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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 11 (March 1, 1928)

The Trained Railway Mind

page 34

The Trained Railway Mind.

Specialisation.

The huge advances in human knowledge and technical achievement of recent years have ushered in an age of specialisation. Each branch of industry embraces such a variety of facts of its own that a full knowledge of the whole field of endeavour is beyond the reach of any one man. That fact becomes every day more patent as intensive study in special fields extends the scope of every industry to which it is applied. Every newspaper contains advertisements setting forth the value of various highly technical courses for people in almost every walk of life.

All this indicates the growing value of brains and the product of brains. The mind is an instrument for the doing of its own kind of work. Like other instruments it gives the best return when trained and finely adjusted for carrying out its functions. Just as, on the physiological side, certain results are obtained by special attention to certain functions, e.g. improved health from physical training, and athletic prowess from intensive training, so, in the sphere of psychology, that is, the sphere of the mind and the will, the best results are to be obtained only after the mental powers have been trained and the powers of the will have been brought under control.

Qualifying for Selection.

Employers, administrators, and professional men all now recognize that the field of the general worker, wide as it is, is largely a field of selection. From it are chosen those who are to be entrusted with one or other of the special duties that the circumstances of modern life bring into prominence. The selection may be made by deliberate choice, but that choice is governed by force of circumstances; a place has to be filled and the best available man is put into it. The good fortune of the selection for promotion falls to the man who has, by special training of his own powers, made himself ready for the higher position when the call comes.

The New Zealand Railway Department has seen this need and has made provision for the benefits of railway technical education to be extended to the whole of its staff through a series of correspondence courses adapted to the needs of every branch of the serice.

Each course of lessons is well graded and useful alike to the lad starting on his railway career and the member who, by being on one job for a long period, is in danger of losing touch with the general work of his branch. One very valuable effect is to show to the student his place in the railway scheme of things—to enable him, in other words, to see the wood in spite of the trees. The importance of this aspect can hardly be over-stated in a service employing over 18,000 men. It is human nature to become localised to one's surroundings and to lose sight of the size and functions of the machine of which one is a small cog.

Railway Educational Training.

This educational training extends even beyond the correspondence school. Officers have been appointed, designated as Outdoor Transportation Assistants, whose duty it is to go round the stations advising the staffs in the best methods of handling their duties. There are two ways of doing everything, and these men, out of a wide practical railway experience, know the best way. They can give advice on every point of railway working from the best way to break up a rake of wagons to the making up of a duty roster to the best advantage.

The almost purely technical form of this railway education is apt to blind one to the other benefits accruing from the course. The officer who has, by special study, attained proficiency in a wider field of work than his own has shown proof of his keenness which cannot readily be passed over. The service is continually growing, and as it grows there are more positions of responsibility offering to those qualified to grasp them.

But, and here is a point generally overlooked, there is even more to be gained from these courses by the individual than the deliberate cultivation of his service value, and that is the increase of his personal value. A man whose brain is undergoing the mental discipline of a course of study, and whose will is being strengthened by the self control called forth by following it, is a better man for himself as well as for the Service than the one who is content to jog along with his daily job, satisfied with his present stock of knowledge. Study widens the receptivity of the [gap — reason: illegible] in more direction, that that of the page 35 mere subject studied, and it increases self control and the power of concentration.

A Broader Outlook.

There is no branch of railway knowledge which it would not be beneficial for any railway officer (of any branch) to possess and there seems to be room for a correspondence course running parallel with the present ones, subject to no examinations, but dealing with the economic side of a railroad and its relation to the life of the community. The way in which modern transport in all its branches is woven into the fabric of our economic life should be brought home to every man whose living comes from railroading. As the railway correspondence course shows a man his place in the railway scheme, so would a suitable course in Economics show him the place of the railway in the scheme of economic life, giving him poise and judgment and enabling him to understand and logically represent to others the railway viewpoint. From the railway comes the bread and butter of the staff and they would be the better for an understanding of its functions. The interest created by such a study would be very absorbing, for besides the pleasure gained by knowledge of the inter-relation of transport with the general functioning of production and commerce, the romance inseparably attached in the human mind to a railroad adds much to the fascination of this formidable-looking subject.

Encouraging the Tourist.

It is pleasing to note that the Annual Report of the New Zealand Tourist League acknowledges the considerable advance that has been made in recent years towards increasing the attractiveness of New Zealand by the provision of better publicity and travel facilities.

Amongst other matters specified the League states that distinct and very much appreciated progress has been recorded in:

  • (1.) The establishment of closer understanding between the Tourist, Publicity and Railway Departments, as evidenced by the setting up of the Publicity Board, and the allocation of £38,000 per annum for publicity, a sum which is treble the amount spent in 1924.

  • (2.) The considerably raised standard of printed matter.

  • (3.) The very great improvement that has been made in the matter of sleeping and general accommodation on the trains.

The report adds that the Railway Department has shewn commendable eagerness in catering for tourists, and quotes President Cosgrove:— “Railway systems, roads, hotels, recreations— each plays its own and an important part in the success of tourist development.”

To attract tourists to any country the co-operation of many people and the co-ordination of many services are required.

T.S “Tamahin At Cton Railways WF.

T.S [gap — reason: illegible] “Tamahin[gap — reason: illegible] At [gap — reason: illegible]Cton Railways W[gap — reason: illegible]F.