Railway Employees

Chimp

Chimp

Moderator & Cheeky Human IMP
Staff member
Need a little help Re. Railway employees.

I want to lay these professions out in descending order of importance. I realise that they may need to be split into separate groups but I'm getting confused and going around in circles. Anyone fancy a go?

Office Clerk
Drayman
Engine Cleaner
Engine Driver
Fireman
Flagsman
Goods Clerk
Goods Guard
Goods Manager
Inspector
labourer
Painter
Plate Layer
Pointsman
Porter
Servant
Signalman
Station Master
 
An almost impossible task you've set us. It really all depended on the size of the station/line that was being operated.

For what it's worth I've turned it into 3 separate lists.

List 1 - Probably in that order although there'd be little difference between an Engine Driver and a Goods Guard I'd guess.

List 2 - I would have thought they had a roughly equal status

List 3 - More or less the same. I've put the Painter at the top as he may well have been through an apprenticeship. I've put the servant at the bottom as I've no idea what they would do!

Anyway it's a start - other lists will no doubt improve on mine !!

Station Master
Inspector
Goods Manager
Signalman
Engine Driver
Goods Guard
Edit: Actually I think the Goods Guard could have been more important than the Engine Driver….


Goods Clerk
Office Clerk
Porter
Fireman



Painter
Flagsman
Pointsman
Drayman
Plate Layer
Engine Cleaner
Labourer
Servant
 
Thanks Flook, that is better than anything I was coming up with. It's a bit of a head spinner trying to work it all out.

Thanks again.
 
As the daughter of a railway boiler inspector I would have thought that the fireman would be right up there in order of importance. He controls the pressure in the boiler. Not enough pressure and the train won't go, too much and it blows up. If the signalmen, pointsmen and flagsmen don't turn up for work, trains crash or get derailed.
 
It's a good point but I think the Chimp is really after the status of people within the hierarchy of a railway company.

My father worked up from linesman to signal inspector /signalling planner and early on in his 'career' was initially blamed for this crash as he was in charge of connecting the signalling and electric points. He wasn't responsible of course or he'd have been in gaol and I wouldn't have been born:(!!

http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Croydon_rail_crash
 
Thanks Jen. At the moment all I have to go on are the names from the 1871-1911 census. These censuses only mention the professions that I have given. The railway only reached the town in 1865 or there abouts.
 
Yes they usually are Chimp. Where a fireman didn't start the fire himself I suppose the person who did could be called a stoker but I suspect that was only in the larger engine sheds.

Edit: The L.N.E.R. seemed to call firemen 'stokers'.
 
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Thanks Flook, I'm trying my best to give one description of the job instead of several for the same thing. Now I have a Railway Operator thrown in the mix too. I feel head spin already :eek:
 
I think to get it into some sort of order you have first to break the functions down into 3 separate categories.

Buildings
Track
Rolling Stock.

Hence the Station Master would be responsible for the Station and departing trains and would be God within his little Empire.

Nothing moves along the track unless the [Track] Inspector says so. And along with him go the Pointsman, Flagsman, Signalman, Plate Layer, etc. I'm not sure when Signal Boxes [as we know them] came into common use, but I'm sure interlocking systems came in much later. Therefore, in the main, points were operated by hand and Flags used to indicate that the 'road' had been set. Similarly, level crossings would have been controlled by flag.

On a Loco, the normal progression is Engine Cleaner [who might also 'set' the fire], Fireman (I always think of Stoker as relating to a Stationary Engine), and then Driver.

Whilst the Driver is in charge of the Loco, it is the Guard that is in charge of the Train. Whilst the Signalman, Station Master, and Driver, are all content for the train to move off, if the Guard, he say "No." Then it doesn't move.;)

The Guard also acts as a 'backup' to the driver. Checking signals (and flags) to ensure that the driver hasn't missed anything. Without going into details of how Vacuum Brakes work, the Guard is able to apply the brakes 'to the train' (but not the Loco), a change of 'power effort' that would be detected by the Driver who would then select a safe place to bring the formation to a halt. i.e. Not in a Tunnel or traversing a Viaduct, in the case of a passenger train.
 
Wanna give me that like Flook did in post #2. My brain is fried ( actually I would go as far as saying crispy and slightly charred)
 
Chimp said:
Wanna give me that like Flook did in post #2. My brain is fried ( actually I would go as far as saying crispy and slightly charred)
Click to expand...

I'll have a go. The simple ones first.
Guard, Engine Driver, Fireman, Engine Cleaner.

[Track] Inspector (That's assuming not Ticket).
Signalman
Flagsman
Pointsman
Plate Layer
Labourer

Although the Pointsman and Plate Layer would require technical abilities and physical effort - not that the others might require a high degree of mobility.

The final group I would list in terms of Revenue [earning]
Station Master
Goods Manager
Goods Clerk
Drayman
Office Clerk
Porter
Painter
Servant
 
Trevor May's The Victorian Railway Worker, a Shire book, has some useful stuff about grades and job progression. Bits of it are online:
books.google.co.uk/books?id=dlcHPMkFp7QC&pg=PA13

In case it helps, this is the classification used in the 1911 census (these codes should have been written on the census form):
510 - railway officials, clerks
511 - railway ticket examiners, collectors, checkers
512 - railway engine drivers, stokers, cleaners
513 - railway guards
514 - signalmen
515 - pointsmen, level crossing men
516 - platelayers, gangers, packers
517 - railway labourers (not railway contractors)
518 - railway porters
519 - other railway servants

The full list of occupational codes is here:
http://www.
1911census.co.uk/content/default.aspx?127

Various other railway company employees appear elsewhere in the list: search for 'railway' to find them.
 
Thank you both very much. (I'll let my one remaining brain cell cool down before I go checking these out)

It's not as easy as I though it would be to sort out the hierarchy of a train station. I thought it would start at the top and work its way down, but there seems to be different routes. A management flow chart would look like a London train planner.
 
Chimp said:
The railway only reached the town in 1865 or there abouts.
Click to expand...

I presume we are talking about Knighton? Whilst Ancestry has "All UK, Railway Employment Records, 1833-1956" none are credited to Knighton. However, I have a feeling that the Locations are listed according to their 'first posting' - so to speak.

If you throw some names + Birth years into the mix, then we might be able to track Career Advancement.

Looking at the Wiki page for Knighton Railway Station, it states, "The railway station is located below street level at Station Road beside the River Teme."

However, when looking at the accompanying photograph, albeit possibly something of a poor choice,

265px-Knighton_Railstn.JPG


it appears as though the river might actually be flowing along the track bed.:D
 
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