His first job in Australia was a junior Clerk with the Victorian Railways printing works North Melbourne. He soon found he was not cut out for clerical work and after a failed attempt in early 1970 to be conscripted into the National Service for a posting in the Vietnam War (his height to weight ratio was 3 pounds short) transferred to the then Traffic Branch starting from the lowest grade (Station Assistant) where he was required to clean toilets, trains together with other general station duties.

He worked at this for about 3 months and was trained to become a Signalman. His first posting was McKinnon Signalbox, here again he found he was not up to clerical work and was transferred to Oakleigh “A” Signalbox where he spent the next 18 months ( 1971) Worked Oakleigh 'A' Signalbox for the whole year into 1972

1972
In March of 1972 he was transferred to Dimboola working in the large Signalbox which controlled Main Line Trains en-route to Adelaide and the Branch Line to Yaapeet and Yanac. This was a real eye-opener. He was treated with contempt (Just like the wild west – the locals didn’t like strangers coming into their town) he took this in his stride and just laughed it off and soon won over his critics with his cheerfulness and carefree attitude.

It wasn't a lengthy stay at Dimboola all but 6 months and in October that same year was transferred to the Signalbox at Caulfield, controlling trains at the Junction for the Dandenong and Frankston lines.

Here he was worked with Senior Signalmen who had made a career out of the railway and this impression on him soon changed his mind for touring the world on a motor cycle and concentrating on a career with the Railways.

1973 
When he decided to make the Railway his career, he commenced studying for the examination of Block and Signal Inspector which in today's terms mean an Operational Railway Safeworking Officer responsible for training and assessing Train Guards, Shunters, Signallers, Station Masters (all Traffic Branch "Operational" Grades) and also work with and supervise the implementation of new or altered railway signalling.

The examination was a 5-day written exam which required the candidate to have a thorough understanding and knowledge of all railway signalling, operations and all documentation pertaining to train running and safety (Rule Book etc). The exam was set for November 1973 and unfortunately he was unsuccessful in attaining a pass mark but was encouraged to sit for the test next time around which was to be held a year later to which he passed with honors so to speak.

Late 1973 - 1974
He was transferred from Caulfield to Flinders Street B Signalbox controlling trains in and out of the East end of Flinders Street Platforms 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 and trains in and out of the then suburban train workshops and railway stabling yards. The Signalbox was demolished in the late 80s to make way for Federation Square and the workshops and railway yards are now the sports precinct of Melbourne.

1975 
As part of his assessment to be appointed to the position of Block and Signal Inspector one needed to prove their ability to learn all types of signalling apparatus and how to deal with change and work with people so much so he was transferred to Flinders Street D Signalbox which was a modernised type of signal control, controlling trains from the Clifton hill line into Princess Bridge Platforms and the altered train routing for the construction of the Melbourne Underground Rail Lines.

Later in 1975, He was assessed to be suitable for the Position of Block and Signal Inspector and worked in that position in an acting capacity here again as an assessment as to how he would deal with people and train incidents.

1976
In July of 976 He was appointed to the position of Block and Signal Inspector Western District with its headquarters based in Ballarat. If anyone was not prepared for this type of work it was him. He had no prior experience in dealing with people where the only form of communication was by booking a call through a switch board and waiting half a day for the call to come through and writing memorandums which took up to a week for a reply and the varied methods of Train Signalling and not to mention the 300 or so signalling staff he had to deal with albeit through their supervisors.

Thanks to his mentors in Melbourne and his ability to learn quickly (because it was either sink or swim), he mastered the tasks of this position and soon found it an exciting and rewarding job to which he thoroughly enjoyed.

1976 to 1981 
During his stay at Ballarat he learned how to deal with and manage people.
He was also exposed to and gain invaluable experience in train derailments and accidents. This was a period of immense change to the Railway where trains and railway signalling were changing rapidly and he was in there from the design stage to its implementation.

1981 
After 5 wonderful years in that active position he could see that the future of this type of work in regional Victoria will eventual diminish and all signalling and operation control will be based in Melbourne so he accepted an offer to develop operating rules for the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop, develop training material for Signallers migrating from mechanical signalling to computer based signalling which was to be used for controlling all of Flinders Street, Spencer Street and the underground rail loop lines and develop training material for the simulator

1982 
At first (when he started at METROL in late 1981) again, like Dimboola, he was not welcomed into this new position because of certain Industrial issues. He was provided no assistance with his task but soon taught himself computer jargon and from the thousand or so sheets of technical documentation, developed the training and operating protocols that were required to introduce the new signalling system and in March 1983 trains were operated by the trained Signallers in an Australian first computer based signalling.

1983 
The Training Material Style and some documentation are still in use today and also adopted in other parts of the world where a similar process was required. This was to be his “Magnum opus” and after the successful implementation of this signalling system was promoted to a totally different line of work - Depot Manager based in Dimboola.

The Position of Depot Manager in the then Railway was to manage Train Crews, Train Guards, Shunters, Signallers, Depot, Clerical Staff and (in some locations) Train Control. It was “one stop” management. The only external support were financial supply, HR assistance and records management the rest was the Depot Manager and the local Management Team.

