A rail yard , railway yard , railroad yard (US) or simply yard , is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives . Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or unused locomotives stored off the main line , so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Cars or wagons are moved around by specially designed yard switcher locomotives (US) or shunter locomotives (UK), a type of locomotive. Cars or wagons in a yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including railway company , loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Yards are normally built where there is a need to store rail vehicles while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a tower to control operations.
16-628: The Greenwood Yard (also known as the Greenwood Complex ) is a rail yard with support buildings that service subway vehicles on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway . Greenwood is one of two subway yards on Line 2, the other being the much smaller Keele Subway Yard . Spanning 31 acres (13 ha), the Greenwood Yard is located at 400 Greenwood Avenue , on the west side of Greenwood south of Danforth Avenue . The site
32-450: A main line . Main-line yards are often composed of an up yard and a down yard, linked to the associated direction of travel . There are different types of yards, and different parts within a yard, depending on how they are built. For freight cars , the overall yard layout is typically designed around a principal switching (US term) or shunting (UK) technique: In the case of all classification or sorting yards, human intelligence plays
48-426: A fuelling point and other minor maintenance facilities. A good example of this was Newport 's Godfrey Road stabling point, which has since been closed. Stabling sidings can be just a few roads or large complexes like Feltham Sidings. They are sometimes electrified with a third rail or OLE . An example of a stabling point with third rail would be Feltham marshalling yard which is being made into carriage sidings for
64-716: A major US coach yard is Sunnyside Yard in New York City , operated by Amtrak . Those that are principally used for storage, such as the West Side Yard in New York, are called "layup yards" or "stabling yards." Coach yards are commonly flat yards because unladen passenger coaches are heavier than unladen freight carriages. In the UK, a stabling point is a place where rail locomotives are parked while awaiting their next turn of duty. A stabling point may be fitted with
80-677: A number of railway companies, with sidings and branches operated by private companies or single railway companies. Railway points (UK) or switches (US) are usually set in the direction of the main line by default. Failure to do so has been a factor in several fatal railway accidents , for example the Buttevant Rail Disaster in Ireland, and the Graniteville train crash in the US. This rail-transport related article
96-766: A primary role in setting a strategy for the switching operations ; the fewer times coupling operations need to be made and the less distance traveled, the faster the operation, the better the strategy and the sooner the newly configured consist can be joined to its outbound train. A large freight yard may include the following components: Freight yards may have multiple industries adjacent to them where railroad cars are loaded or unloaded and then stored before they move on to their new destination. Coach yards (American English) or stabling yards or carriage sidings (British English) are used for sorting, storing and repairing passenger cars . These yards are located in metropolitan areas near large stations or terminals. An example of
112-675: A trunk line, for example the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada, or the Trunk Line in Norway. For capacity reasons, main lines in many countries have at least a double track and often contain multiple parallel tracks. Main line tracks are typically operated at higher speeds than branch lines and are generally built and maintained to a higher standard than yards and branch lines. Main lines may also be operated under shared access by
128-534: Is bordered on the west, north and east sides by residential areas, and on the south side by a railway line. The yard contains 5 buildings, two of which are the General Overhaul and Repair Shop (a.k.a. Greenwood Shop) with a floor space of 185,000 square feet (17,200 m), and the carhouse for inspection, minor repairs and washing. The Greenwood Shop has specialized shops for heavy overhauls of subway cars and components as well as stores. The Greenwood Shop
144-461: Is operationally separate from the carhouse servicing the Bloor–Danforth subway fleet. When it opened, the yard had a storage capacity for 244 subway cars. The yard currently has a 328-car storage capacity. The Greenwood Yard is connected to the Bloor–Danforth line by a multi-level wye between Donlands and Greenwood stations; the wye allows both east- and westbound mainline trains access to
160-560: The British Rail Class 701 EMU . Main line (railway) The main line , or mainline in American English , of a railway is a track that is used for through trains or is the principal artery of the system from which branch lines , yards , sidings , and spurs are connected. It generally refers to a route between towns, as opposed to a route providing suburban or metro services. It may also be called
176-470: The McCowan Yard . As the gauge and technology differed between lines 2 and 3, ICTS cars had to be transported by truck to Greenwood for major maintenance work. Greenwood Yard, like other active Toronto Transit Commission yards, operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Yard activity is minimal during the peak service periods when many trains are in revenue service. The yard is particularly busy in
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#1732773071697192-509: The Line 2 revenue fleet, and contains major overhaul and repair shops for the entire subway fleet. Greenwood Yard is also a centre for the servicing and operation of workcars used by the Track and Structure Department to repair and maintain the entire subway system. The Greenwood Yard also performed heavy maintenance on the S series ICTS cars from Line 3 Scarborough that could not be completed at
208-736: The delivery of subway cars from the manufacturer. However, circa 2013, the TTC removed the standard gauge track to make more room for subway car storage. As of 2016, the standard gauge siding had been severed from both the yard and the railway mainline. Plans for the current yard to be used for the Relief Line involved T1 cars being moved to the new Kipling Yard . 43°40′40″N 79°19′55″W / 43.67778°N 79.33194°W / 43.67778; -79.33194 [REDACTED] Media related to Greenwood Yard at Wikimedia Commons Rail yard Many yards are located at strategic points on
224-482: The evening and early morning hours to service and maintain the subway fleet after which the trains are put into position to go into service in the morning. Prior to construction, most of the yard site used to be a clay quarry that later became Harper's Dump, Toronto's main landfill in the 1930s. The site also contained some residences which were demolished. In May 1965, the Greenwood Yard was put into partial service for some repair work. Heavy maintenance of subway bogies
240-464: The yard. The arrangement allows for trains to be added into or taken out of service with minimum disruption to ongoing operations. Greenwood Yard is home to approximately half the Commission's fleet of trains and work cars. The yard regularly houses the majority of the fleet of T1 subway cars and all Line 2 trains overnight. Greenwood Yard provides storage, inspection and running maintenance for
256-480: Was transferred from the Hillcrest Complex to Greenwood. On February 26, 1966, the yard went into full service with the opening of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth . When it opened, the yard had a railway siding and some four rail , dual gauge ( 4 ft 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 in or 1,495 mm and 1,435 mm or 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in standard gauge ) track for
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