Railfans AKA Gunzels and Foamers.

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Ramjet

Ramjet

Rod
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Joined
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Location
Maitland, NSW
Every time I mention my job as a train driver, there seems to be a bit of interest. I thought I would start a topic about it. I am writing a bit of a story about what I do and have seen over 39 years. I have plenty of photos and videos so I will keep adding to this thread.

First just a silly video where I attached a camera to the front of a loco, just above the rail as we did some shunting. NOTE. This is sped up quite a bit.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/YHfpcgIQMRE[/video]
 
Talk about 'rail eye view', but seriously did you get 'railroaded' into doing this.

Some might say you are going 'off the rails'.
.
.
.
Now that is over with, I would like to see more. ;)

We have a friend that has all the rail info from up to 1952 or 56, related to SA, just tagged him the other day
and got all the railway lines and yard services for Wallaroo SA.
Nicely printed on Plan paper, great detail.

Kato and I will be going hunting soon. :cool:
 
Both terms are used by rail workers to describe rail fans in a slightly derogatory manner. I do not know the origins. I have asked but never get a sensible response.

My view at the moment. 48 class looking out the long end. A very narrow field of view from these 1960s era locos.

1563860138_20190723_153509.jpg
 
From.the Urban dictionary.

"Noun. gunzel (plural gunzels) (Australia) A railway or tram enthusiast; particularly (formerly derogatory) one who is overly enthusiastic or foolish."

"One widely accepted definition of "foamer" is one who 'foams at the mouth' when he sees a train. In general, I think that most will agree that a foamer is a railfan who has gone "over the top." The problem usually comes with defining where that point is."

I think it comes from we rail workers having a more realistic, if cynical, view of the industry. The enthusiasts have a more romanticized opinion.
To be fair most of our gripes are about management which would be similar in many industries.
 
Swinging & digging said:
I bet those dog spikes will be found detecting around old Rail sites. ( Greenhornet_au ).

I have heard SA is the rail rust belt of Australia with lots of closed lines and stations?
Click to expand...

So my mate says, he worked in the Railways in record keeping, is a very keen train/rail boffin.
Most of it has been pulled up over time, Kato and I gratefully have access to those records, including building plans. :clap:
 
PabloP said:
Ramjet said:
Today marks 39 years as a train driver. Toot toot.
Click to expand...

Congratulations :party: . But did you include toy trains as a young lad as I am sure that you must have had a decent tain set.

Rob P
Click to expand...

Haha. No toy train years included in my career. I started as a 17 year old. I reckon I pushed the boundaries for youngest train driver. They had to get special permission for me to drive a government car on my Ps. You could not be a train driver before you were 21 years old. I did my driving school in March 1984 but was only 21 in April. So I am probably the youngest to be qualified as a driver. Drivers were accredited by the number of driving hours in the depot. When I moved to Broadmeadow depot there was a big push to get more drivers qualified. So I jumped seniority over guys in Nyngan who had been "acting drivers" for 20 plus years.
 
Nice job ramjet. I had an interview for driving trains last Wednesday but unfortunately I did not get the job. It was starting as a shunter.
 
Toot toot to you Ramjet, Congratulations on a great achievement & brilliant career. I grew up from an early age on the trains in FNQ, as my Dear old Dad worked for QLD rail for 40 years as a train driver starting as a fireman in 1950 on the steam trains shoveling coal & then driving them also cane trains, Good's trains, sunlander, rail motor until he retired in 1990, rail motor was his favorite, 3 days a week Mon_wed_Fri, no shift work! Sunlander was my favorite ( nice ice creams )
My Dear old Dad sadly passed away in Jan 2011 ( miss him dearly )
Dad was always proud of his :goldnugget: watch for 40 years service, so Ramjet you only got a year to go for you're :goldnugget: watch!
Congrats once again & all the very best in the future.
 
Thanks people.

No more gold watches haveacrack. Private company now. For my 30 year mark they gave me a cheapo certificate that they printed themselves. No respect for seniority or experience now.

My dad was also on the job, first as a shunter in Nyngan then moved to Taree as a guard. He was an XPT guard for a while and also drove road coaches between Taree and Newcastle.

The drivers who taught me were from the steam era. Those guys had real skills. Running on time with no speedo, just a pocket watch, plus the skill of keeping a steam engine ticking along.
 
StoneTheCrows said:
Hi RJ

You said you were writing a story - is this the story in this thread or are you putting pen to paper as well.

Would love to read more of your experiences on the choo choo's
Click to expand...

I am working on it. Not sure if I'll start a new topic or post it here. Thoughts?
 

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