switch-tender

Down the slope the shining rails of the track disappeared in an impenetrable cloud of smoke, and Derrick could not see whether his signal to the switch-tender had been obeyed or not.

Derrick Sterling A Story of the Mines Kirk Monroe

We paid quite freely for our brief monopoly of the railroad to the superintendent, engineer, stoker, poker, switch-tender, brakeman, baggage-master, and every other official in one.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 61, November, 1862 Various

Then he jumped into the cab, as he shouted to the men near the engine: "Tell your switch-tender that he will hear from General Beauregard for this!"

Chasing an Iron Horse Or, A Boy's Adventures in the Civil War Edward Robins 1902

As the train passed the station, heading towards the north, the switch-tender was standing on the platform, with a dazed expression in his eyes.

Chasing an Iron Horse Or, A Boy's Adventures in the Civil War Edward Robins 1902

"I don't know you, and I won't take any orders from you!" said the switch-tender, more doggedly than ever.

Chasing an Iron Horse Or, A Boy's Adventures in the Civil War Edward Robins 1902

At thirteen he began work as a switch-tender; at seventeen he was apprenticed as machinist; at nineteen he was active in a machinists 'and blacksmiths' union.

The Armies of Labor A chronicle of the organized wage-earners Samuel Peter Orth 1897

He inquired of a busy switch-tender where it could be found, and the man asked him its number.

Cab and Caboose The Story of a Railroad Boy Kirk Munroe 1890

Mrs. Ryan was sitting on her doorstep to rest in the early evening; her husband had been promoted from switch-tender to boss of the great water-tank which was just beginning to be used, and there was talk of further improvements and promotions at Birch Plains; but the good-natured wife sensibly declared that the better off a woman was, the harder she always had to work.

The Queen's Twin and Other Stories Sarah Orne Jewett 1879

These broke in upon the solitude of the joint station-master and baggage-man and switch-tender with just sufficient frequency to keep him in a state of uncharitable irritation and unrest.

A Modern Instance William Dean Howells 1878

There ought to be somewhere a reservoir of knowledge, connected by wires with every house, and a professional switch-tender, who, upon the pressure of a button in any house, could turn on the intellectual stream desired.

The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner 1864