David ‘Dave’ Covington is celebrating fifty years working on the railway, after ignoring his mum’s advice back in 1973.

Dave joined the industry as a ‘junior railway man’ aged sixteen in his native Kent, and since them has worked in several roles, including six years as a guard on South Eastern Railway. He now works as a dispatcher in Cardiff.

He celebrated his golden anniversary last month his workmates held a special event with a railway cake and messages on the passenger information boards.

Dave, now aged sixty-six, says, “It’s my colleagues and helping the customers that I love most. I’ve made some great friends here. I can’t believe it’s been 50 years. I can still remember my first day. When I left school my mum had said ‘whatever you do, don’t join the railway’!”

Dave is a dedicated supporter of Gillingham Football Club, and travelled through the UK attending matches. On one trip, fan, he would frequently travel the length and breadth of the UK following his team. It was a football trip that enticed him to move permanently to Wales.

He explains, “We’d gone to an event in Cardiff with football and got very drunk before the coach back. I ended up meeting a Welsh girl there and we’ve been together ever since!”

Dave moved from Kent to Porth in the Welsh valleys in 1985, continued his rail career and settled down to family life. He worked for several years working at Porth station, then moved to Cardiff Queen Street and later Cardiff Central in the 1990s.

Dave explains that in his role as a dispatcher, he has enjoyed passing on his knowledge and experience to new starters: “I enjoy working with the new learners. You can often tell who can make it and some of the best ones are thinking two or three trains in advance about where they need to be.

“It can be a challenge, especially when there is disruption and when customers are asking you questions while you’re trying to dispatch but you get by.”

He also reflects on changes at Cardiff over the years: “Quite a lot has changed since I started in Cardiff and back then we only had a couple of platforms to the valleys to think about. Now there’s 8 and 0 too and we have far more trains coming through than ever before. I’m looking forward to the future and seeing all the new trains in place.”

Cardiff Central Operations Manager Richard Martin said: “Dave has been an integral part of the team at Cardiff for so many years and his knowledge is second to none.

“We’re very proud to have him here, so congratulations Dave and let’s hope there are many more years to come.”