Rail siding

From Freepedia

A siding, in general rail terminology, refers to a section of rail used to store stationary rolling stock perhaps whilst it is loaded or unloaded, or alternatively, a short length of rail that provides access to and from factories, mines, quarries, wharves, etc. A group of sidings in one ownership may be termed a marshalling yard.

A siding can also refer to a stretch of rail tracks that provides a place for a train to stay temporarily while other trains pass on the main line. These structures are sometimes called "passing tracks" in the US. In British terminology, sidings connected at both ends are called loops, while only sidings connected at one end are called sidings. Thus passing sidings are called crossing loops. This configuration allows the sequence of trains along a track to change and trains or trams to pass one another where a route is predominantly single tracked.