Richard,
Bob did the railway jobs and I drove it on the Pyrmont job. I was employed by the contractor however and not SPER.
Geoff.

From: 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2018 12:04 PM
To:tramsdownunder@...
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Driving light rail to give former teacher a new lease on life

I thought that a scrubber was required and Loftus supplied 134s, driver and all.

I think it was probably Bob Cowing who also drove it on the ESR prior to opening. I was lucky enough to get a ride on it there.

Regards,

On 13 Aug 2018, at 8:31 am, Geoff Olsen gol80579@...> wrote:

The bloke what drove 134s on the original line did not even get an interview for driver or a maintenance position.
Geoff O.

From: Prescott
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2018 7:27 AM
To: TramsDownUnder
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Driving light rail to give former teacher a new lease on life

Enthusiasts or other people who already know a lot about trams would come onboard with pre-existing informed knowledge and that doesn't fit in with this employer's wish to engage subservient drones who won't question anything they're told. It's a sign of a poor employer, like those who chuck out older people and just engage young ones because the older are likely to know far more than the younger boss (particularly prevalent in the public service). In the field of public transport I haven't come across this attitude in the bus or ferry industries (but may be the case in rail?). With the Sydney gen3 trams it predates Transdev as such an attitude was expressed during the initial establishment of SLR, although some good ones like Ted made it through. It also applies to wider recruitment of staff, not just drivers. It doesn't auger well for tram operation in Sydney and helps explain why IWLR has always been such a tanglefooted operation.

Tony P

On Sunday, 12 August 2018 22:30:26 UTC+10, Matthew Geier wrote:

On 11/08/2018 9:36 PM, Greg Sutherland wrote:

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/act/driving-light-rail-to-give-former-teacher-a-new-lease-on-life-20180809-p4zwgb.html

These upbeat articles about how great it is to be a tram driver.
Just don't be too keen when you apply. Like reveal you are an enthusiast who volunteers with a tram museum.

Transdev in NSW has made it clear (by action) that enthusiasts are not welcome as employees on their trams.

I'm aware of at least two people who Transdev rejected at the application stage with the stated reason that as 'enthusiasts' they were not the kind of people they wanted.

I wonder if any other operators also employ enthusiast filtering of applicants.