Reporter: Vid the Kid
[Submitted to the original trac issue database at 9.26am, Monday, 2nd November 2009]

Mapnik currently renders railway=spur differently from railway=rail, but that's actually not the approved tagging. It's widespread due to the TIGER import, but the correct way to tag railway spurs is railway=rail + service=spur. (That way, spurs on other kinds of railways can also be easily tagged.) Unfortunately, Mapnik doesn't pay attention to the service=* tag, and renders these just like normal railways, though they're tagged correctly as spurs.

Action to take:

1. railway=rail + service=spur should be rendered like railway=spur.
2. Also consider same or similar treatment with railway=rail + service=siding and railway=rail + service=yard.

I realize this will require rewriting the existing railway=rail rule so as not to include these service=* variants. Kind of a pain, but necessary.