The Switchman (Original title: El Guardagujas) is an existentialist short story by Mexican writer Juan José Arreola. The short story was originally published as a confabulario, a word created in Spanish by Arreola, in 1952, in the collection Confabulario and Other Inventions. It was republished ten years later along with other published works by Arreola at that time in the collection El Confabulario total.[1] The story revolves around a "stranger" who wishes to travel to the town of T. by train, but is quickly met by a "switchman" who tells him more and more fantastical stories about the train system while they are waiting.