Retirement of Central’s union stalwarts

Earlier this month, the Loco Division was finally able to present retirement plaques to a couple of Central’s Union stalwarts – John (JR) Ralston and Luke Burke.

Whilst both Luke and John wanted to retire quietly and without fuss, we had retirement plaques made and had been trying since 2022 to arrange a time/place that we could get them together to make the presentation.

With the help of Paul Foster, we were finally able to meet for a few ales and present Luke and John with their plaques.

John retired in 2022 with 43 Years Membership and Luke retired in 2022 with 41 Years Membership. Both John and Luke were active and proud unionist at Central for both the AFULE and RTBU.

Good stories were told with plenty of laughs about the “good old days”, the characters on the job, and how the job has changed over the years.

A great afternoon was had by all, and it was great to finally get the two mates together to make their presentations.