Railroads plan their networks around blocks: a train is built as a series of blocks in station order, so each terminal can set out or swap its group of cars with one cut instead of picking through the whole train. Blocking plans decide which cars go into which block at which yard. Signal people use the same word for a stretch of track governed by its own signal, so context decides which one is meant.
Put the Memphis block right behind the power, they're setting it out first, then the Chicago block goes on the rear.
Ask a dispatcher about a block and you are talking about track; ask a yardmaster and you are talking about cars.
Also heard as
- car block
Related terms
Switch list
The list telling a yard or local crew which cars to move and where each one goes.
Hump yard
A classification yard where cars are pushed over a small hill and roll by gravity into sorting tracks.
Manifest
A freight train carrying a mix of car types and commodities for many different customers.
Cut
A group of cars coupled together and handled as one piece; as a verb, to uncouple them.
Set out
To leave a car or group of cars on a track short of the train's final destination.