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Working for the Real Railways in Lithgow Locomotive Depot.


cleanerg6e
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I started on the railways in 1985 and left in 2000.

I'll describe a normal working shift in as much detail as possible.

I worked in what was known as the "steam shed" and worked back shift. Sign on at 11pm and off at 7am. It was known as a straight shift.

Having signed on in the main shed I'd make my way down to the steam shed and place my food in the frig in our humpy which was an old demountable one room building. In winter time we'd leave the heater on all day so it was warm when we started work. Accommodation was basic and we had to fight tooth and nail to get a bar fridge to keep things cold and a microwave to heat meals up. There were three lockers in the humpy and our wet weather cleaning gear were also in the humpy as being made of thick pvc type plastic they'd go very stiff in the winter if left in the unheated plant room and be almost impossible to put on without tearing.

Lets say I'm doing an inspection clean on a GM 81 class, similar to a class 66.

First the electricians and fitters have been down to do a pre-inspection. I now have to blow out all the dust in the electrical cabinets ( which they have left open). So I get kitted up in a Tyvek barrier suit which is a one piece type of clothing like a boiler suit but prevents dust and dirt from getting on your cloths. I also where a respirator and special gloves. Taking a long steel reinforced air hose and two copper pipe wands (one short the other long) I take those out to the loco. I turn on the air compressor in the plant room, a noisy Atlas Cop Co. I return to the loco and proceed to blow out the cabinets in the generator room. I also blow out the generator itself. I then move to the outside of the loco and using a small ladder lent against the loco side blow out the radiators from which a lot of dust and dirt creates a huge dust cloud. I then move underneath the loco to blow out the traction motors all 6 of them.

Once I've finished there's dirt everywhere and I change out of my barrier suit and turn the air compressor off and get into my wet weather gear.

I fill my 10 litre pump pack ( like a garden sprayer) with a neat alkaline detergent called "Spartacus". I then proceed underneath the 81 class and commence to spray all the traction motors, gear cases, air tanks, fuel tanks bogie frames and rear of the cow catchers or pilots.

I then go outside the steam shed and start one of two hot water pressure blaster. I make sure the temperature is 95 degrees.

I then start the diesel engine and once enough air is in the main reservoir I turn the engine control switch to it's run position and making sure the handbrake is applied and the reverser handle is in neutral I move the throttle to 4th notch. This will make sure that no water enters the traction motors. If the throttle is moved to a higher notch it creates a hurricane type of wind from the traction motor blowers. My workmate starts to wash the exterior of the whole loco but not the roof by spraying a powerful acid from his pump sprayer over the exterior and then using a broom and a modified homemade bucket from a 20 litre plastic detergent container that's been cut in half length wise and filled with the aforementioned Spartacus. The acid dissolves all the brake dust and the Spartacus removes any oil and dirt.

I'm now ready to wash underneath. So I'm in my wet weather gear. I have my face mask on. My gumboots on. My ear plugs in and I'm wearing special rubber gloves which come up to my elbows but with the ends turned back on themselves to prevent water and dirt from running down the inside of the gloves on my hands. I also wear a rag tied round my face over my nose (like a bank robber) to prevent any muck hitting me in the face. I have the face mask at a 45 degree angle because once watery muck gets on it I can't see. I proceed under the loco and sit on a small low four wheel stool and I clean slowly and move backwards from one end and then I turn round and do the same until I return to where I started I come out from underneath and I'm black with dirt, oil and grease from head to toe.

My work mate (pommy Jim) moves the throttle to idle and taking the hot water blaster from me washes me down get rid of the excess dirt. He then sprays me with Spartacus and using a broom washes me and hoses me off. Jim and I take it in turns to do underneath locos.

I take off my wet weather gear and taking my pump pack I proceed to one side of the engine room and start to spray the engine,compressor, floor, walls etc. The engine room is hot water blasted with us taking turns so as not to saturate one another. We finish off by hosing the engine room out with cold water taking care not to hose the light bulbs which will explode on contact with cold water.

