Re: Countrylink website.

[Craig Haber <albatross@harnessnet.com.au>]

G'day,

Stuart Thyer wrote:

> It came back later that she was told to shift the passengers by the head
> conductor so they could shut down the lead car, but she couldn't
> comprehend the fact we were a special car attached.
> I wonder, does WCR do this often??

What we Conductors do (generally only on train 8237) is have passengers travelling
to Geelong only in the front carriage.  This is achieved through signs, and also
standing at the top of the ramp and 'directing traffic'  (of course you *always*
get a few who don't read the signs or listen etc and they are asked to move after
Geelong).

The benefits are many.

You start tickets from the front of the train - if it's very busy you may not get
through the whole trainload (ie, tickets in the last carriage).  Getting all the
Geelong passengers tickets before they get off prevents passengers getting free
rides.

Beyond Geelong you can close up the front carriage.  This reduces vandalism, and
yes the Conny can start early on cleaning the carriage.  Usually the front car is
a BS - compartment cars are great, but they are prone to vandalism/anti-social
behaviour when half full (eg, get a couple of vandals alone in a compartment and
they will damage it - put them in a compartment with a number of other passengers
and they won't).  Basically, *full* carriages don't get vandalised, *empty*
carriages don't get vandalised, but half-full carriages can be vulnerable.  A 5
car train is over 100m long - we can't be everywhere at once and see everything
that happens!

Finally, Conductor's depart the train from the rear of the train (on the down),
having the front car locked gives you better visibility of passengers alighting
(as they're not as far away).

As the Warrnambool based Connies are not railfans, it wouldn't have clicked that
the group in the BK were there for a reason! :)

Cheers,
CH.
--
Craig Haber
albatross@harnessnet.com.au
http://www.harnessnet.com.au
The early bird catches the worm - but the second mouse gets the cheese!