The jolly railway man

Noel Flynn will be forever defined by his lengthy career at Athlone Railway Station. He was the popular train guard at Athlone Railway Station for several decades who made history as the last man to retire from all the Irish public transport groups in the twentieth century. From a well-known business family, which were based down the Strand since the 1930's, Noel has made his work niche away from the undertaking and hackney business for which the Flynn family is commonly known. His father, Michael Flynn started the hackney business in the early 1930s, and drove a V8 car for most of his life, and ended his career in the 1970s driving a Ford Cortina. Michael came from Granard, Co. Longford and Noel's mother was Mary Kate Hynes from Wolfe Tone Terrace, Athlone. Noel's late brother, Paddy began the undertaking business in the early 1960s, and Paddy's son, Seamus continues the business to the present day. “I learned to swim in the Shannon as a young fellow and I used to go up the river with Eamon Norton, who had a boat-building yard on the Strand in the 1940s, and he could catch up to thirteen or fourteen dozen perch after a day on Lough Ree,†said Noel. “There were three boatbuilders in the Strand then, the Nortons, the Brownes and Charlie Ward.†Noel's family all went to mass in the Friary throughout his childhood, and during those 1940s days, he remembers his parents and others having to climb the gate of the Friary, if they were just one minute late for mass. Noel's first job was working as a helper on an oil lorry with Irish Shell when he was around 15 years old and he travelled throughout counties Westmeath, Galway, Offaly and Roscommon on the lorry. He had to leave the lorry job at 18 years of age, and then went working on the bottle machine in Athlone Mineral Waters, at the back of St. Kieran's Terrace. “I also worked as a porter in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel in the early 1950s, in the Coen's time,†said Noel. Noel's career as a porter on the railway began in the late 1950s, and afterwards he became a shunter and later became a guard on the railway, and finally finished his working life in the fast-track office in Athlone Railway Station. He continued in that role until he turned 65 years of age, almost ten years ago. “It was at the time of the mail and beet trains that I was a porter, and there was a lot of lifting, and you'd get have to do a lot of transferring beet with a grape, and the work was tough, and working as a shunter was tougher, because you were out day and night,†said Noel. “We worked in snow and rain on the Railway Bridge, hooking up trains, with the wind beating in your face. But on the night work I always had great craic with Leo Behan, Paddy Meehan, Johnny O'Neill and George Behan. They were all great people to work with, and I haven't a bad word to say about anyone that I worked with on the railway, because they were all were first class.†For over four decades on the platform of Athlone Railway Station, Noel was very well known by train travellers and it was noted by all and many that he was always in good humour, no matter what the weather, and despite the hustle, rush and bustle of the railway station. He also has the distinction of being the final public transport man to retire in Ireland in the twentieth century After he retired from the railway he was an active member of the 150th Anniversary Railway Committee, during their celebration year, 2001, and he helped organise the many events during that summer, which honoured the coming of the railway to Ireland in 1851. Noel was also an active member of the CIE ‘Tops of the Town' group in the mid 1970s, and in 1975 and 1976, the group qualified for the Athlone Regional final. ‘Tops were a very popular form of stage entertainment of the time, which included work place groups putting on stage shows and competing with other such groups nationwide. They were highly popular shows and at the time, tickets for the shows and in particular, for the finals were very scarce. Railway staff member and local musician, Billy Henshaw Snr started the local CIE involvement in Tops, and Noel was usually the comedian in the outfit. He played a drunken guard and a friar in different shows, and he played them all in jovial fashion. However despite the brilliant efforts of the lads of CIE, during the two 1970s shows, including great performances by Noel, they had to concede victory to the Athlone Apparel. However the comic antics of Noel Flynn were deemed to be ‘a strong point' of the shows by his colleagues and it was said that Noel literally brought the house down with laughter. Noel went to school in Athlone in St. Mary's Infant School in the Fair Green and was taught by Sr Dominic, in the late 1930's. He went to the Marist National School in St. Mary's Place, and was taught by such legendary local figures as Bro. Patrick, Bro. Alphonsus, Tim O'Brien and Mr Quirke. Noel has lived down beside the River Shannon, at Wolfe Tone Terrace, for all of his life, and his home was almost invaded by the heavy floods of November 2009. “It came to two foot from my door, and it was worse than anything we had seen around there before, and I remember the 1954 floods, but the floods last year was much worse,†he said. “The 1954 flood only came to the edge of the road, but only for Noel Fallon and his family, Tony Bannon, Barney Kelly and the Larkin lads who supplied the sandbags, we could have been in great danger. I had never seen anything like it with swans swimming up the road. Nothing like that had ever happened before.†Noel had four other brothers besides the late Paddy. His other brothers were the late Jackie, Billy, and Anthony (who died in early childhood). His brother Chris is hale and hearty and living in Athlone. Noel also lost two sisters in childhood, Carmel at 13 years old, and Kitty at 7 years old. Noel is married for forty-four years to May, nee Barron, from Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. The couple met in Mullingar when Noel had been appointed there by CIE, and May was working in the Lake County Hotel. “I love my home town, and loved my job on the railway, but the best thing about it all was the craic with everyone,†said Noel. “I think I got on with them all, and the management were great as well.†Noel was born, raised and is currently living close to the area of the old town dump, and laughs about the idea of the lack of health and hygiene around the dump when he was growing up. “The town dump was beside me all for all them years, and everyone was healthy, and we put up with Old Smokie, as the dump was called,†said Noel laughing It's a good work legacy that he has left at Athlone Railway Station, because more than 10 years since he retired, Noel is fondly remembered by staff and rail travellers for his good humour and happy demeanour.