Re: re why ......

["Tezza" <tezza2000@dingoblue.net.au>]

"Graeme" <grimegrime@hotmailremove.com> wrote in message
MPG.14edad92cc290edc98968d@news.iprimus.com.au">news:MPG.14edad92cc290edc98968d@news.iprimus.com.au...

| 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.

Still a requirement on deisel or electric freighters.


| 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,

Up till FreightCorp changed the system in May 98, it took about 2 and a half
years there to make Driver. During that time, if the Fireman was OK, he'd do
most of the driving so that by the time he came to a Driver Trainer (18
months or so), he already knew how to drive. Now there are no Firemen.


| till to today where class room theory and simulators teach the basics.

Still no simulators used for training in NSW.


| 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"

The problem in NSW is the 1980's strike. The Drivers went out to support the
guards losing their jobs. The ARU (guard's union) stabbed the Drivers in the
back by doing a deal that saw the guards taken off the brake van and placed
on the loco in place of the Fireman. Ever since then, many Drivers have
hated guards.