1. Where do you live? Can you
tell us your three favourite things
about the area where you live? How
long have you lived there? Have you
moved around much during your life?
I live in Sheffield, England, a city
that used to be full of steelworks
and smoke. Nowadays, it is much
cleaner because of the demise of the
steel industry. I have lived in the
urban area of the city all of my
life. In fact, at the moment, I live
about 20 minutes away from my
birthplace. My parents lived in an
area that was convenient for my
father's employment, and I suppose
the same thought occurred to me when
my wife and I bought our home back
in 1966. We still live in the same
house and are part of a lovely
community. I said that I lived in an
urban area, by which I mean that by
public transport it takes me about
35 minutes to reach the town centre.
Going the other way, within 30
minutes I am in the open
countryside. My wife and I were
married in March 1966, and we have
one son and three lovely
grandchildren. Both of my parents
are no longer with us, but my wife's
mother is still going well at 85. I
have one brother, 15 months younger
than me, and he lives just around
the corner in an identical
semi-detached house to the one we
live in. I don't know how many
favourite things I have listed
there.
I
left school in 1960 and went
straight into the steelworks on an
apprenticeship. Looking back, it
seems that if your father was
involved with steel, then it was
assumed that you would follow, even
though you chose a different trade
within the steel industry. After
about 13 years with this particular
company, an opportunity arose for a
sideways move, i.e. from blue-collar
to white-collar. Obviously someone
had noticed that I had certain
skills that were not being fully
utilised. I went into "Production
Control" where the impossible is
expected on a daily basis. This was
before any computer assistance, more
often a pencil and an eraser. We did
most of our planning using a "T-card
system," which sometimes helped and
sometimes hindered.
In
1984 (remember George Orwell) our
planning team was introduced to a
very large cabinet with many wires
leading from it, and all our desks
had sprouted their own television
set, and when you lifted the lid on
the cabinet, all you could see was a
silver disc about 15 inches in
diameter. After a few whirring
sounds and flashing green lights,
the cabinet and accessories was
proclaimed to be our saviour from
the scrap heap. I was 40 years old
and easily led, especially watching
numbers and words on a television
instead of the usual pictures. The
older members of our team were not
as easily convinced, but when the
Production Controller had a
ceremonial breaking of pencils, they
knew the writing was no longer on
the wall. Over the next few years, I
climbed the ladder and eventually
became the "top banana". During
these years I had gained a lot of
knowledge about systems, not how the
computer handled it, more about how
I wanted the computer to control the
system. We had decided at this
particular time to bring in a
specific software company to install
a product which we needed. Of course
this new product had to be financed
by job losses, so I sat down with
the "Business Manager" and agreed a
package that was satisfactory to
both sides. Halfway through the
installation of the hardware, our
manager left and was replaced by
someone who knew how to make even
more savings, and of course he moved
the goalposts yet again. Because of
the loss of personnel in the
structure of things, the remaining
jobs were classed as new positions
and had to be applied for. I wasn't
very happy about where the goalposts
had been put, so I decided not to
apply, thereby making myself
redundant. Unfortunately, our new
cost-effective manager couldn't
understand the meaning of agreements
made prior to his arrival. I had
worked for this company since
leaving school and was eligible to
receive my works pension which just
strengthened my position. Eventually
an agreement was reached, and I
spent my final three months building
up the system that was to be used
after my departure.
Since my departure from full time
employment, I tried to do "nothing"
but was unsuccessful. I now have a
part-time job (10 hours per week)
helping a friend of mine with the
invoicing side of his business.
2. Do you have any connection
with railways (railroads) in the
real world? If so, would you tell us
something about those connections?
Going
back to my childhood, in Sheffield,
we had two rail-operating companies,
L.N.E.R. and L.M.S., and we lived
about three hundred yards away from
a footbridge that spanned the
L.N.E.R. line that ran from
Sheffield to London. I can remember
spending many hours in the school
holidays sitting on this footbridge
with my train-spotting book and a
pencil. I had an uncle who was a
guard (conductor?) on the railway,
and whenever it was possible, he
would take me with him in the
guard's van (caboose). The most
cherished times were when we went to
a small town called Retford. This
stop was on the main London to
Edinburgh line, and I was actually
there when the "Flying Scotsman"
passed through. Another time I saw
"Mallard".
