1863 M. Brayman Let. 22 Mar. in War of Rebellion (U.S. War Dept.) (1889) 1st Ser. XXIV. 470 Information appears to have been sent down the road on Friday that on yesterday morning the road paymaster would be down to pay the laborers. This information, diffused, of course, through the country, probably induced the effort to capture the pay train.

1889 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 221/2 There is nothing that will prompt them to jump higher and run faster than the whistle of the pay-train as it comes around the curve to the station.

1902 R. H. Davis Ranson's Folly 53 You are under arrest for..the robbery of the government paytrain.

1971 R. Moisés et al. Tall Candle i. 5 When the pay train came in, it took two or three mules just to carry the silver used to pay the miners to the company office.

2002 Africa News (Nexis) 26 June I recall with nostalgia the Nigerian Railway which operated pay trains from station to station to make sure staff and pensioners were paid exactly when due. It is not so anymore.

1968 D. I. Gordon in Regional Hist. Railway Great Brit. V. xii. 232 The whole concept of the ‘basic’ railway with its Pay Trains, fast and well-integrated services, [etc.].

1972 Times 15 June 3/1 Public transport, even in an age of one-man buses, ‘pay-trains’, and automatic fare collection, is much more labour intensive than other industries.

1988 Financial Times (Nexis) 30 June i. 13 PORTIS is the same basic system in a portable configuration, enabling guards to issue tickets on pay-trains.