After this it's now time to move the loco back and at floor level do the outsides of the bogies, fuel and air tanks.

Firstly we both spray the bogies, fuel and air tanks in Spartacus and once again placing the loco in 4th notch and each using a hot water blaster clean them all off.

It's now 3 to 3.30am. I go back underneath and open the water drain cock to drain the sump under the diesel engine of all the water we put into it.

When I come out Jim has the kettle boiling and we have something to eat,a nice cuppa, and a smoke. Once the water has all drained I shut the drain cock come back into the humpy and phone the charge man to tell him the loco it right to be moved to the main shed for the main day work inspection.

He usually tells us of another loco or two that's coming down for a wash. As washing those locos is not a rush we can take our time and clean the pit out at the end of the shift ready for the next night.

Sometimes nothing comes down so we have a sleep having nicked long bench seats from old coaches which make good beds with a pile of clean rags for a pillow.

There was three of us in the steam shed but there was two on and one off. The other "workmate" would open the drain cock before you went underneath and would hose out one side of the engine room so that water and muck was flowing out the drain pipe and if you didn't watch it you'd be covered in crap. He'd also hose out the engine room when you were hosing out and seemed to delight in hosing you laughing his head off. If you hosed him in return he'd get very upset. Jim and I used to order supplies for the whole steam shed but this other "workmate" just ordered for himself.

He never once called me by my christian name always by my surname and I hated his self centered ways but I had to work with him as I didn't get a choice. He approached me on my council job when I was working and I told him to p#ss off. I've met other former workmates from the railways whilst doing my council job and we have a right old chin wag.

So that describes a typical day (or night) that I had on the railways and the people I worked with. Jim was the best workmate anyone could have and I feel so lucky to have had him as my mate. He once slipped on top of a loco and ripped all the muscles in his right shoulder and wanted to keep working. But I made him register the injury in the compo book and had him sent home. He had to have an operation and it never cost him a penny. I went to his place after his operation to see how he was and he insisted on sitting in the sun and he got sunburnt on his still painful shoulder. I got the blame for that. :lol:

The steam shed had no doors and it faced in a east west direction. So the wind would blow right through the place as all the high winds came from the west and made the underneath job even more unpleasant. But we were lowly cleaners and our welfare was of a very low priority.

Roy.

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I read this a couple of hours ago, and have got the Winter chill and dampness out of my bones now. That's a very interesting sight into what went on, and so very different from my own bakery experiences then. 12 hour shift, days or nights, but the changing room was invariably on the floor above the ovens. A wet trip into work didn't matter as we were soon warm and dry again. Sometimes in the Fire Brigade we needed hosing down after a particularly dirty job, but time on these were never more than 4 hours before a relief and a hot meal arrived. Just like your Fijian, every job has one that upsets things.

Thank you for that.

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Hi Roddy, not only was the other "workmate" self centered he was weak too. We had a detergent company representative down the steam shed one night and we were trying out new detergents, namely acidic detergents. We had an electric loco shunted into the steam shed (an 86 class) and the representative asked the other "workmate" what he thought of his companies acidic detergent. He told him it was great. But it wasn't, it wouldn't shift the skin off a custard. The other "workmate" came over to my side and said to me that the detergent was rubbish. I told him to tell the company representative that. He said 'oh no I don't want to upset him'. I said ' never mind upsetting him tell him the truth'. He replied 'no no no you tell him'.

We also used to wash the pantographs on the electric locos with acid because they had to be crack tested for metal fatigue. On of the charge men said call me when your done and I'll take a look to see if it's clean enough. Well we cleaned both of them and this charge man was outside the main shed. So I called him verbally. After yelling name a number of times with him taking no notice I yelled 'ah you f**king fat c*nt!!!!' He heard me that time. I turned around and the other "workmate" was hiding behind a girder which supported the roof. I asked him what he was doing and he said ' you called the charge man fat c*nt I not want to get in trouble.

