Drivers and best friends at Northern retire

Two drivers who have become best friends and have more than six decades of railway experience between them are retiring.

Martin Rodger and Wayne Seddon work out of Newcastle for Northern and are bringing the curtain down on their careers.

Rodger is the lead driver team manager at Newcastle, responsible for line managing 100 train drivers in the north east.

Having joined BR as a trainee in 1985, Rodger soon became a driver’s assistant, spending time at depots in Glasgow and Edinburgh from 1986 to 1987, as well as a stint at Buxton.

His first train driver job in 1988 took him back to the north east, initially at Blyth Cambois,. Four years later he started working out of Newcastle, where he became an instructor in 1998, driver team manager in 2000 and lead driver team manager eight years ago.

Rodger’s 39 years on the railways is just three short of the 42-year career enjoyed by his father.

His best friend, Seddon, will also be ending his 23-year railway career in the coming weeks.

He started out in the booking office at Middlesbrough station in 2001, but within a year had become a driver based in Darlington, going on to qualify as a driver instructor in 2006.

He became a driver team manager in 2013, and in 2021 moved to Newcastle after managing depot drivers at Heaton for eight years.

Looking back on their careers, Rodger said: “It’s a fantastic job – if you don’t mind setting your alarm clock for 3am.”

Seddon added: “This job has given me so much – when we started planning for the upcoming timetable change, I decided it was the least I could do to help the team. I’ll be joining Martin in the retirement lounge very soon.”

Seddon has agreed to stay on through the December timetable change.

Jason Wade, regional director for Northern in the north east, said: “Martin and Wayne have put in one hell of a shift for the industry – helping hundreds of drivers over the years as they joined the industry, learned the ropes and got customers from A to B.

“The fact that, despite already planning their joint retirement party, Wayne has agreed to stay on for an extra few months to help the team during what is always a busy period – goes to show what sort of guys they are.

“Everyone at Northern in the north east will really miss these guys. We wish them all the best for their retirement.”