classification yard

Godorf Station, Cologne, Germany

A classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, and the former Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway yard used to accumulate wagons or railway cars 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 points or switches (turnouts), termed a ladder, on to the classification tracks. Some larger yards may put the lead on an artificially built hill termed a hump to use the force of gravity to propel the cars through the ladder.