Re: Excess NR Locos for Sale

["Rod [comtrain]" <freight_man@hotmail.com>]

Freight Australia's Wodonga Depot is shrinking ! Today after my departure
their is only 6 men left.
The Moth will probably stay on till he is 90!
Ted Hodges (ex Benalla) is nearing 60
Youngest is Garry Pronk in his 40's
Kevin  Hammond, Marty McGrath, both in 50's
jobs have been called, but having trouble filling them.
Rod
"f.u.i.t.b.e.t" <fuitbet@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
3b16d609$0$25491$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au">news:3b16d609$0$25491$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au...
> So Rod,
> The story in NSW went something like this.....FH,NM,MM,DG and a few others
> came to Sydney`s hosting of the AFULE`s annual   piss up....1993 was the
> year.....We all got this very rosy picture painted about the coming of NR
> especially by Frank....So the seeds were then sown to the union guys and
> they were recruited into Frank`s web of deception...... I believe the
> forming of the PTU was instrumental in the setting up of NR....I also
> believe the players involved all had prior Knowledge and an agenda never
> shown to us at the grass roots level....Myself Glenn and others joined in
> April 1994 and set up the rosters, crew co ordination, loco rostering etc
> etc....Only 12 months had  passed but things were starting to go
> sour......Frank had well and truly jumped the fence and would do and say
> anything to survive.....the DIC`s had served their purpose so they were
> disposed of..... control of the rosters etc was taken far away from us...
> and all this.. after the Dic`s being  personally recruited by frank and
all
> craft members... they were now being removed by other forces at
play....Very
> few Dic`s remained in the management side of things only the one`s that
> danced to the right tune...NM is one of them.....So as you can see Rod the
> same thing happened to all of us as has happened to you guys down there
with
> one difference we gave up all of our entitlements to go to NR..I for one
> cannot wait for sale of the century....
> P.S Do you see the moth about thses days?
> Stephen Pracy
> Locomotive driver
> Sydney NR
> "Rod [comtrain]" <freight_man@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:3b14d1c6$0$25488$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au...
> > Gidday Glenn!
> >
> > Its a funny thing about that question, it gets asked a lot by National
> Rail
> > Enginemen!
> > This answer should more probably be sent privately, but as you asked it
on
> > the group, I will answer it on the Group.
> > It should be a comprehensive answer, because chatting over a shandy or
two
> > with other Enginemen who did not go to NR, I am positive it applies to a
> lot
> > of Engineman, not just me.
> > A long time before the jobs were called at NR, Melbourne, several Union
> > Meetings were held, dominated by Hxxx, and many of the Dynon Hard Core
> > Unionists like Mxxxx , Dxxxxx and Lxxxxx etc etc.
> > These people were dead against National Rail and the Union Meetings were
> > running on the theme that it will never happen.
> > Being a fan of American Big Train Railroading, all I could think of, was
a
> > difference a truly National Railway would make to both the Economy of
> Rail,
> > and my job. Maybe I could operate some long heavy trains, with modern
> > horsepower.....etc etc. I knew that I could do it, I was not frightened
by
> > training, exams or anything else!
> > I jumped up at one Union Meeting and announced to all and sundry, that
> > National Rail was going to be our last chance to shaft the Trucking
Lobby,
> > and at Rails latest share of East Coast Traffic being less than 5%, We
> were
> > the ones being badly shafted.. No body else in that meeting spoke for
the
> > Governments plan to form National Rail. Privately many said they agreed,
I
> > remember saying after the meeting, that regardless of what you do Fxxxx,
I
> > will be signing up, first chance I get.
> > The next several years, the Union down here was dead against National
> Rail.
> > I was transferring around the place getting as much big train experience
> as
> > I could get. I never got into trouble, in fact I was pretty pleased with
> > myself, and could not wait for National Rail.
> > Well the application forms arrived in the mail. Pretty simple stuff
number
> > from 1 to 5 your competency with each question asked. 1 being absolutely
> > competent, 5 being completely ignorant.
> > Can't remember the Questions, you know them, others might not
> > as an example
> > Can you competently drive a train?..
> > .easy       answer   1
> > Can you operate a computer?    did not own one never used one ...easy
> > answer  5
> > Can you operate a signal box?    never trained as a signalman but I can
> read
> > a diagram  good answer would be 4
> > etc etc
> > 20 % of the questions were not directly concerned with Driving a Train,
> and
> > I answered all questions as honestly as I could, but obviously still
erred
> > to my advantage.
> > Later on after all the Drivers had been selected, and I had not got an
> > interview, it was easy to blame the Union Executive who had all jumped
> ship
> > applied and got jobs with NR, despite their continuing opposition to the
> > formation of National Rail. XXXXXXX even took his Fireman along, who was
> not
> > even qualified as an Driver!
