CONDUCTOR

The Conductor is the leader of the train crew.  He takes tickets from the passengers and maintains order on the train.  He has the final say in decisions about operating the train.

FIREMAN

The Fireman’s job is to keep a steady fire going so the water in the boiler will get hot enough to create steam to power the engine.  His job is very hard—he shovels up to 200 pounds of coal per hour into the furnace.

BRAKEMAN

The brakeman operates the brakes on the train.  On the old trains, he ran along the top of the train and turned a wheel on the top of each car to engage the brakes.

SWITCHMAN

The Switchman is responsible for hooking the train cars together.  This is a very dangerous job and many men were killed or seriously injured doing this job.

ENGINEER

The Engineer drives the train and is responsible for keeping the train running on time and making decisions about the safety of the train and its passengers.

DISPATCHER

The dispatchers communicated with the train crew about changes in routes or dangers on the track and with the depot agent about schedules or problems with the train.  He communicated in Morse Code a series of dots and dashes (each being an alphabet letter) over wire.