What did a railway gatekeeper do?

[GrizzlyDad]

My ancestor, John Botterill, was listed as a railway gatekeeper in Driffield in the 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses. What did that involve?

Was it just a manually operated level crossing? Did he just come out when the train was due and close the gate to traffic? What happened through the night? Presumably he couldn't leave home. What it seen as a good job?

I have no knowledge about this at all so any help is very welcome.

[stanmapstone]

Railway Gate Keepers usually had a house next to the level crossing, and was permanently based there, he opened and closed the gates as required.
See
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d9006/3475502367/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d9006/3867650873/
Stan

[stanmapstone]

From "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"
Crossing Keeper, level crossing keeper, gatekeeper, gateman, level crossing man; in charge of a level crossing on a railway line, opening and closing gates by hand worked mechanism, or by hand, for the passage of trains, or for passage of road vehicles and (sometimes) pedestrians; sometimes also lights, trims and cleans lamps on crossing gates; performs duties of crossing policeman, flag man, signal gateman, or of gatekeeper and pointsman.

Stan

[t mo]

hi grizzlydad
cor those were the days i can just remember the old crossing keepers with there little huts near to the line with a coal stove for warmth they always looked so cosy , there,s no soul in automatic gates , sorry for this but nostalgia gets to me sometimes 
trevor

[GrizzlyDad]

Thanks for the replies. If he had a house like the ones in  the photos he was doing well for himself.

Presumably he would have to close the gates based on a timetable. Trains must have been more reliable then otherwise I imagine you would get some irate members of the public asking why the gates were closed when there was no train.

Did they have a shift or were they expected to man the gates every time required, day or night? John had a family so he could rope in the wife and maybe adult children but if he was responsible for the safe operation of the gate he might be unwilling to that. Houses must have been tied so they were homeless if they lost their jobs.

As for warm cosy sheds I assume that's for places where there was no permanent cottage. It's interesting, I've never really thought how they managed before automated crossings.

[mazi]

the job was often given to an established railwayman who had been injured
in the line of duty,so to speak, and could no longer do his previous job.

Yes they were on duty 24hrs 7 days but the gates were usually closed to the road normally and opened if someone wanted to cross the railway,it was often shared with their wife, and on a branch line with maybe four trains each way and one goods train a day was not very onerous.

All main lines and/or busy roads had gates controlled from a signal box alongside.---------hope this helps,

Mazi's oh

[helvissa]

My g-g-grandfather has "Gateman South London railway" as his occupation on the 1901 census but someone's crossed it out and just put "railway points" on it. He lived at 11 Riseolme St or Ruseholme, (which no longer exists) in Hackney. So I'm not sure if he was actually living in the little house by the side of the gate! He had the same address in 1891 when he worked as a railway carriage cleaner. By 1911, he's a "railway servant pensioner" (I have wondered if they have pension records available somewhere, like they do with the military... unlikely, I know).

(For some reason I took it to mean he stood at the gate taking people's tickets as they got off the train! Fool....)

[GrizzlyDad]

Okay, now it makes more sense knowing the gates were closed to traffic by default and only opened when traffic needed to cross the line. I'd assumes it was the other way round and I could imagine all sorts of delays and accidents if they were relying on the gatekeepers timekeeping/memory.

I guess it makes sense that not everyone had a cottage, perhaps that was especially true of London and other big cities where there was existing housing around the gate. I have had a look at whether there are staff and pension records, helvissa, and it apparently varies according to the railway. The Nartional Archives hold what there is. Driffield came under North Eastern Railways and there doesn't seem to be much in that line, unfortunately, but I'll try and get to Kew to see what there is.

I have also searched some newspaper databases hoping (is that the right word!) there'd been some newsworthy event that had involved John Botterill's gate but no luck.

[helvissa]

Ah good point - just did a quick search on the Archives' website and I'm not getting much apart from minutes from meetings!

Does make sense though that he wouldn't live right by the rails if he worked in London. It's good to know what his occupation actually meant though! I'm not sure what happened to the family though because they were not too badly off in Shoreditch with servants, running a hat shop, then he become a travelling hat salesman, a travelling drapery salesman then suddenly a railway carriage cleaner.