The charge man came down to have a look at the job and asked where the other bloke was. When I told him what he said to me the charge man said "bl##dy weak idiot".

Another time one of the shed labourers who was also a builder outside the job was using wood shuttering to build a new detergent compound floor prior to pouring cement. This other "workmate" said that when he'd finished he'd like to take the wood home. This bloke said I'll leave it under the humpy when I'm finished with it. Well on the first day black clouds gathered so this bloke put the wood under the humpy to stop it getting wet and warping. The other "workmate" (who live nearby) came over after work and took the wood home and cut it up.

This builder asked me what happened to the wood. I told him I hadn't a clue where it had gone so this bloke told the district manager who was fuming but ordered more wood.

I guessed where the wood had gone so I asked the other "workmate" had he seen the wood. When he told me what he'd done with it I decided to have some fun with him. I told him that the DM was getting the police in and starting an investigation and if the culprit was found he would be sacked. This other "workmate" clutching his backside went running for the loo saying 'I've got running a stomach!!!'. This other "workmate" was also known to others at loco as "Hydraulic" because he would lift ( steal) anything. When working with him you had to keep your locker locked otherwise he'd rummage through it and take whatever he wanted. Here's a short video of our 86 class electrics.

http://youtu.be/dMTsZhK3PgU

Roy.

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When NR (National Rail) was formed a number of 80 class Alco's and GM 81's were "loaned" to NR in order to allow that organisation to get up and running. For us cleaners it meant more work as the locos were running through the very arid areas of Australia which received little to no rain and as a consequence the locos would return to Lithgow full of red dirt.

On the 80 class which leaked oil right from when they were introduced in 1978, their trip to South Australia and return would see the underneath and the traction motors especially having no distinct features. There would be just 6 motors covered in reddish black oily dirt. The main outlet from the engine sump would also leak and that pipe would be 4 to 5 time it's usual diameter.

In the generator room there would be so much red dust that a shovel would be needed to clear it out.

In the center of the steam shed pit (between the rails) was a drain with a very deep sump to hold all the dirt. One loco on it's return and clean from South Australia would fill that sump to overflowing and the private company that sucked out the sump would need to be on hand when the locos returned.

We'd sent them back to South Australia clean as a new pin and they'd return them to us in deplorable condition. It took hours to get them back to a reasonable condition and the railways complained to NR and told them to return the locos in the same condition as the received them. South Australia refused saying that the locos were New South Wales locos not South Australian so our lot started to bill them for the clean up job and for repairs which were not done in South Australia.

The South Australians didn't want to pay so the loco lending idea just collapsed.

I don't blame the S.A lot for not liking the 80 class as our lot found them to be a very unreliable loco from day one. So in the end a number of 81 class were 'given' to South Australia and they ran them an maintained them.

Roy.

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As stated in the first part of the article I wrote, that we were lowly cleaners and that our welfare was of a low priority. On the council our welfare is of a high priority. On the railways we often had to fight the management and our immediate supervisors to get basic equipment whereas on the council they couldn't be more helpful. We are constantly trialing new detergents and we have the say in which is better or worse. On the railways the management often had the say in what we could use and their choices were often motivated by free gifts from the companies that supplied the detergents. When we finally got the "Spartacus" and the "Oxalic" acid the free gifts came to us and the management tried threatening tactics to have us hand the gifts to them.

If something happened at home you had to plead with the management on the railways in order to go home and deal with it. Whereas on the council our boss Ken and the general manager of the council are of the opinion that home and family come first and the council comes second.

This was demonstrated to me when dad was on dialysis and couldn't get home due to the patient transport refusing to take him home because there was no one to bring back to the hospital. Dad rang me (on my work mobile,cell phone) and I rang Ken who said "don't worry about the job go and pick your dad up and take him home". This was great because the hospital was outside the council area and the work vehicle was not to be taken outside that area as it wasn't covered by insurance. Also my house was at the other end of my run and would add nearly an hour to the time dad would have to wait.

