Shunting (rail)

Shunting, in railway operations, is the process of sorting items of rolling stock into complete trains, or the reverse.

Where locomotives could not be used (e.g. because of weight restrictions) shunting operations have in the past been effected by horses or capstans.

The terms "shunter" and "switcher" are not only applied to locomotives but also to employees engaged on the ground with shunting/switching operations.

The Midland Railway company, for example, kept an ambulance wagon permanently stationed at Toton Yard to give treatment to injured shunters.

This type of shunting pole was of an entirely different design than objects of the same name in North American practice (see below).

A CIE 141 Class shunting the Enterprise rolling stock to enable a NIR Class 111 to haul a service from Dublin Connolly to Belfast Central in 1985
Railway shunting capstan found at site of former Hull and Barnsley Railway sidings south of Springhead works
A heavy steam shunting locomotive, SR Z class , Great Britain
Light dual-mode (electric and diesel) shunter SBB Tem 346 at work on the Swiss Federal Railways
A shunting pole preserved at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, US