User:Trainsandotherthings

An endash, because I keep forgetting to use them
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About me
My username is Trainsandotherthings, and I joined Wikipedia on July 22, 2021, but I've been a reader for years. My username reflects my areas of interest on Wikipedia - primarily articles related to trains, but plenty of other areas as well, depending on what interests me at the moment. I specialize in New England, especially Southern New England where I've lived most of my life, but I on occasion edit other train articles in the United States and Canada. Some of my favorite articles to work on are rail yards (I consider Cedar Hill Yard my very best work), former railroad companies largely forgotten, and current shortline/regional railroads. I consider my very-long-term goal to bring as many train related articles as possible to good article status, especially in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

I love Wikipedia because I strongly support its mission of making information more widely available, and how it allows such a wide variety of voices and perspectives to contribute. The truth is, Wikipedia is taken for granted by millions every day, but by comparison a very small number of people work to keep it going and expand its scope. There are issues with Wikipedia, sure, but nothing else comes close to making so much information widely accessible and (usually) truthful and verifiable."View this page in Swedish Chef language:"

WP policy
For the most part, I don't have hard and fast rules to describe my editing style. I do identify as a mergist, primarily because there are so many articles out there on subjects which barely meet notability and have so few sources that they can never expand past a stub. In my opinion, such subjects should be merged together into more comprehensive articles, which better serve the reader by providing more context. I suppose you could say I lean towards deletionism, though I wish to pursue alternatives to deletion when reasonable.

Subpages
User:Trainsandotherthings/Guestbook My guestbook.

User:Trainsandotherthings/sources Holding area for references I am using or plan to use.

User:Trainsandotherthings/Train Editing Toolbox This is a reference for myself, but anyone is welcome to refer to it. Much of this is just my personal practice and does not necessarily reflect Wikipedia policy.

User:Trainsandotherthings/The problem with galleries User essay I wrote about my issues with the use of galleries on Wikipedia.

User:Trainsandotherthings/Tables and citations Turns out tables require citations. I'm not sure why people think otherwise.

User:Trainsandotherthings/Whistle-stop tour Because all the cool editors have soapboxes nowadays.

User:Trainsandotherthings/The Earth Test A short essay I wrote about article length.

User:Trainsandotherthings/Work Full listing of my content work.

People who think I'm cool
Some stroopwafels for you! You are recipient no. 2669 of Precious, a prize of QAI. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:05, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

My Book Collection
I have a number of books on the subject of railroading, mostly focused in the New England area. If you think I might have a book that could help an article with references, feel free to let me know on my talk page. Here is a partial list, which I also keep to help me add citations to articles because I'm too lazy to type out the ISBN each and every time:


 * Vintage Diesel Locomotives, by Mike Schafer ISBN: 0760305072
 * Railway Maintenance, by Brian Solomon ISBN: 0760309752
 * Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years, by Louis A. Marre ISBN: 0890242585
 * American Shortline Railway Guide, by Edward A. Lewis ISBN: 0890242909
 * Field Guide to Modern Diesel Locomotives, by Greg McDonnell ISBN: 0890246076
 * Streamliners: History of a Railroad Icon, by Mike Schafer and Joe Welsh
 * Train Wrecks, by Robert C. Reed
 * Freight Train Cars, by Mike Schafer with Mike McBride
 * The Great Railroads of North America, by Bill Yenne
 * Atlas of North American Railroads, by Bill Yenne
 * CSX, by Brian Solomon
 * The History of North American Steam, by Christopher Chant
 * Railroads: The Great American Adventure, by Charlton Ogburn
 * Passenger Trains of Northern New England In The Streamline Era, by Kevin J. Holland
 * The Rail Lines of Southern New England, by Ronald Dale Karr ISBN: 0942147022
 * The Art of the Streamliner, by Bob Johnston and Joe Welsh with Mike Schafer
 * Giants of the Rails: Accurate Drawings in Full Color and Descriptions of Modern Locomotives of Every Type on the Major Railroads of the U.S.A., by S. Kip Farrington Jr. (this book is from 1944!)
 * Railroads of Rhode Island, by Frank Heppner
 * The Blackstone Valley Line: The Story of the Blackstone Canal Company and the Providence & Worcester Railroad, by Edward A. Lewis
 * Two Tickets on the Wood River Train: The Life and Times of the Wood River Branch Railroad 1872-1947, by J.B. Kennedy
 * Just about every issue of Trains Magazine going back to 2010

What other editors have to say about me
As of November 16, 2021, I have been the subject of 1 ANI thread.

"What are you a Wikipedia police officer?"

"Your crazy, this all doesn’t need sources. No matter how many times you remove all this, it’s gonna freaking stay here no matter what! Now stop touching this article and leave it alone!!!!"

"Can an editor personally enter bias into an article?, because that is what Trainsandotherthings has done."

"Busybody deleter."

"Deleted a page I found as a red link while I was having dinner and coming back to it."

"With people wanting the page to be deleted with their illogical points espacially User:Whpq and User:Trainsandotherthings who see deletion of these pages as the only solution."

"As I have said, given his appalling attitude and obvious superiority complex, I have no desire to have any further contact with Trainsandotherthings."

"I am requesting investigation into the dilettante cabal (User:Jpgordon, User:Diannaa, User:Sphilbrick, User:Trainsandotherthings, and User:Ravenswing) for harassment (including bullying, intimidation, talk-page spamming, false accusations, mis-gendering, and unwarranted destruction of good faith edits and contributions totaling hundreds of hours of work) and abuse of power culminating in the suspension of my account without due process."