pointsman

plural pointsmen

1. UKrail transportA man in charge of railroad points (switches).

   A pointsman's back straightened itself upright suddenly against a tramway standard by Mr Bloom's window.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 6: Hades]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 88

   2 more examples

   The signalman, as such, was unknown at first. At junctions, or for shunting, the pointsman was responsible both for setting the points and working the appropriate signals, the two being independent. As a result, accidents were comparatively frequent, and the pointsman's job was, at best, a hazardous one.

   1955 April, R. H. Warring, “Some Early Railway Signals”, in Railway Magazine, page 231

   At their point of origin, constructing these boxes presented railway companies with an attractive proposition: to remove the need for pointsmen and flagmen operating at several ground-level locations around a railway site by housing one or two men in a signal structure.

   2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 57

   Synonyms: switchman