Fiddle yard

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A Fiddle yard is a collection of model railway tracks that are invisible to a viewer and allow trains to be stored and manipulated. These tracks are required to allow most model railways to be operated in a realistic manner. Whilst it is possible to have a realistic shunting yard in view, its operation is generally unreliable with models.

Trains can be rearranged by lifting them off the track and replacing them.

There are many variants of fiddle yards, which being hidden from view may involve swinging tracks to minimise the use of crossings or may be a series of reverse loops to facilitate turning entire trains around without manual intervention. Other variants of the fiddle yards may be designed for 'end to end' running layouts.