Maybe our council is unique in this respect as once I left the railways I worked as a casual worker for an agency. One of my fellow casuals had to attend the funeral of his mother in law and the lady boss at the agency told him that attending a relations funeral was not a good enough reason to have an afternoon off. When this "lady" had to attend her own mothers funeral she had a whole day off, this fellow casual told her that having a whole day off to attend a funeral was not a good enough reason as he'd been trying to contact her. Her reply was " I'm a full time employee. You're only a casual so remember that!" This casual got a full time job with a real estate company not long after and he didn't inform her that he had a full time job.

This agency had a nasty method of giving people work by having a list of top workers who would get the pick of jobs. If one of those workers fell ill or had an accident they would move to the bottom of the list and the next worker on the list would take their place. I had a few run ins with this lady and when I got the job on council I never even told her either. I had a fortnights holiday before starting work on the council and about one month later she phoned me to find out why I wasn't working at the job I'd been sent to and also stating that I'd been moved to the bottom of the list.

I told her "you can take take your list, bend over and put it where the sun don't shine, as I'm now a full time employee of Blue Mountains City Council". With companies like that is it any wonder why people would prefer to remain on the dole.

The council does have casual employees but they work for the council not an agency. With the agencies if a workers is getting say $45.00 per hour the company they are working at is paying $90.00 per hour as the agency demands double what the worker is getting so as to pay employer compulsory superannuation and to cover costs. As a casual worker you get no sick leave or holidays. Over the Christmas/ New Year break you don't work with companies shutting up for 3-4 weeks so you have no money coming in.

Roy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In 15 years of working for the railways I remember a few funny incidents.

We had one charge man who if on back shift would clean the office with aftershave causing an old charge man who only worked day work to come into the office and the first thing he'd do would be to open all the windows even in mid winter. He's also spray fly spray from an old metal pump action garden sprayer round the office. This aftershave charge man would take the telephone receivers apart and clean them with aftershave. The old bloke would pick up a phone and say "Oh Pooooo!!!! and would only hold the ear piece to his ear and when he spoke into the receiver he'd hold it at arms length and yell his reply. :lol:

We had a leading fitter who was a tall and gentle man and one day he was standing outside the shed with two dry powder fire extinguishers looking at an 81 class which was doing a self load. Unlike the 80 and 48 class diesels the 81's didn't need to go to the load box to do load testing. On this day I asked the leading fitter what the extinguishers were for. According to him there was an electrician of dubious talents doing the self load test on the 81 and he was waiting for it to catch fire. :lol:

My favourite charge man who was a very large man told me when he was a driver he was once driving the loco heading the school train and the guard came up to the loco and told that the kids on the train were tearing out the insides. This charge man went back and into the carriages and standing in the doorway said in his deep loud voice, "YOU LOT SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!!!". A thin young weedy girl yelled back at him,"ah p#ss off you fat c#nt". I asked him what did he do. He replied that he was so shocked he was lost for words. :lol: The school children were all from private schools which says much about private schools.

I also once had a run in with a loco inspector from Parkes depot. He was a real nasty piece of work and was very self righteous and brimming with his own self importance.

He was riding on an 80 class diesel and I'd cleaned the cab out and he asked me to do it again as it wasn't clean enough for him. I refused and he asked for my name and said he would report me to the charge man. As he walked over to the charge mans office I nipped out and gave the cab another quick clean. I was called to the charge mans office and again I refused to clean the locos cab and told the charge man it was already clean and if he didn't believe me then go and have a look for yourself.

The charge man was my favourite one and on walking towards the loco he said to me in a low whispered voice because this inspector was close behind him, 'you've already redone it haven't you'. I remained silent. The charge man climbed the steps up to the cab, opened the door and took a look. He climbed down and tore a strip off this pompous inspector who had a look on his face of absolute horror. He told him he'd book him late out of loco. The charge man had his back to me but the inspector was facing me. I gave him an "up yours" signal.

