railway key

English

Noun

railway key (plural railway keys)

1. (rail transport) A key that allows one to lock and unlock doors to railway carriages and compartments, typically only permitted to railway employees.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     It was more like a model of an antediluvian railway key than anything else.