Switch Operator

The S'aue rail system has existed for decades at this point and the switches that direct the barreling steam-engines are automated these days, but there was a time when they were not, and back then the switching was done manually by the switch operators posted at switching stations.

Duties

A switch operator had one job and one job only. To activate the correct switches upon being reported the intended destination of an approaching steam-engine so that the rails aligned in the way required for the massive contraption to be sent in the proper direction. This duty, while not exactly glamorous or even difficult, nevertheless carried with it immense responsibility as even slight delays would mean massive losses for the parties relying on timely deliveries.

Depending on who those parties were, there was a very real risk of personal harm directed at the operator as well.

Becoming Obsolete

Like so many things in the S'aue Empire, switching eventually became an automated process and many switch operators found themselves out of work overnight. Switching stations were converted into maintenance pits, employing S'aue with different sets of skills compared to the switch operators who had just lost their jobs.

Many tried to apply to become mechanics and engineers for their switching-stations-turned-repair-shops, but the vast majority lacked the formal training and thus qualification to work such positions. Many were left unemployed and had to resort to selling their own parts on the black market to make ends meet. Unfortunately, this led to many such desperate workers to be demoted to Deficient as desecrating one's own chassis by removing parts is seen as a serious crime in the S'aue Empire.

The position of switch operator is now, for all intents and purposes, nothing but a historical footnote in the story of the S'aue locomotion industry.

Hear that?

We used to do all that by hand back in the day.

–A former switch operator, referring to the sound of the automated switches locking into place at Goptone Junction

by Midjourney

_{A switch operator at her switchboard}