society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > builders or maintainers of railways (3)
surfaceman1845
Originally and chiefly Scottish. A worker responsible for keeping the rails and permanent way of a railway in good repair; = platelayer, n.
snake1929
U.S. and Australianslang. (See quots.) Cf. snake charmern. at compounds 4a below.