Car spotting (service)

Car spotting is a service in rail transport operations.
A 1920 book on railroad freight defines the term as follows:
"Spotting service is the service beyond a reasonably convenient
point of interchange between road haul or connecting
carriers , industrial plant tracks and includes: (a) One
placement of a loaded car which the road haul or connecting
carrier has transported, or (b) The taking out of a loaded
car from a particular location in the plant for transportation
by road haul or connecting carrier, (c) The handling of the
empty car in the reverse direction." 