crossing keeper

On the railroads, a flagman is an employee of the railroad who is assigned to protect contractors or anyone performing work on a railroad right of way. A flagman is also assigned to protect a train that has stopped on a section of track. When a train approaches a location a flagman is posted, the train crew will have to get permission from the flagman to pass the area. Before the advent of automated level crossing gates, and still where automatic gates are not installed, flagmen were also assigned to protect the crossings. The flagman would stop road traffic from crossing the tracks as trains used the crossing.