<p>Shunter <b>Bessie Matthews</b> bids farewell to Frelightliner as she moves into her new role as a trainee train manager at GBRf<b>.</b></p>
Another year has come round so fast – certainly faster than the last one, it seems. I learned a great deal in 2023. I spent a lot of my free time following loco fitters, crane drivers, and shunters, soaking up every last bit of their expertise I could to enhance my knowledge of my role as a shunt driver and the traction I work with.
I’ve been lucky to have worked with so many passionate people. They’ve helped me understand how and why we have loco exams, the importance of container heights and weights and why they go in the order they do on a train, and the wagons on which these boxes are placed and how they stay attached to them.
I’m really looking forward to bringing this shared wisdom with me in to 2024, especially as I begin a brand-new adventure – one I’ve been looking forward to for some time. It will be a bittersweet moment as I say the biggest-ever thank you and goodbye to my much-loved post as a Southampton shunt driver for Freightliner, and a massive hello to my new role as a trainee train manager for GBRf – that’s right, the main line is calling and I have answered!
The railway has many beautiful things about it, and one of my favourites is that no matter what uniform you’re in, you’re still part of one big team that’s working to the same goal: to keep everything running safely and smoothly.
To have gained so much insight within a tiny mile and 69 chains has been an absolute joy and, looking back now, I can see that it has prepared me to take that next compelling step in getting out there, into the big wide world of train driving. It’s taught me that, although one day I will be sitting all by myself in the cab of a thundering loco, I will never truly be alone – my colleagues are just spread all over country, on the other end of a phone, a radio, a table.
I cannot wait to get back into the classroom to learn more about the incredible industry we work in, and I’m even more excited about being able to share that journey with you.
I give my love and thanks to Freightliner for all the brilliant opportunities they’ve given me, helping me become the person I am today, and will be tomorrow.