Florida Phil's 80-trip love of rollercoasters

A retiring rail worker who has visited Walt Disney World in America 80 times said he "won't stop riding rollercoasters" while he is mobile enough.

Phil Taylor, who is 65 and from Bank Foot in Newcastle, will retire at the end of March and says he is looking forward to spending even more time looping-the-loop in Florida.

After first visiting the theme park 27 years ago with family he has returned four times a year with his wife Melanie, 63, and said he loves the rides.

The former train driver, who is known by colleagues as Florida Phil, said he now "likes rollercoasters more than trains".

Taylor has worked on the Tyne and Wear Metro for 49 years. His life on the tracks started at British Rail when he was 16; he was then offered a job on the Metro, becoming its youngest train driver at the age of 19.

The record had stood "for all these years, not least because they changed the age limit for the role", he said.

The father-of-two said he and his wife initially went to Florida with their daughters but now go just by themselves, although sometimes they are joined by friends.

"We do all the rollercoasters every time we go," he said.

Taylor admitted the cost of paying for air fares and accommodation so often did add up, but said he did not drink or smoke and bought annual passes to make it more affordable.

His favourite ride was the Jurassic World VelociCoaster at the nearby Universal Orlando Resort, which has a launch speed of 70mph (113km/h) - 40% faster than the average metro.

Although the lure of Florida has proved irresistible, Taylor has remained loyal to railways. He was a rail guard and then a train driver for 14 years before moving to a role training others.

Taylor said it was "an exciting time" for the Metro when he started working on it in 1980.

"The Metro was a new concept for the region and millions of pounds had been spent making it become a reality," he said.

"I found myself at the age of 19 getting the chance to drive the trains when they were shiny and new.

"I vividly recall being told each one was worth a million quid."

After that he then became operations manager and, most recently, a service delivery controller.

"All my working life has been on the railways, and it's given me a brilliant career," he said.

As part of the rollout of new trains on the Tyne and Wear Metro ageing trains are being replaced with 46 new ones, at a cost of £362m.

Taylor said the "shiny" trains he started with were now old and "were more like the rollercoasters where you get flung around" but the new ones were "much more smoother, quieter and more comfortable".

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