Re: re why ......

[BEE EFF <mcreely@pnc.com.au>]

Graeme wrote:

>
> When I joined the job in the seventies the folklore at Dynon said that
> during one particular fight for better wages years before, the
> adjudicating arbitration judge had made a comment along the following
> lines in the hearing of all parties that he considered train drivers to
> be glorified tractor drivers.
> This was of course considered a slur by that particular generation of
> drivers and quite likely helped instill an us against them feeling.

I still find comments like this to be a slur(especially, with the legal fraternity's
tastes for little boys).

>
> Still driving is driving,its not a trade,its not a profession.You can be
> good at the practical or you can be an instructor or foreman.
> Its changed from the steam days when it was very much a mule job,when you
> really had to know your roads so you knew when to steam and when to roll.

I find this statement a little stupid, what just because a train doesn't have some
antiquated smoke and steam belching piece of crap up the front, does that mean that
drivers of diesel locos can't drive trains....ha!

With trains getting longer and heavier it is now possible for one part of your train
to be going down hill while part is going uphill(and on some undulations the train
can be going in 1/2 a doz different directions at once)so it takes quite a bit of
skill and road knowledge to prevent you from snapping the thing into a few
bits....so don't give me this crap that steam drivers were the only ones who knew
how to drive trains(the signals, hills,hollows and speeds haven't just dissapeared
because there is no glorified tea kettle on the front)and road knowledge is still an
enormous part of the job(if you hope to do it well).

>
> Its changed from the times when drivers decided they did not want
> permanent fireman any longer (steam) to the transition period of the
> trainee engineman..ie Bloke comes in off the street does some class work
> sits on his bum for 4 years and maybe has some good mates who teach him
> the finer points of driving a diesel, passes another test,some more class
>  work,and eventually gets his ticket and with a little luck stays out of
> trouble and gets on with it,till to today where class room theory and
> simulators teach the basics.
> Its funny, I've seen drivers leave Vicrail go to the Pilbara for a few
> years as a driver, come back and fail to get back into driving, and end
> up picking up brake blokes in the yard.
> I've worked with dangerous drivers who should never have been allowed to
> drive trains,and others that where permanently scared shitless every time
> they had to drive a passenger train.I've worked with guards who could
> drive trains as well as any goods roster driver.
> But most guards never wanted to be drivers,they where traffic and happy
> and the driver was rolling stock and doing the steering.
> Most drivers got on well with the guard and vicaversa,(out of each others
> hearing)....they where a team.
> In my time "the guard was the brain at the back of the train,hope to
> Christ he stays there"
> I would imagine the drivers job has got alot more lonely these
> days,seeing as so many other grades no longer exist between point A and
> point B.

This above statement s also ludicrous, the job now is as good as it has ever been
,most of the time now where I work you have to qualified drivers up front(working as
a team)so I don't find the job lonely at all.We have permanent regular mates and if
you are fortunate to get on well with your mate, the job is an absolute pleasure.
When you have to work with someone else(and yes you do strike the odd f...wit)it is
normally an opportunity to get to know someone who you wouldn't normally spend time
with.

As far as dangerous and scared shitless drivers go, if driver trainers and loco
inspectors did their job and travelled with these people often enough ,they would
probably identify these problems and hopefully rectify them(instead of the old days
of..."he's a f...wit", and nothing more was done.

So the job mightn't have been real flash when you were around, but I still maintain
it's the best job around(even if we are treated as glorified labourers).

Regards BEE EFF