Classification yard

A classification yard , marshalling yard (<a href="/facts/British_English/ymJR5Rnd">British</a>, <a href="/facts/Hong_Kong_English/cgAoyf9r">Hong Kong</a>, <a href="/facts/Indian_English/LW2DcJGE">Indian</a>, and <a href="/facts/Australian_English/S1qgz29t">Australian English</a>, and the former <a href="/facts/Canadian_Pacific_Railway/4GQvYUBk">Canadian Pacific Railway</a>) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a <a href="/facts/Rail_yard/QRc4HtLB">railway yard</a> used to accumulate <a href="/facts/Railway_car/4XBU36LV">railway cars</a> on one of several tracks. First, a group of cars is taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill. From there, the cars are sent through a series of <a href="/facts/Railway_switch/8lVnbozu">switches</a> called a ladder onto the classification tracks. Some larger yards may put the lead on an artificially built hill called a hump to use the force of gravity to propel the cars through the ladder.
Freight trains that consist of unrelated cars must be made into a train grouped according to their destinations; this <a href="/facts/Shunting_(rail)/hPPGKvtM">shunting</a> is done at the starting point. Some trains drop and pick up cars along their route in classification yards or at industrial sidings. In contrast is a <a href="/facts/Unit_train/D1yXylmA">unit train</a> that carries, for example, <a href="/facts/Automobile/I1IsH8IK">automobiles</a> from the <a href="/facts/Factory/GPIW0snN">plant</a> to a <a href="/facts/Port/4Uuw6Fec">port</a>, or <a href="/facts/Coal/83kV3qxg">coal</a> from a <a href="/facts/Mining/g6uDIFab">mine</a> to the <a href="/facts/Power_station/vYeVY1fD">power plant</a>.

Classification yard open-in-new

Classification yard