A switch is a side-track on which cars may be shunted or “switched.”
1862. Carl, with characteristic generosity, volunteered to build ‘a switch’ and a station-house, for the benefit of one of the rail-road companies.—Knick. Mag., lix. 466 (May).
1910. A Union Pacific switch engine had backed into the prison yard.—N.Y. Evening Post, April 21.
