Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

WITH THE RAILWAY SIGNALMEN. IT is no exaggeration to state that the signalman, above all other members of the great army of railway workers, incurs the heaviest weight of responsibility. A little reflection and the fact becomes manifest; for the engineman, who is popularly described as having the lives of passengers in his keeping, is himself in the hands of the signalman, on whose correct manipu- lation of the levers and untiring vigilance he implicitly relies. But the signalman is the railway official about whom the travel- ling public knows least. Whilst on duty he is ■cut off from the outside world, for the regulation that he must keep his •cabin strictly private— a notice to which effect is always to be found on the door — is the most rigorously en- forced of railway ordinances. Many signalmen re- ceive an early training in their duties — or, rather, first become acquainted with the nature of the latter— by acting as “ train boys ” in important signal boxes. “ Train boys ” are only utilised at busy centres, where traffic exigencies compel the signalmen to be furnished with juvenile aides-de-camp, to write up the train books, which record the times at which every train is accepted into the block section, signalled to pass, and cleared. Needless to say, this is the very best training for a youngster who wishes to become a signal- man; for he soon learns to distinguish bell calls, and to understand the meaning and manipulation of the complex block telegraph instruments, repeaters, indicators, etc. Signalmen, however, are not evolved right TRAIN BOY BOOKING- TRAINS, LONDON BRIDGE. away from train boys. The former must be grown-up men, of at least twenty-three years of are ; hence, when the latter have attained seventeen years of age, they relinquish their train-boy duties and become porters, lamp- men, shunters, or perhaps humble members of the clerical staff. In course of time these and other aspirants, mainly drawn from the porter class, commence seriously studying to qualify as signalmen, without, however, re- 1 i n q u i s h i n g their present employment. The best place for this study is in some un- important country signal box, where the traffic is light, and where in consequence the men in charge have time to impart practical instruction. Then, when a candidate thinks he has mastered the subject, he presents himself for examination by one of the com- pany’s signalling in- spectors, who subjects him to a practical and written examination in the working of the double-line block system, and any other patent method of signalling—such as Tyers’s Electric Train Tablet, the Electric Train Staff, Sykes’s Lock and Block, or the Spag- noletti instruments—which may be adopted on his company’s system. Most companies now also insist upon the would-be signalman qualifying as a telegraphist ; at any rate, if he does not become skilled as such, none can hope to rise above the third-class rank. When a man passes his examination he is appointed a third-class signalman, which means that his duties are confined to way- side cabins where there is little traffic and shunting. The next step is second-class