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This is becoming awfully complex. Here's the summary: "Turnout" is a word developed by model railroaders to mean a "track switch." That thing that allows trains to change tracks. They did this because model railroading uses a lot of electrical components, one of which is also called a "switch," and they wanted to avoid confusing the two, especially in writing. In real life, most people say 'switch' and figure you'll understand from the context what they meant. And in real life, railroaders call the thing made of rails a "switch," too.
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