Raymond Armstrong on the platform at Echuca station. He left his home in the town as a teenager to start a 50-year career with V/Line.
Echuca’s Raymond Armstrong jumped at the chance to get out of school and start earning money.
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But not even he could have realised his first foray into the working world would lock him into 50 years – and counting – with the railways.
Raymond — or ‘Radar’ as he's known to friends, family and, well, just about everyone — got his chance to start working on the railways through a family friend named David Nelson, who was a foreman at the Bendigo yards.
His 50 years aren’t just a golden moment in his career; they also represent a working life that has spanned an era of massive transformation for the state's rail network.
His journey has taken Raymond from Echuca to Bendigo, where he graduated from taking wagon numbers to becoming a station assistant, a yard assistant and then a shunter, to Donald where he drove ‘massive’ wheat trains across the Wimmera and Mallee regions and worked as a guard.
In the 1990s Raymond spent 15 months working at the South Dynon depot on the outskirts of Melbourne's CBD before taking his skills to driving trains around suburban Melbourne for two decades.
He also helped to train new drivers during his time in the city before returning to V/Line in 2007 where he has split his time between Bendigo and Southern Cross — and is now working in the new train depot at Shepparton.
Not only is he still driving trains, importantly, V/Line says Raymond is passing on his knowledge and expertise of the regional rail network to the next generation of V/Line drivers as a practical driver trainer — and has no plans on slowing down any time soon.
“I really am proud to have worked on Victoria’s railways for the past 50 years — it’s a milestone few people achieve,” Mr Nelson said.
“I've seen many changes to the industry during the past five decades and worked with some great colleagues right across the state,” he said.
“It's been a privilege transporting Victorians around the state and I’ve enjoyed my time driving for V/Line, especially the modern VLocity trains.
Raymond Armstrong at the controls of his V/Line train.
“Driving for V/Line you never take for granted experiencing from the cab the stunning, changing landscapes from suburban Melbourne to the countryside of regional Victoria.
“It’s a fantastic and rewarding job with heaps of opportunities and I certainly would recommend it to anyone interested in becoming a train driver.”
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