Proposal:Tag:content=track_ballast
| Tag:content=track_ballast | |
|---|---|
| Proposal status: | Proposed (under way) |
| Proposed by: | Bgo eiu |
| Tagging: | content=track_ballast |
| Applies to: |  
|
| Definition: | Describes the content of a container feature such as man_made=storage_tank as track ballast, a term which describes solid material used to fill a track bed on railways. |
| Draft started: | 2022-04-07 |
| RFC start: | 2022-04-07 |
Proposal
Tagging format: content=track_ballast
Describes the content of a container feature such as man_made=storage_tank as track ballast, a term which describes solid material used to fill a track bed on railways. To be tagged on nodes and areas.
Rationale
Storage containers for track ballast are common features of rail yards, but have not been mapped much to date. It would be helpful to standardize on a tag name to avoid inconsistency/heterogeneity in the future. Ballast or track ballast has been used to describe surfaces of ways on rare occasions. 'Gravel' is a widely used material description which is not quite accurate to describe track ballast, because while track ballast can consist of gravel, it can consist of other materials as well, and refers to material with specific properties such as shape and size which are suited to its use on trackbeds.
Tagging
- content=track_ballast
- To be used with man_made=storage_tank
- Applies to nodes and areas (as seen on existing descriptions for content=* tags used in combination with man_made=storage_tank)
- Other tags should be used instead for material which is not specifically used to fill railway track beds (for example, more generic crushed stone storage), and this tag should not be used in combination with ways to describe features which are surfaced with track ballast
Examples
- Storage tank for track ballast within the 'North Avenue shops', a rail yard operated by the Maryland Transit Administration to provide maintenance services to the Baltimore Light Rail system
- Mapped on OSM: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1046734530
- Source describing this feature - 'Storage for Tamper & Ballast Regulator' on this map of the North Avenue shops, where tamper & ballast regulator here describes a vehicle which transports and distributes track ballast along track beds. This is why the storage unit is on one of the tracks in the service yard, so that ballast regulators can drive along the track to pick up the stored material and then deliver it elsewhere in the rail network. https://railfanguides.us/md/baltimorelightrail/shops/NorthAveShops1.jpg
- Photograph of a ballast regulator vehicle along a track at the North Avenue shops: https://railfanguides.us/md/baltimorelightrail/shops/mta805a.bmp
Rendering
Features/Pages affected
External discussions
Comments
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