- Lantern (US) Lamp (UK/AU): A portable (often handheld) light source that is used to signal train crews.
- Lashup (US): Railfan parlance for a locomotive consist.
- Lead track: A non-main track from which several others branch within a short distance, such as within a rail yard or engine terminal.
- Leaner (US): (slang) A car in which the load has shifted, or it has been improperly loaded, or a mechanical failure has occurred that causes the car to lean to one side. This could potentially cause a collision or derailment.
- Level crossing: a crossing on one level ("at-grade intersection") – without recourse to a bridge or tunnel – generally of a railway line by a road or path (also called a railroad crossing, railway crossing, train crossing or grade crossing (US)). The term is sometimes used for a crossing by (not a junction with) another rail track (known as a flat crossing in the UK).
- Level junction (US), Flat junction (UK): A junction in which all track crossings take place at grade and routings must therefore be controlled by signals and interlocking.
- Light engine: A locomotive travelling on its own, or perhaps with just a caboose (brake van) attached.
- Light rail: A city-based rail system based on tram design standards that operates mostly in private rights-of-way separated from other traffic but sometimes, if necessary, mixed with other traffic in city streets. Light rail vehicles (LRV) generally have a top speed of around 55 mph (89 km/h) though mostly operating at much lower speeds, more akin to road vehicles. Light rail vehicles usually run on trackage that weighs less per foot (due to a smaller track profile) than the tracks used for main-line freight trains; thus they are "light rail" due to the smaller rails usually used.
- Link and pin: An obsolete method of coupling rail cars, consisting of manually dropping the coupling pin into the drawbar as the cars joined. Extremely hazardous to the brakemen of its day, it was outlawed by the Railroad Safety Appliance Act of 1893.
- Local train: A train that stops at most, if not all, stations along its route. Often referred to in North America as a "milk train" or "milk run" (usage from the days when trains stopped at every station and stop along their route to pick up fresh milk brought to the stations daily from local dairy farms).
- Location case (UK): A trackside cabinet used to house signalling equipment such as relays or transformers.
- Loop (UK), siding (US): Used on single-track railway lines, a loop is a second parallel track (running for a short distance), allowing two trains to pass by one another.
- Lunar, as in lunar white, is a color of Railway signal light. It is an off-white color, achieved by the use of a clear lens of very light blue, to make it distinct from a light that has a broken lens. In UK practice, it is the color used for the type of junction indicator known as a feather, so-called for its resemblance to a popular inn sign.
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