What was it like to drive a steam locomotive? This book shares the ups and downs, mishaps and triumphs, of life on the footplate. In the 1960s, author David Barnett worked as an engineman fireman on the footplates of locomotives in Western Victoria, Australia, at a time when bumper wheat harvests saw trains carrying tons of grain through Ararat, Victoria for shipping overseas. A variety of locomotives were in use during this time.