The charge man came back towards me and said 'I knew you'd redone that cab' and 'did you see the look on his face when I had a go at him'. I answered 'sure did you could have put a turd in his hand but you wouldn't have got a better look'. :lol:

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  • 1 month later...

There was for a time a female in the foreman's office who had a very potty mouth. She used to complain to the top boss if the men used colourful language in her presence. He in turn would warn the men to keep their language clean in her presence. The men complained of her potty mouth but the big boss didn't believe them.

On day the big boss was in the foreman's office and this female was singing to herself. The boss remarked on how happy she seemed and she told him that she had a headache last night which just as well as she only gave her husband oral sex, but said in her usual potty mouth way. The big boss at that time was a very conservative and religious man and he was speechless after what she said. The next time she complained to him about language issues he ignored her.

To say she was as common as muck is a massive understatement.

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Hi Roy, second last post 20thApril, did all the locos have their own toilets in them , one thing you never see in cab pics, I have a DVD doco on Mat Brown in the US on UP locos and he would help the cleaner out cleaning the UP loco cabs, in the 4400 class was in the front of he loco cab, if I remember, will have to watch the video again.

Happy modelling from QLD, Tony

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  • 4 months later...

Hi Tony, yes all the diesels and two of the electric loco classes had toilets in them. In the box shaped locos like 80, 442, 422, 85 and 86 the toilet was located at the No.2 end (and that's not a joke).

42, 43, 44 had their toilet in the No.1 end or in the streamlined nose. 40, 45, 47, 48 and 49 had theirs in the short nose ahead of the cab.

The toilet tank would be filled when the loco arrived on shed. For the diesel locos their tank would be filled by the fuel man when he was filling the diesel tank. The electric locos would have the tanks filled at the sand shed.

In my time on the railways none of the locos had retention tanks so all the waste from the toilet would end up in the 4ft.

The only locos that didn't have a toilet were the 46 class electrics which came into service in the steam age. They were never fitted with toilets at a later date either.

The toilet bowls were originally porcelain but were replaced with stainless steel. Most crews would only use them as a last resort as brake dust would be sucked up the waste pipe and the toilet and the area it was in would be full of dust. The crews would usually "hang on" until they got to a station that was open and would use the toilets there. Others told me that they'd pull the train up mid section and take a call of nature behind a tree. A sort of loo with a view.

Roy.

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Some traditions from the steam era lingered into the diesel era. Many of the tool kits which were a tin bucket with old hammers, chains, brush and dustpan etc. Even sweat rags which were still issued but not used for wiping sweat away but in use as towels to dry ones hands. Billy cans in which the tea was made using tea leaves (no tea bags here heaven forbid). Pouring the tea out was done the way it had always been done by holding an enamel mug in one hand and placing the billy can with it's top portion on top of the mug and using the wire handle to pull the can over the mug to pour the tea out. The spoon would be left in the mug whilst the tea was consumed. Not the height of etiquette but it stopped the tea from sloshing out of the mug. In the steam days a bucket of water on the footplate would have a banister brush in it for the same reason.

All locos had a hotplate although the hotplate ring was recessed and the billy can fitted it perfectly. All locos had a log book where faults would be recorded. I remember a fault with a seat on a 49 class diesel with the driver writing in the log book that he needed a seat belt just to stay on the seat. A piece of rope was tied from one side of the seat to the other and the fitter wrote in the log book, 'seat belt supplied'.

The seats were all originally vinyl but then some idiot had the idea of replacing the vinyl seat with the same design but in fabric. In diesel locos it wasn't too bad but in the electric locos it was a disaster because dust was always present in the electric loco cabs. A sweat rag would be placed on the seat just to stop the dust from rising as the driver bounced up and down due to the state of the permanent way.

Roy.

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