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{{short description|Type of railway track}}{{for|the building cladding|siding (construction)}}{{Train topics}} A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighter rails, meant for lower speed or less heavy traffic, and few, if any, signals. Sidings connected at both ends to a running line are commonly known as loops;Jackson (2006), p. 192.Ellis (2006), p. 207. those not so connected may be referred to as single-ended or dead-end sidings,Jackson (2006), p. 87. or (if short) stubs.Jackson (2006), p. 337.

Functions

Sidings may be used for marshalling (classifying), stabling, storing, loading, and unloading rail vehicles.Ellis (2006), p 324.Common sidings store stationary rolling stock, especially for loading and unloading. Industrial sidings (also known as spurs) go to factories, mines, quarries, wharves, warehouses, some of them are essentially links to industrial railways. Such sidings can sometimes be found at stations for public use;{{clarify|date=October 2018}} in American usage these are referred to as team tracks (after the use of teams of horses to pull wagons to and from them). Sidings may also hold maintenance of way equipment or other equipment, allowing trains to pass, or store helper engines between runs.Some sidings have very occasional use, having been built, for example, to service an industry, a railway yard or a stub of a disused railway that has since closed. It is not uncommon for an infrequently-used siding to fall into disrepair. Even if officially abandoned such sidings may be left derelict rather than lifted and removed.

Passing siding

File:TwoTrainsAtPassingSidingInBoltonOntario.jpg|thumb|On single-track lines, trains use passing sidings to pass one another. One Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific RailwayA particular form of siding is the passing siding (U.S. and international) or passing loop (U.K.). This is a section of track parallel to a through line and connected to it at both ends by switches (U.S.) (points in international usage). Passing sidings allow trains travelling in opposite directions to pass, and for fast, high priority trains to pass slower or lower priority trains going the same direction. Passing sidings are also used to switch a locomotive from one end of a train to the other. They are important for efficiency on single track lines, and add to the capacity of other lines.

Private siding

Private siding describes a siding not belonging to a railway, but linking a factory, government department, etc. to it.WEB, OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms – Private siding (railway) Definition,stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=3920, 2020-10-04, OECD Statistics, June 3, 2002, dead,web.archive.org/web/20210710081317/https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=3920, Jul 10, 2021, Some larger private sidings have their own Locomotive belonging to the owner of the siding.WEB, Railway Company Goods Facilities – Industrial Sidings & Industrial Railways,igg.org.uk/rail/8-yards/y-indsid.htm, 2022-04-08, International Good Guys, In Australia private sidings must be registered with the safety regulator.WEB, Private sidings (registration),www.onrsr.com.au/operators/private-sidings2, 2020-10-04, Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, en, live,web.archive.org/web/20201010023406/https://www.onrsr.com.au/operators/private-sidings2, Oct 10, 2020,

Refuge siding

A refuge siding is a single-ended (or dead-end) siding with a similar purpose to passing loop in that it temporarily holds a train whilst another one passes.

Team track

(File:Briefzentrum_Härkingen_07.jpg|thumb|Rail cars parked on sidings in Switzerland)(File:Amstetten-Bf-10.jpg|thumb|Example of multiple team tracks)A team track is a small siding or spur track intended for the use of area merchants, manufacturers, farmers and other small businesses to personally load and unload products and merchandise, usually in smaller quantities.BOOK, Plant, Jeremy F., Melvin, George F., 1999, Maine Central in Color, Volume 2, Morning Sun Books, 1-58248-030-3, 55, Scotch Plains, New Jersey, The term “team” refers to the teams of horses or oxen delivering wagon-loads of freight transferred to or from railway cars.BOOK, Raymond, William G., The Elements of Railroad Engineering, 1937, John Wiley and Sons, New York, New York, 5, 180, Team tracks may be owned by the railroad companyBOOK, Union Pacific Railroad Company Team Track Agreement,www.uprr.com/customers/ind-dev/attachments/uptt_27.pdf, Union Pacific Railroad Company, 8 December 2011, or by customers served by the railroad, or by industrial parks or freight terminals that encompass many customers.WEB, About Us,www.portoftucson.net/aboutus.html, Port of Tucson, Port of Tucson, 9 December 2011, In some jurisdictions, the operation and construction of team tracks is regulated by legal authorities.BOOK, Chapter 49-10.1. Railroad Regulation by Public Service Commission, North Dakota Legislative Branch,www.legis.nd.gov/cencode/t49c10-1.pdf, 8 December 2011, BOOK, Railroad Operations Volume,onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/tfe/spur_tracks.htm, Texas Department of Transport, 8 December 2011, Chapter 5: Spur Tracks, May 1998,

History

Earliest rail service to an area often provided a team track on railroad-owned property adjacent to the railroad agent’s train station.BOOK, de Vos, Jerry, Kohler, Gary, McChesney, Chris, Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley: A Comprehensive Guide to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway, 2, 2003, M2FQ Publications, Washingtonville, Ohio, 8, 24, 27, 76, As rail traffic became more established, large-volume shippers extended privately owned spur tracks into mines, factories, and warehouses. Small-volume shippers and shippers with facilities distant from the rail line continued using team tracks into the early part of the 20th century.Throughout the mid to latter portion of the 20th century, improved highway systems and abandonment of low-volume rail lines made full-distance truck shipments more practical in North America and avoided delays and damage associated with freight handling during transfer operations.REPORT, Rail Service in the Midwest and Northeast Region, 1974, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Chapter 1: Introduction, However, as a result of higher fuel costs, greater traffic jams on Interstate Highways, and the growing movement towards sustainable development, there has been recent upward trend towards moving long-distance freight traffic off highways and onto rail lines. This has resulted in local communities and rail lines seeking construction of new team track and intermodal facilities.REPORT, FY 2009 Update Report of the New Jersey State Rail Plan, New Jersey Department of Transportation,www.nj.gov/transportation/freight/rail/pdf/railplan.pdf, New Jersey Department of Transportation, 7 December 2011, 1 July 2008, NEWS, Hackbarth, Paul, Council Approves Contract for Team Track Rail Siding,www.emissourian.com/news/washington_news/article_b1e309f0-796d-574d-851b-c9141c2f64a4.html, 7 December 2011, The Missourian, 9 November 2011, Washington, Missouri,

Design

Some railroads publish detailed specifications for the design and construction of many elements of team tracks. For example, the Union Pacific Railroad has standards and guidelines for many aspects of spur track construction including track layout, clearance standards and turnout and switch stand designs.WEB, Technical Specifications for Construction of Industrial Tracks,www.uprr.com/aboutup/operations/specs/track/index.shtml, Union Pacific Engineering Projects, Union Pacific Railroad, 11 December 2011, Union Pacific Railroad, Generally, team tracks do not have road or pedestrian crossings across them.

See also

• Classification yard (US), known (internationally) as a marshaling yard
• Rail yard

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

• Jackson, Alan A. (2006). The Railway Dictionary, 4th ed., Sutton Publishing, Stroud. {{ISBN|0-7509-4218-5}}.
• {{Ellis’ Railway Encyclopaedia}}
• Riley, Joseph E. and Strong, James C., “Basic Track”, AREMA, 2003
• Solomon, Brian, “Railway Signalling”, 1st Edition, Voyageur Press.

{{Railway track layouts}}{{Rail tracks}}