You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 44.201.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪ST47‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a web host's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and they should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 23:54, 31 July 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪AntiCompositeNumber‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: Visit the FAQ if you are affected .
- Start of block: 13:55, 18 August 2022
- Expiry of block: 13:55, 18 April 2025
Your current IP address is 44.201.244.194. The blocked range is 44.201.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((More citations needed|date=February 2022))
((Short description|Enclosed area designated for railways))
[[File:Chicago (3).jpg|thumb|A large [[Amtrak]] and [[Metra]] coach yard just south of [[Chicago Union Station]]. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the [[Chicago]] area.]]
[[File:Railyard LA river.jpg|thumb|Yard for [[Amtrak]] equipment, located next to the [[Los Angeles River]]. The two tracks on the left are the mainline.]]

A '''rail yard''', '''railway yard''', '''railroad yard''' (US) or simply '''yard''', is a series of [[Track (rail transport)|tracks]] in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading [[rail vehicle]]s and [[locomotives]]. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or unused locomotives stored off the [[main line (rail)|main line]], so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Cars or wagons are moved around by specially designed yard [[switcher locomotive]]s (US) or shunter locomotives (UK), a type of locomotive. Cars or wagons in a yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including [[railway company]], loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Yards are normally built where there is a need to store rail vehicles while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a [[Centralized traffic control|tower]] to control operations.<ref name="Kraft">((cite magazine |first=Edwin |last=Kraft |title=The Yard: Railroading's Hidden Half |magazine=Trains |volume=62 |issue=6 |date=June 2002 ))</ref>((Rp|46))

Many yards are located at strategic points on a [[Main line (railway)|main line]]. Main-line yards are often composed of an up yard and a down yard, linked to the associated [[Railroad direction|direction of travel]]. There are different types of yards, and different parts within a yard, depending on how they are built.

==Freight yards ==
For [[freight car]]s, the overall yard layout is typically designed around a principal ''switching'' (US term) or ''shunting'' (UK) technique:
* A flat yard has no hump, and relies on locomotives for all car movements.
* A gravity yard is built on a natural slope and relies less on locomotives; generally locomotives will control a consist being sorted from uphill of the cars about to be sorted. They are decoupled and let to accelerate into the classification equipment lower down.
* A hump yard has a constructed hill, over which freight cars are shoved by yard locomotives, and then gravity is used to propel the cars to various sorting tracks;
 
===Sorting yard basics ===
((Main|Classification yard))

In the case of all classification or sorting yards, human intelligence plays a primary role in setting a strategy for the ''switching operations''; the fewer times coupling operations need to be made and the less distance traveled, the faster the operation, the better the strategy and the sooner the newly configured consist can be joined to its outbound train.
&nbsp;
* Switching yards, staging yards, or shunting yards are typically graded to be flat yards, where switch engines manually shuffle and maneuver cars from (a) train arrival tracks, to (b) to consist breakdown track, to (c) an consist assembly track, thence to (d) departure tracks of the yard.
** A large sub-group of such yards are known as staging yards, which are yards serving an end destination that is also a collection yard starting car groups for departure. These seemingly incompatible tasks are because the operating or road company and its locomotive drops off empties and picks up full cars waiting departure which have been spotted and assembled by local switch engines. The long haul carrier makes the round trip with a minimal turn around time, and the local switch engine transfers empties to the loading yard when the industries output is ready to be shipped.
** This activity is duplicated in a transfer yard, the difference being in the latter several industrial customers are serviced by the local switcher, which is part of the yard equipment, and the industry pays a cargo transfer fee to the railroad or yard operating company. In the staging yard, the locomotive is most likely operated by industry (refinery, chemical company or coal mine personnel); and ownership of the yard in both cases is a matter of business, and could be any imaginable combination. Ownership and operation are quite often a matter of leases and interests.((Efn|The [[Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad]] was builder and operator of [[Mountain Top Yard]], whereas both were leased to the CNJ, rents and ownership being retained by the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]].((Citation needed|date=April 2023))))
[[File:Vaganyfek Ferencvaros.JPG|thumb|The "hump" of a hump yard. Railcars travel past retarders, which control their speed, and are directed onto tracks to be assembled into new trains. The control tower operates the retarders.]]
* Hump yards and gravity yards are usually highly automated and designed for the efficient break-down, sorting, and recombining of freight into consists, so they are equipped with mechanical [[Retarder (railroad)|retarders]] (external brakes) and [[Truck scale#Rail weighbridge|scales]] that a computer or operator uses along with knowledge of the [[gradient]] of the hump to calculate and control the speed of the cars as they roll downhill to their destination tracks. These modern sorting and classification systems are sophisticated enough to allow a first car to roll to a stop near the end of its classification track, and, by slowing the speed of subsequent cars down the hump, shorten the distance for the following series of cars so they can bump and couple gently, without damaging one another. Since overall throughput speed matters, many have small pneumatic, hydraulic or spring-driven braking retarders (below, right) to adjust and slow speed both before and after yard switch points. Along with car tracking and load tracking to destination technologies such as RFID, long trains can be broken down and reconfigured in transfer yards or operations in remarkable time.((citation needed|date=March 2024))

