The Glossary of Railway Terms can be found here

Glossary of Railway Terminology as used in this wiki

It is important that users get to understand the exact meaning of what are sometimes very common terms that can be misunderstood. This glossary is something that will be added to as time goes by and like all pages in this wiki, can be printed out for those that might prefer to have a hard copy close at hand.

STATION

This very common term has multiple meanings and we need to clarify them.

1. In this wiki, the term is used in the general sense of a location where railway activities occur. The Railway system is made up of railway lines and along those railway lines there are stations where things happen. These could be as minor as scheduled stops for trains, or include full freight, marshaling and servicing facilities. Another way of viewing a station is recognising it any place that has (or had) an official railway name. All station have a name with an official spelling. In general there are no two stations with the same name, although there are instances of a name being re-used at a different location after a station elsewhere has closed.

A very large part of this wiki is be based around stations and a structured breakdown of larger yards into smaller, logical chunks.

2. The term station is often used to refer to the building at a railway location. In this wiki we will always refer to it as the 'station building' rather than just the station, unless it is unmistakable that we are referring to just the building.

3. The term Station can also be used when referring to a large (generally sheep) farm, mainly in the more isolated parts of the country where the railway sometimes passes through. Should reference need to be made to these, they will be referred to a sheep, cattle or high-country station

MAINLINE

The railway network is made up of railway lines between stations, with every Line having an official name. The major lines are called Mainlines and in New Zealand there are only four: the North Island Main Trunk (abbreviated NIMT) and the East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) in the North Island and the Main South Line (MSL) and the Main North Line (MNL) in the South Island. All other Lines are Branch Lines

Even Main Lines have a heirarchy, in that where one Mainline starts at an intermediate station of another Mainline, it is then the secondary mainline. So for the North Island, the NIMT is the primary Mainline and the ECMT the secondary as it starts at an intermediate station of the NIMT, in this case Frankton. For the South Island, the MSL is the primary and the MNL is the secondary as it branches off the MSL at Addington.

BRANCH LINE

As the name implies, a Branch line branches off a Mainline. There is an exception though where a Line is not connected to any other line and the prime New Zealand Example is the Nelson Railway.There being only one track, it was usually just referred to as the Nelson Section.

While there is no formal distinction, there are a number of Branch lines that do not have the word Branch in their name, just Line, and these tend to be branch lines to which a greater regional significance is attached. They are: The Midland Line (originally envisaged to go from Rolleston to Nelson), the Stillwater - Westport Line (now the Stillwater - Ngakawau Line), the Wairarapa Line, the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line, the Marton - New Plymouth Line and the North Auckland Line

TRACK SECTION

The portion of track between stations is known as a track section. and for convenience, this wiki has been divided into sections based on all the stations that ever existed, and the track sections between them. Most stations have disappeared long ago, some with tell-tale signs still around, others without a hint that a railway ever existed there,