The Muster- Tom O'Brien: The Kingston Flyer Season Is Close

Tom O'Brien is a "train driver" on the Kingston Flyer, and says the new season is always something to look forward to.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Wednesday afternoon on the musta brunch on us thanks to
South and Rural Support Trust. Happening tomorrow at ten o'clock
at Pook around south and Carbon twelve fifty seven wipe
a Hee Highway. Get there, have a bit of a
breakoff farm. It is that time of year thanks to
South and Ural Support Trust. As we catch up to
Thomas O'Brien based up a Garston, good afternoon, Good afternoon,
and how's everything up there in northern Northern Southland.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Northern Northern Southland is nice to Sonny, and we're welcome
them with open arms. You know, everyone's had a by
rain and they're a bit sick of it now. So yeah,
there was a dusting of snow on the tops, but yeah,
a little bit of a whit brief here, got over
cast and then sunny again. Typical spring. The Someme's nice.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Nine to eleven. It's the anniversary of September eleven, two
thousand and one, as we're all aware of obviously, but
it's one of those where were you moments in life?
Were were you Tomas O'Brien?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
I was at home. I was at my parents place
at the time, and I remember I think we might
have heard it on the radio, something came across the radio.
The radio was always on our house, so yeah, and
there was this kind of weird kind of announcement which
just kind of didn't really make any sense and very

(01:23):
very unusual obviously, and then Dad turned Metelli off and yeah,
I had that vivid memory of seeing those aeroplanes flying
into into the twin town and obviously doing a bit
of a double triple group and taking going for real. Yeah, crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, I was over in the UK. I was actually
doing the potato harvest and the Greater Walthams just out
of Chelmsford in Essex, and the workers. We had a
lot of European workers riddling the potatoes as they came out.
I was on one of the trailers they're just doing
the karting and when it came over the year Ways,
I was just listening to music on the radio as
you do, and it just came across as like what

(02:03):
is going on here? So we stopped about after a
little while later. But my most vivid recollection was going
into London about three weeks later and everybody just being
on the edge. They're still on the edge after what
happened over there because London went onto high alert, Canary
Wharf went into lockdown. All these areas in Europe especially
that were deemed critical areas just yeah, they had to react.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, crazy, isn't it crazy? Do you think that it happened?
And yeah, the whole flying industry was just very cagy
about it.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Kings and kingso and flyer. Now you're the engineer who
engineers are kingsom Flyer? Well, for want of a better word,
I suppose you drive it. Basically, don't you steer it?
You control it?

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I mean the engineer. It's a bit of a it's
a bit of a sort of a haughty towty bit
of a tough title for me.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Oh yeah, train driver.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, I'm a solid fuel injection ignition.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
You stake the fires, you say, shovel for an air
every day.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
I'm a shoveler, That's what I am. Yeah, he wasn't
a shovel ship from one place to another. There you go.
So yeah, look, I mean there are other people that
work for the Hankston Flyer who I would class as
engineers in their own rights. You know, I've got if

(03:27):
I can drive the train, and I'm qualified to drive
the train, and so on and so forth. But I
don't think I have the engineering prowess of a few
of the other you know, there's there's a couple of
people in particular who are exceptionally good at what they
do and highly experienced. But yeah, look I am, I am. Yeah,
I'm back working for the train again this season. I'm

(03:48):
doing sort of more managerial stuff and sort of overseeing
what the operations managers doing and what the staff are
doing in terms the sort of HR stuff and new
training of younger guys and girls coming through. So we
want to have a good healthy mix of men and

(04:09):
woman on board, so to speak, in the engineering roles
and administrative roles as well. So yeah, we kick off
on the twenty ninth of this month. It's quite actually,
I was talking to one of the guys this morning about, Yeah,
we had a boiler inspection and survey yesterday which went
really well, and you know that involves stripping quite a

(04:32):
lot of the the parts of off the boiler were
gages and taking the lead usable plugs out and poking
the fireboxes out and replacing bits and bolves and cleaning this,
cleaning that, testing that, blowing that out with their compressors
and fixing all sorts of stuff. So and then you know,
filling areas up with water to make sure we don't

(04:53):
have leaps, and then doing pressure tests and so all
of that kind of pre seasonal maintenance stuff's been going
on in the background, and it's really those those item
girls who are doing that work that is, you know,
the difference between us being over the operator.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
So how do you how do you train and operator certificate?
You can't you don't get down to the AA obviously,
how do you do it?

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, it's it's certainly an on the job training area.
As you say, you can't just go to the local
tutiary institution and you know kind of study for it
and there you go. You've got to be on the job.
I started off in nineteen ninety three and it was
sort of during the holidays, bustled Glenn Dennings complete peace

(05:39):
back in the New Zealand government railway days. He got
me onto doing track work, you know, replacing sleepers and
and you know it was sort of a bit of
a bit of a full on.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Job.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
But yeah, you sort of started off at the bottom
and worked your way up and yeah, eventually just you know,
started learning how to fire the train or stoake. Some
people call it stoking the train, but technically speaking, you
don't stok a train. You stoke a boat and you
fire a train.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
But there you go, Yeah, I bet it is. I'm
better leave it there, we'll catch We'll carry on with
this chat next time. Though. It's fascinating. You go and
enjoy that police scy afternoon.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Sounds good, mate, cheers Catcher, laugh out loud with ag
proud because life on the land can be a laughing matter.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Brought to us by sheer Well data working to help
the livestock farmer. Cut us to the person who invented
Denham jeans. That's what you call a genius. That's us
for the afternoon podcast, The muster on Hokkanui or Noiheart
Radio going up very surely enjoy the afternoon See tomorrow

(06:45):
one o'clock