Platform track and run-round loop at Toyooka Station, Hyōgo, Japan, the terminus of the line from Miyazu

A headshunt (US: escape track) is a short length of track, provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines.

  Terminal Headshunts

A terminal headshunt is a short length of track that allows a locomotive to uncouple from its train, move forward, and then run back past it on a parallel track. Such headshunts are typically installed at a terminal station to allow the locomotive of an arriving train to move to the opposite end of (in railway parlance, 'run around') its train, so that it can then haul the same train out of the station in the other direction.

  Shunting neck

The term headshunt may also refer to shunting neck or shunt spur: a short length of track laid parallel to the main line for the purpose of allowing a train to shunt back into a siding or rail yard without occupying the main running-line.

  Run-round

  Sketch of a headshunt and run-round loop

A run-round loop (or run-around loop) is a track arrangement that enables a locomotive to attach to the opposite end of the train. This process is known as "running round a train".^[1] It is commonly performed to haul wagons onto a siding, or at a terminal station to prepare for a return journey.^[2]

Although a common procedure when the majority of trains were locomotive-hauled, the manoeuvre is now comparatively rare on public service railways.^{[citation needed]} Increased use of multiple unit and push-pull passenger services avoids the requirement for dedicated track and the need for railway staff to detach and reattach the locomotive at track level.^{[citation needed]} However, many heritage railways (in the UK, at least) deliberately incorporate run-round loops at each end of the running line, partly because train services are usually locomotive-hauled, and partly because the run-round operation gives added interest to visitors.

  Examples

Stations which used to have run-rounds include:

• St Ives (UK).
• Toronto railway station, New South Wales - now closed.
• Cronulla railway station - had run round, but never had locomotives, now no run round.
• Newcastle railway station, New South Wales - run-round on Platform 1&2, not on Platform 3&4.

Stations which still have run-rounds include:

• Canberra and
• Murwullimbah - now closed
• Weymouth railway station

  References

1. ^ Ellis, Iain (2006). Ellis' British Railway Engineering Encyclopaedia. Lulu.com. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-8472-8643-7. 
2. ^ Jackson, Alan A. (2006). The Railway Dictionary (4th ed.). Sutton Publishing Ltd. p. 298. ISBN 0-7509-4218-5. 

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