Title: How roster shuffling, dog walks and lots of text messaging changed a workmate’s day
Mt Victoria train driver Tim Layton’s work plans came to a screeching halt when his wife wasrushed from the airport to hospital, recently. Instead of buckling up for her flight to China as they had planned, his beloved Connie lay sick in a bed, at St George’s Hospital.
But thanks to the can-do attitude of his boss and work mates, Tim was able to leave work behind and focus his attention on the most important person in his life; his wife.
“My wife Connie, who’s also crew at Mt Victoria,was booked on an 8:30pm flight to go visit her elderly mother in China. I rang her just after 8:30pm, in case the plane was a little bit late, and I’d have the chance to say hello,” Tim said.
“ She didn’t sound great but I thought she must be tired because she’d been up for work since 1:30am that morning.
“She said, ‘I’m on the airplane and they’re just about to tell us to switch the phone off so I’d better go.’
“I had an uneasy feeling but was expecting to speak with her the following day when she arrived in Beijing.”
Tim said he woke up the next morning about 8:30am to get ready for his 10am standby shift.
“I got a message on my phone saying,‘Call me on this number’. It was Connie. So I called and she said, ‘I have to tell you that I didn’t fly and I’m in St George Hospital.’
“Basically, she’d been on the airplane and was so unwell they took her off the plane and called an ambulance.”
When Tim heard that he said he felt terrified.
“Connie means the world to me. I knew I had to get to Sydney ASAP. I immediately called Steve Pierce our roster clerk and explained the situation. He simply said, ‘Go. Don’t worry about it. Just look after her. If you need anything just let us know.’ 15 minutes later, I was driving to Sydney and was able to spend the day with Connie in hospital.”
Tim’s grateful Steve made it so simple for him to be with his wife.
“I wasn’t capable of driving a train when I didn’t know what was going on or if Connie was going to be ok. When I called Steve, I probably had an hour and a half or less until I had to be at work. Normally we’re meant to give a lot more notice than that but obviously I wasn’t able to. But that didn’t matter. His first thought was ‘Go and do what you need to do’.Luckily it was a standby shift but it easily could have been a running shift, and if it was a running shift I tell you 100% it would have been exactly the same.”
Tim said a little while later, another roster clerk, Julie Housegard, called him up and said; “I’ve spoken to Steve and he’s asked me to tell you not to think about work, just do what you need to do and he’ll do whatever he needs to do. He said tofocus on Connie and just let them know what’s happening when I could.’ That meant I could just think about being with my wife.”
Throughout the day a number of Tim’s colleagues offered practical support and offered to help in any way they could.
“I was about a third of the way to Sydney when I got a call from one of the other drivers, Rob Reedon, who said, ‘I’ve just heard. Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to help by feeding the dog?’ Later I got a text message from one of our district managers? (DM’s)Russell Blanchard who asked if we were ok and offered to do anything he could to help.He also offered to feed the dog as he lived nearby. Luckily Connie was alright by that stage but having everybody checking in and offering to help meant a lot.”
Knowing his colleagues had his back helped Tim manage the shock and emotional impact of what had happened to his wife.
“When I was on that first phone call with Steve I was almost in tears. Connie means everything to me and to hear that, and to not know what’s going on is terrifying. To have all those people ringing up like that makes you feel like there are people backing you up all the time and they’re concerned for you on a personal level. It was really good.”
Tim’s colleagues don’t just provide support in a crisis. He says they’re always looking for ways to make each other’s work life easier.
“This morning I had an eight car train, which had the two rear cars blacked out. Before I’d even signed on, the station manager told me my colleague Rob had noticed and he’d gotten the last two cars on the air (what does that mean?). That’s the sort of thing that happens. We’re just always looking out for each other and trying to make each other’s working lives easier,” he said.
“It’s a good depot. It’s not all sweetness and light but people look out for their mates. Especially when things go wrong.If somebody does something, or is ill and is off for a while, people will find out their phone number, ring them up and say, ‘Are you ok? What’s going on with you?’”
Finally, Tim reminds us how important it is we all look out for our workmates, especially when we might not see them every day.
“A lot of the time we’re on our own at work. I’m a train driver, so I’ll be up the front of the train and the guard will be down the back,so you don’t have a huge amount of contact. It’s not the same as an office where you get the chance to grab a coffee and say ‘Hi’ to everyone. That’s why it’s so important we’re constantly keeping an eye out for each other, looking for signs someone needs a bit of hand, and doing those little things to make each other’s work life better.”
For tips get the conversation started with your workmates visit:
Note to publishers: Please feel free to share a photo of Mt Victoria Train Station and the R U OK? logo and TrackSAFE logo when publishing this story, which are available from