What are the people at the train station called?

Question

in curious george i watched this thing where a guy had an office and he had to switch the trains onto different tracks to make them in right order. what are the people called like what is there job called?

Answer 1

"Signaller" in the U.K.

Answer 2

Don't know about Curious George, but there are different real life possibilities.

Trainmaster's do have offices, where they are usually not found, but have nothing to do with switching cars in a yard, such as you describe.  Their primary functions are as a liaison between the railroad and shippers, supervision of the employees, enforcer of rule requirments, teasting and, when necessary, a disciplinarian.

You are probably thinking of a Yardmaster, whose duty it is to see that trains are made up properly and supervise the movements through his yard.

The person in a Hump Yard, where cars are pushed over a hump and allowed to roll under their own power into various tracks and controls the switches from a tower can be the Hump Yardmaster, or CRO (car retarder operators).  Both of these positions were manned by switchmen having enough seniority to work these jobs.

Train dispatchers do control train operations, but usually only on the main track, separate from yards.

Answer 3

The guy in the office is called the Train Master.

Answer 4

The person you saw was indeed, likely the trainmaster, which must properly coordinate and direct the movement of trains in a particular "block" of railroad, such as a yard or terminal.  The person could have been a dispatcher although this position usually covers an extended section of track (i.e., over a course of miles, also known as a "block").

Answer 5

I imagine you are talking about the yardmaster.

Trainmasters oversee the operations but it is the yardmaster that actually draws up the switch lists and tells the switch crews which cars to put on which trains. The yardmaster will then give the specific switching instructions to the appropriate crew that will actually go out and get their gloves dirty moving the cars to their assigned locations.

The dispatchers' specialty is the movement of trains on the main line and sidings but not actually the making up of the trains.

The yardmaster will have a list of incoming cars, whether they are on trains or coming in from industries, and (hopefully) will have those cars assigned to trains going to their respective destinations before they arrive so the the work will go smoothly.

In the real world it may not be quite that way but I am sure in Curisous George's world it goes on without a hitch.  :-)