Chapter 4 - Work on the Railways - Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW

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*On Wooden Rails <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 8/30/05 8:27 PM Page 164 On Wooden Rails - Celebrating 150 Years of <strong>Work</strong> on the NSW Railways 164 <strong>Work</strong>ers at Sydney Rail Yards, 1905 <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 - <strong>Work</strong> on the Railways
*On Wooden Rails <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 8/30/05 8:27 PM Page 165 Around the Yards Trains need to be loaded and unloaded, and put back together, require maintenance work, and regular checks and inspections of their workings. These would mostly be carried out in the major yards around the state. Shunting wagons and carriages, to re-configurre trains depending on their loads and cargo, car and wagon examining to ensure that the rolling stock is roadworthy and safe, faults would need to be reported and rectified. Thus was the daily life in the rail yards. At one time all major stations and junctions had their own yards to perform these duties. Now, with changes in the way that loads are configured and dedicated trains rather than mixed trains, has resulted in changes in the job and in the number of locations where major shunting and examining are carried out. Now the once discrete functions of shunter and car and wagon examiners have largely been subsumed under the unfortunately named classification of ‘Terminal Operator’. By all accounts, many of the past shunting operations in particular were also ‘terminal’ on too many occasions. <strong>Work</strong>ing the Yards Mick Schmitzer is the RTBU NSW Branch Assistant Secretary and Northern Organiser. In 1964, he joined the railways as a 16 year old junior station assistant at Cundle Cundle, just outside of Taree. He started working night work at a level crossing, when the gatekeeper knocked off at 10 pm. “ I did all nightwork for about 18 months and got about twenty pounds per fortnight. I lived at home and rode a pushbike about 10 miles to work. There used to be a show on the television then called “Outer Limits’ - used to watch it and then ride in the night in the dark for about 40 minutes, and behind every bush you’d imagine one of those ugly buggers – a kangaroo jumped out once and I reckon I did the last five miles in about 5 minutes flat” 1 “I wanted to move on, so transferred to Newcastle. I went looking for where I had to work, first to Hamilton – they’d never heard of me, told me to go to Broadmeadow – same story never heard of me – you’d better go to Tyrell House – the Pie Shop – Admin in Newcastle. They told me I should be at Broadmeadow Yards. OK – so I went to Boadmeadow Yards as a Number Taker (still a station assistant class 1) – he was 1 Interview with Mick Schmitzer, April 2005 2 Ibid On Wooden Rails - Celebrating 150 Years of <strong>Work</strong> on the NSW Railways Enfield Roundhouse the young bloke who took all the particulars down after shunters were done, clean the wagons down, keep the fires going.” As with many other jobs on the railways, you had to be over 19 years of age before you were considered sufficiently mature and experienced to become a shunter. “So, I became a shunter during the time of the Vietnam War – when blokes we worked with were conscripted, some didn’t come back. I spent the next 17 years as a wagon shunter at the one location – people don’t believe me when I tell them– to get a promotion – seniority – once you became a senior shunter class 2 – jumped ahead, if you didn’t move around – you tended to get left behind in promotion. I decided to stay put – I had a wife and young kids and didn’t want the disruption of being a railway gypsy.” 2 Mick describes many of the working conditions as appalling at the time, and the dangers of shunting in a large yard using gravitational shunting, but also that there were aspects of the job that were enjoyable and satisfying. “It was dangerous, but it was outdoors, it was physical, you kept pretty fit doing that sort of job. Not just the coupling, had to put the air hoses on – they could also do some damage if you weren’t careful – there was a knack to shunting with hooks – had to get in between to couple them but not to uncouple, and so on. Things slowly changed with more automatic couplings and things did improve. We weren’t allowed to work any longer than ten hours – we were out in the open all the time. It may sound silly but I really loved shunting, I really enjoyed it.” <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 - <strong>Work</strong> on the Railways 165
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Chapter 4 - Work on the Railways - Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW

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