A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are loaded onto or unloaded off of ships or road vehicles and/or where goods wagons are transferred to local sidings.[1]
A station where goods are not specifically received or dispatched but simply transferred on their way to their destination between the railway and another means of transport, such as ships or lorries, may be referred to as a transshipment station. This often takes the form of a container terminal and may also be known as a container station.
Goods stations were more widespread in the days when the railways were common carriers and were often converted from former passenger stations whose traffic had moved elsewhere.[1]
- ^ a b Ellis, Iain (2006). Ellis' British Railway Engineering Encyclopaedia. Lulu. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-84728-643-7.