==Nomenclature and components ==
[[File:Map of Cedar Hill Yard (1918).png|thumb|This map of [[Cedar Hill Yard]] in [[Connecticut]] shows a variety of different facilities, including receiving yards, departure yards, classification yards, and a repair yard.]]
A large freight yard may include the following components:
* Receiving yard, also called an arrival yard, where freight cars or wagons are detached from their locomotives, inspected for mechanical problems, and sent to a classification or marshalling yard.
* Switching yards, switchyards, shunting yards or sorting yards—yards where cars are sorted for various destinations and assembled into blocks have different formal names in different cultural traditions:
** [[Classification yard]] (US and by [[Canadian National Railway]] in [[Canada]]) or
** Marshalling yard (UK and [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] in [[Canada]])
* Departure yard, where car blocks are assembled into trains.
* Car repair yard or maintenance yard, for freight cars.
* Engine house (in some yards, a [[Railway roundhouse|roundhouse]]), to fuel and service locomotives.<ref name="Kraft" />((Rp|58))
* Transfer yard, a yard where consists are dropped off or picked up as a group by through service such as a [[unit train]], but managed locally by local switching service locomotives. 
* Unit tracks may be reserved for [[unit train]]s, which carry a block of cars all of the same origin and destination, and so as through traffic do not get sorted in a classification yard. Such consists often stop in a freight yard for other purposes: inspection, engine servicing, being switched into a longer consist, or crew changes.<ref name="Kraft" />((Rp|52))

Freight yards may have multiple industries adjacent to them where railroad cars are loaded or unloaded and then stored before they move on to their new destination.

==Coach yards ==
[[File:Shanghai North Railway Station.JPG|thumb|A coach yard in Shanghai, China]]
[[File:WorkingtonSP1981.jpg|thumb|right|[[Workington]] stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes [[British Rail Class 25|25]], [[British Rail Class 40|40]] and [[British Rail Class 47|47]] parked between duties.]]

Coach yards (American English) or stabling yards or carriage sidings (British English)<ref>https://www.orr.gov.uk/media/19818/download ((Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022))</ref> are used for sorting, storing and repairing [[Passenger car (rail)|passenger cars]]. These yards are located in metropolitan areas near large [[Train station|stations]] or terminals. An example of a major US coach yard is [[Sunnyside Yard]] in [[New York City]], operated by [[Amtrak]]. Those that are principally used for storage, such as the [[West Side Yard]] in New York, are called "layup yards"<ref>Chicago-L.org. [http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/42nd_place.html "42nd Place Terminal."] Accessed 2013-08-30.</ref> or "stabling yards." Coach yards are commonly flat yards because unladen passenger coaches are heavier than unladen freight carriages.

In the UK,  a stabling point is a place where rail [[locomotive]]s are parked while awaiting their next turn of duty.<ref>https://www.orr.gov.uk/media/19818/download ((Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022))</ref>  A stabling point may be fitted with a fuelling point and other minor maintenance facilities. A good example of this was [[Newport, Wales|Newport]]'s Godfrey Road stabling point, which has since been closed. Stabling sidings can be just a few roads or large complexes like Feltham Sidings. They are sometimes electrified with a [[third rail]] or [[Overhead line|OLE]]. An example of a stabling point with third rail would be [[Feltham marshalling yard]] which is being made into  carriage sidings for the [[British Rail Class 701|British Rail Class 701 EMU]].<ref>((cite web | url=https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/south-western-railways-new-rail-depot-at-feltham-36586/ | title=South Western Railway's new rail depot at Feltham | date=13 May 2020 ))</ref><ref>((cite web | url=https://www.volkerfitzpatrick.co.uk/en/projects/detail/feltham-depot | title=Feltham depot - VolkerFitzpatrick ))</ref><ref>((cite web | url=https://www.railway-technology.com/news/work-progresses-on-swrs-60m-feltham-depot/ | title=Work progresses on SWR's £60m Feltham depot | date=14 May 2020 ))</ref>

==See also==
((Portal|Trains))
((Div col|colwidth=23em))
* [[Classification yard]]
* [[Goods station]]
* [[List of rail yards]]
* [[List of railway roundhouses]]
* [[Rail transport operations]]
* [[Siding (rail)]]
* [[Traction maintenance depot]]
((div col end))

==Notes==
((Notelist))

==References==
((Reflist))

==Further reading==
((Refbegin))
* ((cite book |last=Armstrong |first=John H. |title=The Railroad: What It Is, What It Does |edition=4th |publisher=Simmons-Boardman |location=Omaha, NE |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-911382-04-4 ))
* ((cite book |last=Farrington |first=S. Kip Jr. |author-link=S. Kip Farrington |title=Railroads of the Hour |publisher=Coward-McCann |location=New York |date=1958 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QokbAAAAIAAJ ))
((Refend))

((Railway track layouts))
((Rail tracks))
((Authority control))

[[Category:Rail yards| ]]
[[Category:Railway sidings|Yard]]

[[es:Patio de maniobras]]
[[it:Stazione di smistamento]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

Rail yard (edit)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Bare URL PDF (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Template:Citation needed (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite book (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite magazine (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite web (view source) (protected)
Template:Delink (view source) (protected)
Template:Div col (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Div col/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Div col end (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Efn (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Fix (view source) (protected)
Template:Fix/category (view source) (protected)
Template:Hlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Main (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Notelist (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Template:Portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:R/superscript (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:R/where (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Rail tracks (edit)
Template:Railway track layouts (edit)
Template:Refbegin (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Refbegin/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Refend (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Reflist (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Rp (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description/lowercasecheck (view source) (protected)
Template:Tooltip (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Tooltip/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Template:Yesno-no (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno-yes (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Authority control/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:DecodeEncode (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Delink (view source) (protected)
Module:Disambiguation/templates (view source) (protected)
Module:EditAtWikidata (view source) (protected)
Module:Find sources (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/links (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Format link (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:GetParameters (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote list (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Labelled list hatnote (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (protected)
Module:Plain text (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/t (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:String2 (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to Rail yard.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_yard"