A train driver who spent 52 years working on the railways burst into tears as friends and family greeted him on the platform at Manchester Piccadilly following his last shift.<br /><br />Joe Crean, from Derbyshire, retired last week after a career that lasted more than half a century.<br /><br />He started on the railways in 1971 as a steward in the dining car for British Rail, before becoming a fully-fledged qualified driver in June 1980.<br /><br />Crean then joined the TransPennine Express in 2011, based at Manchester Piccadilly, and went on to spend several years as a driver instructor helping to train the next generation of drivers.
