskine Childrens, Cearbhaill O Dalgiht and Michael D. Higgins as well as SDLP founder, John Hume who travelled to Tullamore to attend a Credit Union conference.

He also recalls meeting the famous actors, Joe Lynch and Mick Lally then at the height of their fame as Dinny and Miley in the RTE rural soap Glenroe. "They arrived on the 3.10pm Galway train and there was smoke coming from underneath one of the carriages so all the passengers had to disembark with their belongings. Joe and Mick weren't too happy at the start but mellowed in the end."

Other notables that Charlie encountered included boxer Floyd Patterson who was a regular visitor to Charleville Castle, US Ambassador Jean-Kennedy Smith and actor and singer, Josef Locke.

Charlie regularly regales family and friends with stories from his time on the railway and recently featured in a recorded interview conducted by Offaly History.

Some of his fondest memories relate to victorious Offaly senior hurling and football teams making their triumphant returns to Tullamore in Septembers of yesteryear.

And what of his proudest moment in his career. That has to be in 1998 when - with the help of then Minister Brian Cowen - Charlie secured a special train to transport 600 Offaly fans to the hurlers epic encounter with Clare in Thurles.