Hold on a little bit. You are conflating thinking about what you perceive as about to happen and actually acting on those thought processes. To put it another way, you can anticipate what the ground crew is about to do all you want, but you better not take any actions on those thoughts until they give you the go ahead to do anything because their instructions might dictate movements which are diametrically opposed of what you were expecting.

You're also conflating the details of control manipulation (throttle and brakes) with the signals the crew give you, which confuses the situation.

You're more than welcome to expound on and boast of your train railroading skills, but don't expect me to be impressed because I'm not. And BTW, "railroad" and "railway" are essentially synonymous, unless you're picking nits.

A great many railfans look up to the E ("driver", if you prefer) because he operates a locomotive, the very symbol of "power". Being in control of a power symbol is also equated with "authority", but in railroading this is not the case: the train crew instructs the engineer on how and when to move the train or stop. I was explaining that the E doesn't make the joints, the ground crew does by instructing the engineer when to move or stop. For some reason this set you off, so you jumped in with all your expositions on anticipation and descriptions of throttle/brake manipulation. How the E (or driver) manipulates the controls to accomplish these ends desired by the ground crew is a topic for a completely different discussion, and trying to include that discussion with one about the conversational interplay between crew members and their signals leads to confusion.

So what we should do is ask our readers; what does "anticipation" mean? Planning ahead, but doing nothing? Or planning ahead and acting on your plans without waiting for input from the crew? Never forget that the input might run counter to your expectations. My point has been all along that as the engineer/driver "you do what the crew tells you", nothing more, nothing less. The old timers at the SP had a very succinct way of putting it: they'd hold up their lanterns, look you the engineer in the eye, point at the lantern, and say "you brains are in here".

I railroaded for over 40 years, beginning in 1969. One of the key skills to learn was how to follow along with the work as it progressed: what are we going to do? switch out some cars. The anticipation: going back and forth, stopping, kicking cars, dropping cars, etc. When is each particular move to be made and how? follow the signals.

> Well that US Railroad did purchase and gut the NZR for every last cent without spending a dime here on track maint. And they did indeed need real Engindrivers up there to show just how it's Done,

It wasn't as much a question as the US engineer's needing to be shown "how it's Done" as one of the experienced US railroaders viewing the WC as a scab outfit and going elsewhere. Don't the former NZR tracks and R/W still belong to NZ? "Privatization" is not about improving economic efficiency and customer service, it's about corporate welfare. Look at Argentina and the UK.

> just like the Iron Ore roads in Northern Australia that came hunting our Drivers back in the 70's, and still do today :)

Rio Tinto & associates have had great difficulty retaining Aussie drivers because of the remoteness of the Pilbara (for our readers: it's pronounced "PILL-bra"), so they look to other countries. Turnover has been high.

And BTW, I too have used the Silent Brakeman (watching the shadows) many times, but only after receiving the crew's blessings ahead of time to do so.

>Chorus girls eh, cough cough! Ahem, I'll never get that image out of my head from now on.

Well at least I've made at least one lasting impression. It's a term I picked up from Scientific American.