Superb! A priceless record of an era we will never see again. The days before hi-viz and block container trains. The lone blues guitar work suits the film.
A friend's stepdad was a shunter and was crushed to death in the late 80s in Sydney shunting. It wasn't an uncommon thing either, nostalgia aside thing's had to change.
I was an elec car shunter for eight years. Shunting sparks was slightly more involved than goods wagons but a little less dangerous. I did training at Enfield, Darling Harbour and Rozelle. In the rain it was possibly the worst job in the universe as you just had to keep going. Humping heavy jumper leads across the yard to finish off car changes was the pits.
This is absolutely my favourite railway film of all time! What a time it must've been to be on the railways, I'm in Tassie but the stories from the old campaigners here paint a very similar picture of how things were here in the 70s. I like the no-nonsense Yard Foreman (I assume!) seeming to tell the blokes off but actually just telling them to take care of the cameraman. Also funny how some things don't change though (like 12:00)!
Thanks so much for that stellar review. Indeed, that part you pointed out was the most important part of the film I wanted to get across. The family of that Station Master (Webeck I think his name was) was there for one of the first showings. I have followed the antics of my Tasmanian colleagues over the years especially when reading the stories of Patsy Adam-Smith in her books, especially
I like when the Pom said tucker 20 minutes at least then had a bit of a smirk to the other guy , I did shunting for six months and the meal breaks were an hour and a half . We cut corners to get that break . Half of them used to use it for card games , sleeping , whatever .
Ha ! Ya not wrong ,I worked at Cooks River back in 85 as a sprag ,top days working in that yard ,loose shunting was still permitted then too. Top days !
Gritty and realistic. Shunting as it used to be done! The only thing missing was a look at their night-time performance. Enjoyed the comparison with New Zealand. Kiwi shunters more likely to have vests, jackets, or overcoats. Sydney shunters in boots, footy shorts, and gloves...
The range of fashion choices at that time was spectacular! When I started some guys wore sneakers. The wet weather choices were varied. The more gear you had on the longer it took to get the job done=going home (the pub) later. I did think about a night shoot. It would have been too dangerous for both the shunters and Sam the camera operator. We would have had to have our own lights.
Darling Harbour was a hive of activity back then, up the steep ramp to the woolsheds, across to the navy victualling wharf, around to the meatworks, heading across to the wharf canteen for a cheap lunch, all just memories now.
Terry Wilson. ex Wasted Daze and The Magnetics. RIP. We sat down with the rough cut and he played along with it. Not many takes. Then Jim Stevens, the editor, asked for some music to do a montage to. After a few gos Terry said he was empty. Then he came up with the Rollin and Tumblin Piece that for me was the highlight of the film. What a talent!
Even way down there they had a shunt dog 🐕😂😂. I remember the Collie cross that used to follow the shunters up and down the yard and ride on the buggy.😂 Dirty, dangerous job but geez they were good at it!
