| Term |
Meaning |
| Cut, to |
Separate car(s) from a train |
| Ferro-Equinologist |
Ferro- meaning iron plus equine- meaning horse give one who studies iron horses, i.e., a railfan. |
- Hand Brake
|
A manually operated brake used to hold rail cars from moving. |
| House Track |
A track entering, or along side a freight house. Cars are spotted here for loading or unloading. |
- Hump
|
A rail yard with a hill. Cars are cut off in motion at the top of the hump and gravity pulls the cars to the classification tracks. |
| Interchange Point
|
The point at which two or more railroads join. Traffic is passed from one road to another at interchange points. |
| Mile Post |
A post or sign on pole each mile along the track that shows the distance from a predefined location such as a major rail terminal. |
| Shoo Fly Track |
A temporary track built around a train wreck or washout. |
| Side Track |
A track auxiliary to the main track. |
| Siding |
A spot off the main line where cars are stored. Also where two trains that meet, one would stay on the main line, the other would use the siding. |
| Trainmaster |
An executive officer who supervises train service operations on one or more divisions or on part of a division. He also supervises the operation of trains at terminals and in yard service. |
| Turn-Around |
A train run from a terminal to an intermediate station and return to that terminal in one work shift. |
| Wye |
A track shaped like the letter "Y", but with a connector between the two arms of the "Y". A wye is used to reverse the direction of trains or cars. A train pulls completely through one leg of wye, the switch is thrown and reverses the direction, allowing the movement across the semi-loop track of the wye, and the train is then headed in the opposite direction. |
| Yard |
A system of tracks, other than main tracks and sidings, used for making up trains, storing of cars and for other purposes. |
| Yard Engine |
An engine assigned to yard service. |
