Don retires from the Rattler

Arthur Gorrie | 3rd July 2009

WORKING on the railway has always been a labour of love for retired Queensland Rail and Mary Valley Heritage Rail track worker, Don Tatnell.

“I can't see any sense in a man doing nothing in his retirement,” Mr Tatnell said yesterday.

A plain-speaking man whose skill in track maintenance combined with an ability to get along with those working for him, Don has been responsible for years now for keeping the track safe for the Mary Valley's iconic “Rattler.”

“I retired from QR. I took a redundancy actually and built a house with it at Southside, so I didn't waste it,” he said yesterday.

Now he has retired from the MVHR as well - and president Jim Walker frankly admits he has not yet worked out how the organisation will get along.

“I was with QR twice, once for about three years then I went cane cutting, so I knew what hard work was all about. “Back with the railways, I had rolling gangs doing track maintenance in Brisbane.

“After that, I joined the MVHR. I was quite happy to work for them, really happy actually. I got more work out of men with laughter and a smile on my face that you'd ever get by being unpleasant.

“You just have to deal with people and talk in a sensible way.

“If it's a tough job, I just say 'That's probably a bit hard for you blokes,” and before you know it, it's done.

“You've got to involve people in their work and then they're more happy to work hard for you than they would be to take it easy for someone else.

“Without the men doing the work for you, you're nothing as a ganger. But if you get the work out of the men, it's a great bonus.

“And if people work happily for you, you can return the favour if someone is not feeling well or it's a bit hot.

“You can tell them to take a break in the shade, if there's the chance.

“All I cared about was if the work got done and the line was safe for the trains.

“I had my first job with Dick Hook and worked with him again at the MVHR.

“I started back in my early 20s and I'm in my 60s now.”

Mr Tatnell recalled going to work in Gympie on the railway line from his home at Corella, pumping the hand powered “trike” along the track to Gympie Station.

In his work with the Rattler, his credits also include building the Amamoor turntable, an engineering feat achieved with practical on-the-job knowledge.

“I liked most of the work, but I didn't like the stretch near Melawondi. It could be 36 degrees here and 40 degrees out there,” he said.