pilotman means A railway employee who directs operations over a section of railway line temporarily reduced to single track, e.g. during maintenance work, or within an unsignalled area or over a line unfamiliar to the engine crew. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Etymology
From pilot + -man.
noun
- A railway employee who directs operations over a section of railway line temporarily reduced to single track, e.g. during maintenance work, or within an unsignalled area or over a line unfamiliar to the engine crew.“Driver G. A. Rowett, of the North Eastern Region's Neville Hill shed, now joined the locomotive as pilotman, and actually took over the regulator, Fireman Wheddon continuing to fire.”