Railroad

Railroad

A railroad is a means of wheeled transportation for moving people and goods. Railroads are tracks on which trains can tow cars behind an engine.

Industry: Railways

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Railroad

Catch point

Railways; Railroad

A single trailing point blade set into an ascending track to derail waggons which have come uncoupled and are running back down the hill. This prevents runaways colliding with a following train.

Catenary system

Railways; Railroad

A system of wires suspended between poles and bridges supporting overhead contact wires normally energised with electricity.

Signal box

Railways; Railroad

A building from which the surrounding turnouts and signals are operated. May contain either a lever frame or in more modern signal boxes a panel containing switches and coloured lights.

Simple curve

Railways; Railroad

A curve in the form of an arc of a circle usually described as to its degree of curvature.

A switch stand with a spindle higher than 1 foot but less than 2 feet. This type is commonly used in yards, less frequently on main track because targets are not as readily visible to engineman as ...

Simple ladder

Railways; Railroad

A way of converting one track into many by attaching turnouts together so that only one of the exit roads from each turnout feeds the next.

Centralised traffic control (CTC)

Railways; Railroad

The manipulation of automatic and/or cab signals and power operated switches from a central location where signals supersede the superiority of trains.