Re: GUNZEL

["Rod" <berlina@bigpond.com>]

Les Brown wrote in message <375fc2f5.53531848@news.ocean.com.au>...

>
>The railwayman-railfan, on the other hand was a really good find. He
>could have been Rail Motor Driver, SM, Caretaker, Signalman or Ganger.
>He answered all your questions, no matter how stupid (better to ask a
>dumb question and be a fool for five minutes, rather than not ask and
>be a fool for life) and pointed out, without prompting, all the points
>of interest as one railfan would to another. It was a joy to find
>someone keen and interested in their job. The goodwill that these
>enthusiast railwaymen created between the railways and the public was
>priceless.
>
>Now I don't doubt that most railwaymen are in the middle between
>seaweed and sainthood. Finding the right person was tricky, often I'd
>take my son with me because he found them better than I could - most
>railway men love kids. But I haven't got the time for any railwayman
>that's so up themselves that they regard a grunt for an answer as an
>adequate response to a question. As they say; dumb-looks are free and
>some railwaymen are very free with that kind of advice.
>
>No wonder why Victoria got rid of guards.
>
>Les Brown

Most of the blokes I worked with were anti-public, and especially
anti-gunzel. But very few were that mean not to invite an interested member
of the publioc into the cab at Spencer Street or Albury.
It usually boiled down to the way the person behaved, as to what sort of
reception he got. Smart arses saw our backs!
Every body else was treated as best we could, within the limits of time we
had!
I remember one rude bastard, who tried everything, to get his kid [read
himself] into the cab, when it was very obvious we had a problem with a GM
which was shutting down. We spent 30 mins sweating out why, to finally
discover a loose Governor gable, which when tied up with a sweaty lasted a
trip to Albury and back.
The toughest prick I worked for as a Fireman, always let anyone on the Loco,
The good looking ones, and the behaved ones [most of them ]  were looked
after by him, I got the gunzels...ah well!
Rod ;o)