pay train

English

Noun

pay train (plural pay trains)

1. (rail transport, now historical, from pay (noun)) A train carrying people’s wages. [from 19th c.]
2. (rail transport, from pay (adjective)) A train for which tickets are bought on board rather than at the station beforehand. [from 20th c.]
   • 1977, Angela Carter, “The Paris of the North”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 216:

     Besides, is not the pay-train from Leeds disgorging a clutch of poets every lunch time, to read authentic texts aloud?

   • 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51:

     Why was there not more talk about destaffing, pay trains, or simplified signalling or single-tracking?