> > Those of us who had missed out, all reacted in different ways. I admit
my
> > anger was intense, I was really pissed. Some went crying to National
Rail,
> > and amazingly got jobs, the rest of us continued on as we could and made
> the
> > best of it. We continued to drive Interstate trains for a year or so,
till
> > NR got their crews all on line. I transferred around the State and ran
as
> > many trains as I could till the inevitable chop came, as V/Lines work
> dried
> > up. Fortunately the New Union Management cooperated with V/Line and
> Victoria
> > came out of it pretty well. No one was pushed, Some took packages, the
> rest
> > of us worked plenty of O/T and our pay packages, thanks to Aggregate
> Wages,
> > climbed within a few thousand of NR's . When NR lost part of their
> payments
> > a couple of years ago, we  were receiving pretty much the same as them,
> with
> > a hell of a lot less stress. I began to be very happy with my job, and
> > thanked my lucky stars when I finally, after 20 years got my job back at
> > Wodonga. So I am very glad I never got that job with NR in Melbourne.
> > Why did I not get the job in Melbourne? The consultants in Adelaide made
> the
> > recommendations to NR on the basis of the
> > score received on the Application. In Melbourne, to get a recommendation
> for
> > Interview, you needed to score no more than 5 beyond  the total of the
> > Questions, so they told me. This would mean if their were 50 questions,
> any
> > one who scored higher than 55, was not invited for interview. These
> figures
> > are not all together accurate, I am only illustrating the selection
> process.
> > It was very obvious to those of us at the Dynon Union meeting, that
first
> of
> > all You had to tell lies to get an interview. Nobody could have known
> every
> > job that was listed on the application form!
> > and secondly you had to be liked by the 4 ex union bosses who made the
> > Interview selection process at Melbourne.
> > I was told (privately) that my old foes Dxxxx and Mxxx had voted me out
of
> > an Interview, as Adelaide had highly recommended my application. Thank
God
> > they did.
> > A lot of those John West rejected, were in the long run pleased. Our
Union
> > Meetings were much more democratic, we got rid of a lot of shit, and
lost
> a
> > lot of good mates [they were much too busy in those days to have time
for
> a
> > beer ]
> > So say what you may, but with pricks like Dxxx and Mxxxx, and Union
Bosses
> > like Dave Gunn and Bob Lawrence and Frank Hussey, who threw the AFULE to
> the
> > dogs to control and in my opinion drag NR back from its full potential,
> > people like me never had a chance, and although I learned to be very
happy
> > about it, I will never forgive those who stuffed up Australia's best
> chance
> > of making Railways a force to be reckoned with in this Country.
> > I guess I don't want Legal Litigation to upset my perfectly incredible
> > retirement ;o)) the x'd names I send to you separately for your eyes
only,
> > and only because you seemed to want to know what was in my head. Hope
this
> > gives you a little insight about one "chinook"
> > Rod [comtrain]
> > ps I no longer work for Freight Australia because I suffer PTSD, which
> > coupled with age and the stress induced by our New American masters, an
> > accident or two, my wife becoming ill with Cancer, caused a situation to
> > develop where I could no longer trust myself to react in a Safe and
proper
> > manner. As Safety of the Public is of prime importance to this Driver,
and
> > as my Vietnam Experiences were found to contribute much of my anger and
> > stress I decided to accept my Doctors advice and retire early. I am
happy
> to
> > say my wife is recovered, my stress levels are way down. I have a
fistful
> of
> > Dollars and can happily survive beyond Railways...amazingly enough!
> > Got time to booze with my mates, and can hop on the footplate any time
it
> > suits me, although I have rarely done this.
> > Wave to me around Wodonga, if you see a baulding fully bearded cameraman
> > taking your picture. I dusted off the old Pentax, I think it works after
> all
> > these years.
> > Proud to be an ex.Driver/Gunzel
> >
> > "fatboy" <fatboy64@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:s9OQ6.26750$BU4.45097@news1.blktn1.nsw.optushome.com.au...
> > > Rod,
> > > You  seem to direct a lot of resentment towards  your fellow ex
> workmates
> > > ( be it Ex Vic Rail or State Rail),  and  maybe that's why you no
longer
> > > work on the footplate.
> > >
> > > Did you actually apply for a job with National Rail and miss out I
> wonder.
> > >
> > > Happy Motoring,
> > > Glenn Don
> > > Loco Driver
> > > National Rail Sydney.
> > > "Rod [comtrain]" <freight_man@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >
> >
> >
>
>