Train driver

The cab of a New South Wales Xplorer diesel multiple unit

Inside the train driver's cab of a German ICE train

Women railway shunters, England, c. 1915–1920

A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a person who drives a train or a locomotive. The driver is in charge of, and responsible for operating the engine, as well as the mechanical operation of the train, train speed, and all train handling. In American English, a hostler moves engines around train yards, but does not take them out on the normal tracks; the British English equivalent is a shunter.

Career progression[]

For many American railroads, the following career progression is typical: assistant conductor (brakeman), train conductor and finally the engineer. For many years the fireman was next in line to be an engineer but that classification has been eliminated. In the US, drivers are required to be certified and re-certified every two to three years.^[1]

The traditional career progression in the United Kingdom (for steam locomotives) was engine cleaner, passed engine cleaner (i.e. passed assessment for fireman), fireman, passed fireman (i.e. passed assessment for driver), and driver.

In India, a driver starts as a diesel assistant (or electrical assistant for electric locomotives). They then get promoted on a scale: goods, passenger, mail express, and the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto express services.^[2]

The United Kingdom based transport historian Christian Wolmar stated in October 2013 that train operators employed by the Rio Tinto Group to transport iron ore across the Australian outback were likely to be the highest-paid members of the occupation in the world at that time.^[3]

Notable train drivers[]

• Ben Chifley, former Prime Minister of Australia^[4]
• Christine Gonzalez, first female driver for a Class 1 railroad.^[5]
• Casey Jones, American engineer whose wreck on the Illinois Central Railroad on April 30, 1900 was immortalized in verse and music.

See also[]

• Conductor
• Fireman
• Motorman
• Railroad engineer cap
• Secondman

References[]

Further reading[]

• Huibregtse, Jon R. (2010). American Railroad Labor and the Genesis of the New Deal, 1919-1935. University Press of Florida.
• Licht, Walter (1983). Working for the Railroad: The Organization of Work in the Nineteenth Century.
• Orr, John W. (2001). Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949.
• Tuck, Joseph Hugh (1977). Canadian Railways and the International Brotherhoods: Labour Organizations in the Railway Running Trades in Canada, 1865-1914 (Thesis). 37. Dissertation Abstracts International. p. 6681.

The following examine the role of the railroad engineer from 1890 to 1919, discussing qualifications for becoming an engineer and typical experiences on the job:

• White, John H. Jr. (Fall–Winter 2003). "Oh, To Be a Locomotive Engineer, Part 1: Once It Was Every Boy's Ambition". Railroad History. 189: 12–33. JSTOR 43504848.
• White, John H. Jr. (Spring–Summer 2004). "Oh, To Be a Locomotive Engineer, Part 2: More About the Lives of Eagle-Eyes Famous, Infamous, and Forgotten". Railroad History. 190: 56–77. JSTOR 43524273.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Railroad engineers.

• TrainDriver.org – A detailed explanation of what train driving involves, and becoming a train driver in the UK