Come on guy, I said I was only kidding, If a conductor and engineer can't rib each other what has this world come to. Seriously I always appreciate working with a good engineer. Like I said, I was only kidding!
Where I'm from conductors battling enginers is a competitive sport
It helps pass the time and adds some humor to a long night. Sorry again I struck a nerve. And snoozer, well that comes from the nickname of a night local that ran through my home town Z-49 "The snoozer".
G-day, Grantham, good luck in your training. I live in New England and work on a regional railroad. My training has been fantastic so far. Having been familiar with the physical characteristics of the portion of the line I am practicing on has also been a great help. Grades have also been the most challenging for me. We travel from tidewater at New London, Connecticutt inland. My biggest challenge is the the grades have a roller coaster profile. It seems that half your train is going uphill and the other half is descending. There are a lot of curves and almost no tangents and that makes things interesting. Also we have been deluged with tremendous amounts of rain causing lots of washouts, soggy track bed and slow orders.
My imperssion and please correct me if I am wrong is that Australian railroads often haul heavy tonnage over great distances through very hot and dry terrain. I did not realize there were such heavy grades, are they near the coast? Just wondering. Good Luck in your training. I hope things work out for you.