Signalman (rail)

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A signalman is an employee of a railway transport network who operates the points and signals from a signal box in order to control the movement of trains.

[edit] History

The first signalmen, originally police officers (leading to the nickname of 'bobby' for signalmen), were employed in the early 1800s and used flags to communicate with each other and train drivers.

[edit] Additional duties

It was a signalman's duty to check each train that passed his signalbox, looking for the red taillight hung on the final vehicle that confirmed that the train was still complete.

Each train movement was logged, by hand, in a register, and it was normal practice to provide a special desk to support this sizeable book.

[edit] See also

• Railway signalling
• The Signal-Man, a short story written by Charles Dickens in 1866.