There is an anecdote of a wheeltapper who had worked diligently for years wheeltapping without ever questioning or understanding the purpose. This originated with
Rudyard Kipling in Delhi, and is referenced in his work
Captains Courageous of 1897, although it had spread to the United States by 1932. Another version of the tale is told in the 1937
Will Hay British comedy film
Oh, Mr Porter! A German version of the story was told by the German humourist Sigismund von Radecki. In Tolstoy's
Anna Karenina, a railway worker is accidentally killed. He is probably a wheeltapper, and the man's gruesome death anticipates Anna's eventual suicide. ==See also==