engine driver

English

Noun

engine driver (plural engine drivers)

1. (British, dated) The person who drives the engine of a train.

   Synonyms: (US) engineer, railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train driver, train operator

   • 1947 January and February, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 62:

     Queen Mary of the Iron Road. By Fred C. Bishop. […] This is the life-story of a boy who was determined to become an engine driver, and who lost no time in realising his ambition. A bold plunge from a clerkship in a coal merchant's office carried Fred Bishop, at the age of 14, into the locomotive department of the London & North Western Railway.

   • 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35:

     In 1914, the Hendon and Finchley Times published a piece titled 'People who have no Christmas'. An engine-driver's comment was this: "For many years now I have never enjoyed a real Christmas. My engine has claimed me on this day, and my only regret is that I am not attached to a slow goods train, so that I could snatch time to eat some plum-pudding."

Translations

person who drives the engine of a train — see also engineer

• Czech: strojvůdce (cs) m
• Dutch: machinist (nl) m
• Finnish: veturinkuljettaja (fi)
• French: machiniste (fr) m
• German: Lokomotivführer (de) m
• Greek: αμαξάς (el) m (amaxás)
• Hungarian: mozdonyvezető (hu), (dated, folksy) masiniszta (hu)
• Interlingua: machinista
• Polish: maszynista (pl) m
• Portuguese: maquinista (pt) m or f
• Swedish: lokförare (sv) c