3. How did you start with MSTS?
What were some of your early
experiences - good and bad?
My
wife bought me MSTS as a Xmas
present about four years ago. I
think we had first seen it when we
visited the National Rail Museum in
York, and I must have made some
comment about it. The sim I used to
play on the computer was "Roller
Coaster Tycoon", and the sound of
all the little punters walking round
the fun parks used to "drive my wife
mad", so I think the purchase of
MSTS was as much for her benefit as
mine. Anyway, back to opening this
Xmas present. I must have spent
hours trying to get past the dreaded
send/don't send message. Eventually,
I realised the hardware wasn't as
new as MSTS was, and so I played
with some of my other toys. Within a
few weeks, I was checking out the
Settle to Carlisle for realism, due
to the fact that I can be on that
line within two hours of leaving
home.
Two years ago I decided to open the
door to the web, and that is when I
found out that there were more than
six routes for MSTS. I now own most
of the European payware routes and
quite a few of the North American
ones. There is one route I have
bought, in January this year, but
have not yet received, and that is
the Pacific Surfliner. I have given
up hope of ever seeing that package.
I bought some of our domestic routes
from UKTrainSim, and this is where I
saw a button that said "LINKS",
which of course I clicked, and lo
and behold a whole new rail world
was waiting!
5. How did you find the NERR? Why
did you join it?
I
suppose I could say that I joined
the NERR because I was bored with
what I had, but that would be
unfair, because it is only since I
have been with the NERR that I
realise that I was bored with what I
had. I feel that, with some of the
payware routes, some of the
activities are there just to use the
track and not to provide some form
of entertainment for the user (ME!).
With the NERR I have the feeling
that the routes are secondary to the
activities. In other words, it
doesn't matter where you are doing
it, as long as you ARE doing it.
Since joining the NERR, I have not
run any route that is not part of
our VR. I could join GLARR and P&A
because I have the routes, but at
the moment I feel there is plenty
here for me to discover. I feel that
the activities reflect the passion
and the knowledge of our brilliant
writers, and it gives me the
greatest of pleasure to undertake
them. I am not sufficiently
experienced with computer knowledge
to even consider writing an
activity. I am a great believer in
"horses for courses".
7. Where do you think / hope MSTS
will be in 5 years' time?
I am not really sure as to what the
future holds for MSTS, but I am sure
from reading the forums, etc., that
the NERR will be around for some
time yet.
8. If you could add or change two
things to the VR world and/or to the
NERR, what would they be?
I
consider myself to still be an
apprentice at NERR, I and would not
even think of changing something I
have had very little input into.
9. What are your favourite MSTS
routes - freeware and payware? Why?
What is your favourite MSTS loco?
Why?
I
don't honestly have a favourite
route or even a favourite loco. I
suppose that, if I did have a
favourite loco, it would be Flying
Scotsman, but it wouldn't be
practical to use it to haul some of
the freight on some of our routes,
plus I enjoy driving diesels.
13. Is there anything else that
we should know about you - family,
hobbies, ...?!
There
is very little left for me to say
about myself: my logon name of
oldgreyowl is derived from my age
(62), my hair colour (what little I
have remaining!) and the fact that I
am a lifelong supporter of an
English football team (Sheffield
Wednesday F.C.) "Up The Owls!" I
have a couple of other hobbies, when
I am unable to press the ON button -
gardening and watching my
grandchildren grow. I realised too
late in life that I had missed my
son growing up, due to my own
career, and that I would not miss
the opportunity again.
I
sincerely hope that you are able to
understand my terminology, etc., but
this has been written straight from
the heart. |
The
Ruhr Area (German
Ruhrgebiet)
is a metropolitan area
in North
Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany, consisting of a
number of large
industrial cities
bordered by the rivers
Ruhr to the south, Rhine
to the west, and Lippe
to the north. In the
south-west it borders
the Bergisches Land. The
area, with some 5.3
million people, is
considered part of the
larger Rhine-Ruhr
metropolis of more than
12 million people.