Switchman

A switchman (North America) also known as pointsman (British Isles) or yardman (Commonwealth) is a rail transport worker whose original job was to operate various railway switches or points on a railroad.

It also refers to a person who assists in moving cars in a railway yard or terminal.

Working in railway yards or along sidings, during the pioneering years of rail transport, switchmen as a group suffered large numbers of grievous bodily injuries, including in particular crushing injuries and amputations, owing to their work in close proximity to moving trains.

"The vocation is the most dangerous of any of the different branches of railroading, and that they live for years is only due to their extreme carefulness.

On their efficient work, the great commercial interests of the country largely depend, and only a little carelessness on their part may result in immense damage to the goods in transit, and an error in delivery sometimes causes the loss of an entire consignment of freight, if it happens to be perishable.

A 1943 color photograph of a switchman at work at the Chicago and North Western Railway 's Proviso Yard in Chicago .
A Russian switchman on the Trans-Siberian Railway , photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky between 1905 and 1915.
The grave of John Cook, pointsman, Corstorphine , Edinburgh