Station porter

The station porter’s duties were varied. The regulations for station porters from the 19th century stated that station porter had to be present when trains arrived at the railway station and be on hand to open the carriage doors. When opening the doors, they were to call out the name of the station in a clear voice. At a way station, they also called out how long the train would be stopped.

Responsible for luggage and goods

Station porters helped the arriving passengers with their luggage and carried it to the luggage room. The luggage was labelled with a numbered tag, and the passenger was given a tag with the same number. The passenger then presented this number tag when collecting the luggage.

Station porters also handled the loading and unloading of goods. If the porter was careless and caused damage to luggage, he had to pay to replace the damaged luggage. The station porter also carried out shunting work at the track.

“When moving wagons at a station, the station porters may never position them closer to a track crossing than indicated by the obstacle pole. They are thus warned not to position wagons behind buffers so that they come between them when the wagons are coupled.” (From the regulations for the operation of Statens Järnvägar trains from 1874)

SJ’s first female shunter was hired in 1975.