When Scott Phillipson was a train conductor in the ’80s, the favourite part of his job was travelling across the Forth Bridge.
Now, the Angus signalman who has more than 35 years’ service on the railways has abseiled down the famous structure as part of a charity challenge.
Mr Phillipson, 56, from Forfar, successfully completed the Forth Bridge 125 Anniversary Experience abseiling event in aid of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS).
He said: “When I was a train conductor for ScotRail, going over the Forth Bridge was my favourite part of the job.
“On a clear day, you could see navy vessels being repaired and travelling to and from Rosyth Dockyard and oil tankers transshipping off Queensferry.
“When I saw the Forth Bridge 125 Anniversary Experience abseiling event being advertised on the Network Rail intranet, I signed up immediately.
“My father Arthur, a Desert Rat who had gone through the Second World War, having survived Tobruk, El Alemein and a floating Sherman tank on D-Day, died in 1991 at the age of 71 after a stroke and heart attack.
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Fortunately, pioneering work by the likes of CHSS has transformed health care and my mother Jean, who had a heart attack a couple of years ago, is still hale and hearty at 84 years old to enjoy her nine (plus one on the way) grandchildren. Therefore, I felt I needed to do something to support the good work that is helping us live longer.”
Mr Phillipson, who is married with four children, started as a shunter down the docks at Grangemouth Locomotive Shed in May 1979 after asking the area manager for a job.
He said: “My next job was yard foreman at Larbert loading bank, where the main task was tipping 20-tonne lorry loads of rock into hopper wagons for discharging all over the railway during maintenance work.”
Mr Phillipson then applied to work at Stirling Station as a guard and worked on Motorail, which was the brand name for British Rail’s long-distance services that carried passengers’ cars.
When the Motorail train was cut, he decided to become a guard at Edinburgh Waverley Station, working on 125 high-speed trains and newly-reopened lines.
His sister Anne was married to an assistant train driver and when the couple moved to Fort William, Mr Phillipson transferred there temporarily, which is where he met his wife Linda.
Mr Phillipson was freight supervisor dealing with aluminium, paper and oil traffic but he applied for a relief traffic supervisor job at Perth, covering all the signallers, signal boxes and level crossings between Blair Athol and Greenloaning and Montrose. After about 20 years, he became the local manager for the Dundee area.
“Working on the railway is a 24/7 activity,” said Scott.
“Accordingly, I now find myself with plenty of time for my six grandchildren, by being a signaller at Inverkeilor.”