The “guard” of a train. The word, in this newer sense, was introduced into England by the Midland Railroad, about thirty years ago. See Notes and Queries, 6 S. ii. 164.
1839. Mr. John C. Poole, one of the conductors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.—Eastern Argus, Portland, Me., Sept. 24, p. 2/4.
1853. “But where’s my bundle?” asked the fat man. “Conductor! Where’s my bundle?”… The conductor knew nothing about it.—Durivage, ‘Life Scenes,’ p. 128–9.
1853. “Who are you?” asked a Connecticut fellow of a rather overbearing conductor on the New Haven Rail Road. “I am a conductor on these cars.” “Wall, I swow! You a conductor of other folks, and don’t know how to conduct yourself.”—Oregonian, Sept. 10.
1854. “Tickets! Tickets, gentlemen!” cried the Conductor as he passed our friends, withdrawing for a moment their attention from the distant scene.—Yale Lit. Mag., xx. 16 (Oct.).
1856. Hardly was I settled in a satisfactory position before I was aroused by an angry contention between the conductor and the aforesaid my fair seat companion.—Id., xxi. 153–4 (Feb.).
1856. Want of communication between the conductor and the engine driver.—É. With, ‘Railroad Accidents,’ chap. xx. p. 90. (N.E.D.)
1857. I have been through as many hardships as Ulysses, in the pursuit of my histrionic vocation. I have travelled in cars until the conductors all knew me like a brother.—Holmes, ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,’ chap. ii.
