Railways lady unique to North Island

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 2, 9 June 1987, Page 5

Railways lady unique to North Island

Last November Brenda Marriott was made Branch Manager of the Ohakune Railway Station and though she is still doing the job she doesn't like the title. Brenda is still 'Brenda' to her staff and friends. The other title Brenda doesn't like is 'stationmaster', though that was the name of the job before the Railways redefined it. The only other branch manager's position held by a woman in New Zealand is at Temuka in the South Island. Brenda Marriott has always lived in the Waimarino, she was bom in Raetihi and now lives with her husband and two children in Miro Street in Ohakune. She started working for the Railways in 1967, giving them ten year's service working in train running, which involves traffic control. In 1977 Brenda left the job to raise her children. She stayed away for eight years until she was asked to return to work in the Area Construction Manager's office which is connected with the Railways' electrification project. The last stationmaster at Ohakune was Fred Mulligan who left the job about a year ago. Staff from T aumarunui covered the work until November when Brenda took over. Brenda has Yvonne Campbell to help her in the office in the afternoons, when they are busy with bookings. Traffic operator Wayne Ripikoi does the shunting work and arranges wagons. They all help out at the construction manager's office when necessary. Brenda says she enjoys dealing with the public, which is a big part of the job especially in the ski season. This year they

expect more people to use the passenger services to get to and from Ohakune with the improved services on the Silver Fern and the Northerner. The Silver Fern is popular in the summer with tourism said Brenda. She said she had many visitors come into the office for a coffee and a chat on cold days. Our Ohakune Branch Manager says she trained on the job for her position, having done a bit of everything around the station.

A lesson she learned early on was not to wear high heels or a skirt when working in the yard. The high heels sink into the ballast around the tracks and the skirt makes it hard to climb on the wagons. Brenda tells of the episode when she learned that lesson - the hard way. "I was climbing between two wagons, standing on the chain when it started to swing, my heels got stuck and the skirt mean't I couldn't step off, so I fell off the wagon and ended up flat on my back on the tracks!".