Jade Watson

Operator Maintainer, Queensland Rail

Background: Electrician

"I grew up on the Atherton Tablelands about an hour inland from Cairns.  I’ve always enjoyed being outside and working with my hands, but living in a small country town it wasn’t really heard of for females to go into trades. When I left school, I did two years of a teaching degree and then went on to do a business diploma in the music industry.

In my twenties I worked mostly casual jobs in offices and bars and spent a fair bit of time travelling before deciding to pursue something I knew I would actually enjoy. Something that would  hopefully lead to exciting new opportunities.

That’s when I started my electrical apprenticeship with Queensland Rail (QR)  in Brisbane.



It was quite daunting at first. The shed that I work out of was on a massive site,  we had golf buggies available to get around. 



But it’s a path I’m so glad I followed. QR has a huge focus on safety and well-being which has made it a great place to work.

 

There’s also a huge variety in the work we do, which I love. Half the role involves performing routine inspections on trains. Every train comes in for a service every few months and gets a full check-up. I’m part of the electrical maintenance team which looks at all the electrical systems. If we find faults we repair them.



The other half of the job is spent working on specific faults. A few weeks ago I was part of a breakdown team that went out to Palmwoods, up near Nambour. A hose had come loose on a train and needed to be replaced before it could be moved.

Yesterday I worked alongside a mechanic to fault the find in a compressor that was setting off a temperature alarm. It turned out just to be low on oil and was a relatively easy fix, but sometimes you can work on a fault for a couple of days before figuring out what the problem is.”