Transport history as Hilary reaches end of the track

A WORKING lifetime in the rail industry has led to a just-retired manager holding a unique position in Irish transport history.

Hilary Twomey started out in his working life, at 16, as a messenger boy with Iarnród Éireann in April 1964. But it wasn’t long before he started moving up the ranks.

When he was 21, the age required to apply to become a train driver, he began training and, after thee years, was in control on the Dublin, Limerick and Waterford routes.

“I was in that job for 20 years, and I loved it. I drove Mary Robinson when she was President in the State (rail) coach and also drove President Patrick Hillery.”

In 1994, he brought singers and bands competing in the Eurovision Song Contest at Millstreet on a day-out to Cobh.

In 1992, Hilary decided to pack in driving trains and went into office management, where he oversaw 80 drivers operating in the Cork/Kerry district.

“In 2004, I became station manager, which I did for three years, before becoming district manager for the Cork/Kerry area, where I was in charge of 300 people,” he said.

The Carrigaline-based married father of three is the first person to have gone all the way up the ladder in the job in the Cork/Kerry region and, possibly, in the country.

“Never in a million years did I imagine that I’d go all the way up the ladder in the job to district manager. The furthest I thought I would ever get was inspector,” Hilary said.

He said his favourite part of the job was meeting people.

“I loved being on the platform dealing with passengers and day-to-day issues. I like dealing with people and with my staff. I always had an open door policy when it came to staff.

“It was a very emotional occasion leaving the job — I’ll miss it,” he said.