He might have been a firefighter in the modern sense, though most likely he
was railway fireman, (although they often stated 'railway - in 1851 even in
England 'railroad' - fireman). That's the guy who shovelled coal into the
engine firebox. It was also a grade in the learning process of becoming a
train driver - you started as a cleaner, worked up to fireman and graduated
to the 'top job' of being a driver.
It was a skilled job and not just a case of throwing in lumps of coal - you
had to keep the fire at the right temperature to produce just the amount of
steam required for a particular job - more for going uphill, less for being
in a station for example.
When steam engines are used these days, they often have to carry two
firemen, as modern men (or women!) are often not used to heavy manual work,
and aren't as fit as their 19th century predecessors. Regulations mean that
no engine can be driven by someone who hasn't 'passed the road' i.e.
hasn't
passed a test to show they know every inch of any given length of track by
heart. So when a steam train travels on a main line, often it's driven by
someone who usually drives on one of the many small heritage lines, so they
have to carry a 'pilot' i.e. a modern train driver who has learnt the road -
consequently the footplate can be a bit crowded!
Angela
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alison & Gordon" <canitbe(a)xtra.co.nz>
To: <MONMOUTHSHIREGWENT(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 6:52 PM
Subject: [MONGWE] Fireman
If a man stated that he was a fireman in the 1851 census I wonder
what he
would be doing exactly. Would it be down a coal mine or at the iron works?
Also would he be living in a home provided by the coal mine or the iron
works for their workers and would he therefore be working at the nearest
mine or iron works.
I live on the other side of the world so it is difficult to know the
geography apart from maps, which sometimes are not that clear.
Alison
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
MONMOUTHSHIREGWENT-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe'
without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message