(Tongue in cheek thread title - I'm not suggesting Network Rail start employing our simian cousins!)
While reading up on the history of railway signalling and signallers I came across this fascinating story.
From
WikipediaJack (died 1890) was a chacma baboon who attained some fame for acting as an assistant to a disabled railway signalman in South Africa.
Jack was the pet and assistant of double leg amputee signalman James Wide, who worked for the Cape Town–Port Elizabeth Railway service. James "Jumper" Wide had been known for jumping between railcars until an accident where he fell and lost both of his legs. To assist in performing his duties, Wide purchased the baboon named Jack in 1881, and trained him to push his wheelchair and to operate the railways signals under supervision.
An official investigation was initiated after a concerned member of the public reported that a baboon was observed changing railway signals at Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth.
After initial skepticism, the railway decided to officially employ Jack once his job competency was verified. The baboon was paid twenty cents a day, and half a bottle of beer each week. It is widely reported that in his nine years of employment with the railway company, Jack never made a single mistake.
After nine years of duty, Jack died of tuberculosis in 1890. Jack's skull is in the collection of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown.
More on Jack:
https://medium.com/illumination-curated/jack-the-baboon-who-became-a-railway-signalman-and-his-partner-jumper-wide-b1291d98e7a620 cents a day and a weekly half of beer? Well, if you pay peanuts...
