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Landstraßenwärter

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Schrankenwärter

English translation:

crossing keeper

Added to glossary by Stephen Sadie
Jun 10, 2005 17:41
19 yrs ago
German term

Schrankenwärter

German to English Tech/Engineering General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
A description of a profession or job in or around 1900. No context available as on an old birth certificate which I can hardly read! Therefore the spelling may be wrong too!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +8 crossing keeper
3 +2 Schrankenwärter=gatekeeper e.g. at rail crossing
5 level-crossing (Brit.)
4 signalman
3 railroad crossing guard
Change log

Jun 10, 2005 17:47: Johanna Timm, PhD changed "Term asked" from "Schrankenwerter" to "Schrankenw�rter"

Jun 10, 2005 17:54: Kim Metzger changed "Field" from "Other" to "Tech/Engineering"

Discussion

silfilla Jun 10, 2005:
Gate attendant is fine, of course :-) BTW, some of the largest railway companies were established in the 1840s.
Non-ProZ.com Jun 10, 2005:
Maybe it should be a gate attendant? I'm not sure with the railways, the gatekeeper sounds mor US to me and I'm after UK!
Non-ProZ.com Jun 10, 2005:
sil: it is definitely handwritten as wErter! were the railways really so widespread back then? could this have to do with carpentry?

Proposed translations

+8
8 mins
German term (edited): Schrankenw�rter
Selected

crossing keeper

Per UIC Railway Dictionary

Here's a photo of a 1905 crossing keeper's house
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/3542/railways.html

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2005-06-10 17:53:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------


Crossing Keeper
Some level crossings to which the public had access were not block posts, and hence were not under the control of a signalman . Crossing keepers were employed at these places to work the gates as directed by the signalmen on either side by means of indicating instruments. Home and distant signals were usually provided to give added protection. Crossing keepers were often disabled or superannuated staff, or their widows, and they were usually allowed to live rent free in an adjacent cottage in exchange for operating the gates. Many manned crossings were replaced by automatic barriers from the 1950s onwards.
http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/Glossary/glossarycr.php
Peer comment(s):
agree vanessak
9 mins
agree Michele Fauble
23 mins
agree Bjørn Anthun : http://www.railnews.co.uk/displaynews.asp?ID=727 / http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrankenwärter
24 mins
agree Lancashireman
27 mins
agree Frosty
46 mins
agree silfilla
1 hr
agree Michael Pauls
1 hr
agree franglish : had I read your contribution before adding mine I could have saved my... ink!
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This was a good winner, thanks again Kim for your excellent help and to all others for their good proposals. Stephen"
+2
2 mins
German term (edited): Schrankenwerter

Schrankenwärter=gatekeeper e.g. at rail crossing

:-)
Peer comment(s):
agree swisstell
1 min
thanks, SwissTell
agree vanessak
14 mins
thanks, vanessak
Something went wrong...
13 mins
German term (edited): Schrankenw�rter

level-crossing (Brit.)

or grade-crossing attendant (Amer.), auch crossing keeper
Something went wrong...
28 mins
German term (edited): Schrankenw�rter

railroad crossing guard

Have heard term used here in the US.
Something went wrong...
1 hr
German term (edited): Schrankenw�rter

signalman

or gate-man if we are talking about railways, again according to my old Cassel's dictionary
Something went wrong...
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