Whilst in the position of Depot Manager Dimboola and because of his vast experience and knowledge of Train Signalling was given the task of supervising the project for the introduction of remote controlled train signalling between Dimboola and the South Australian Border. After this task he was given an acting role of Depot Manager Ararat.

1984 
This appointment was not objected to by any of his peers if fact they gave him their commiserations because this job was a “Hell Hole”. There were 65 Train Drivers, 46 Train Driver assistants, 18 Shunters, 16 Signalmen, 42 Train Guards, 15 clerical staff and 1 Manager, all but a few wanted to be union representatives. This led to immense industrial turmoil and infighting within the various grades.

1985 
After putting out the industrial fires and bringing some form of stability to the depot there was a short period of calm. Whilst here in Ararat, he was involved in the implementation of the change to Grain Handling and Crossing Loop improvement on the Portland line which was recommended by the CANAC report

In early-1985 the whole of the Railway Management Structure was being changed, Regions were formed where they were to be totally autonomous in Railway Management. Several Jobs were created and he felt his expertise was in Train Operations and People management so applied for one of the 5 positions of Operations Officer, these positions were spread across Regional Victoria based in Ararat, Ballarat, Geelong, Traralgon and Wodonga but was not partial to any particular location. The position description and required tasks were identical to that of a Depot Manager.

….1985
To his astonishment he was not successful in obtaining any one of these positions. If the reader were to research the political activity in the State of Victoria during that time, they would understand why.

The period mid-1985 to late 1986 was a nightmare for him and many others who were not “affiliatus in specie partium”.

On a cold winters morning in July 1985 he BURNT his resume on the platform at Ararat and swore he would never beg for a Job ever again and never submit a resume ever ever ever but in 2016 30 years later he had to succumb and built this website as a resume with supporting paper documentation that read like this website - He kept his word (somewhat).

Late 1985 
His Wife and 2 ½ year old son got him through this turbulent period and motivated him to stay in the Railway. He went anywhere, did any job offered and coined a phrase (It's OK to Kiss A*%$# so long as you don't smell the sh(one)t).

During this period a project to remove the Train Guard from the rear of the train and operate with only two persons up in the locomotive (Two Man Crewing Project) had failed in Wodonga.

This project was industrially sensitive and to kill it off without losing face, was handed over to the Western District and was to commence at Ararat and Karl was given the task of managing the project.

The Project was conceived to be doomed from the start. Ararat was a very volatile industrial location and Karl having no gazetted position and considered to have nothing to lose so blame it on both.

The Projects burial notice was all but written, all that was missing was the date.

The Project commenced in September 1985,

Assistance was called to his peers but none was offered (nobody wanted to be associated with a failed project).

There were only 3 key people tasked with implementing this project.

Karl Rapson – Project Manager

Colin Shaw – IR manager

Clive Danns – Ground Runner

Skills of the Team

Karl Rapson – Communication, People and Change Management.

Colin Shaw – Excellent Industrial Relations Management and Human Resources Knowledge.

Clive Danns - Procurement, Radio Communications, Hardware developer – invented the "Skinny Guard" which is still in use today.

Through continual meetings and negotiations Karl together with Colin (more so Colin) convinced all parties it was in their best interest to allow this project to go ahead.

After 6 weeks of hard work the first Two Man Crewed train departed Ararat at around 1230 hours on the 11^th November 1985 bound for Portland.

1986 
Karl was rewarded some time off to spend with his family, Colin and Clive became heroes in the railway and worked with to the project's state wide implementation. Karl was offered project management positions in Melbourne but instead settled for the initial position he'd applied for a year earlier (Operations Officer Ararat).

1987 to 1989 
Nothing significant occurred in these two years apart from assisting several other minor projects and one of them was the closure of Ararat and several smaller locations as a train Crew Depots and his Position of Operations Officer.

1990
His work in the train crew management field had diminished with the transfer of its management to a centrally based location in Melbourne. Karl was offered a position to assist with the then recently commenced one man crewing (Driver Only) Project which he did till the end of 1990 when the project was folded up due to industrial issues.

1991 
He moved back to Ararat with an altered role managing the signalling and Safeworking activities for the region and the remaining tasks of the Operations Officer. It was a similar role to that of 1976 to 1981.

1992 to 1995 
This period was somewhat subdued, working with the in cab train authority system (ASW) and the reduction of the workforce which he was not very proud of. His work took him to all parts of Western Victoria and most parts of Northern Victoria which meant he was hardly ever at home and spent very little time with his family. Another contributing factor was that there was still a residue of "stulti constituit muta" from that turbulent era (10 years prior) that were destroying the railway and he had to make a decision move the family to Melbourne, work with incompetence and stupidity or leave the railway to which he decided on the latter and on December 18^th 1995 accepted a voluntary redundancy package and left the railway to pursue a career in IT to which at this stage he had gained significant experience but has never made a career out of it back then (but that was to change 20 Years Later).