User talk:Trainsandotherthings/Archive 7

Perway
Hi TaOT! Thanks for reverting my addition to the Track article. I was surprised at the word's omission, but now realise it must be an Australian term. Follow this search to see how common it is in this country. Plenty of examples (4,000) but I'll see if I can find a proper reference. Doug butler (talk) 02:54, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

While I have your undivided attention, would you mind casting an eye over the article Salt Clay Creek railway disaster, of which I am, so far, the only contributor. In particular, the sentence
 * He applied the air brake and reversed the engine, but too late.

Mention of air brake came from a contemporary newspaper cutting, and "reversed the engine" from a railways historical magazine. Would these not be mutually exclusive, or are the air-brakes only applied to the carriages and brake van and not the driving wheels? Also the article Reversing gear does not mention throwing the driving wheels into reverse for greater braking effort, only for normal shunting practice. Regards, Doug butler (talk) 21:56, 16 September 2023 (UTC)


 * I have to admit I am less knowledgeable about the workings of steam locomotives. You could put me in the cab of a diesel and I could make it run, but I can't say the same about a steam locomotive. At least for diesels and electrics, the train brakes do indeed apply to the entire train including the locomotives. In theory, if the train is still moving I could see how reversing the engine would assist in the braking effort. You might be able to get a better answer at WT:TRAINS. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 13:57, 17 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I'll give them a go. Doug butler (talk) 15:27, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

Sources that are reliable
Keys to mark in replies:

- Green = Reliable

- Yellow = Unknown

- Red = Non-relable

List of sources that I have to know which one is reliable and which one isn't:


 * http://rrpicturearchives.net/
 * https://www.dmcbugx.com/
 * https://utahrails.net/
 * http://www.ssloan.net/trains/sp/ (I bet your gonna say that it's a non-reliable source)
 * https://cs.trains.com/
 * https://railfan.com

Example of marking them in the replies:


 * http://rrpicturearchives.net/ - (insert if its either green, yellow or red after the dash).

203.219.245.156 (talk) 04:54, 20 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The one and only source you listed that is reliable is Railfan & Railroad Magazine, because it is a secondary source with clearly listed authors and an editorial policy. trains.com, as in Trains Magazine, is reliable, but the forums hosted at cs.trains.com are user generated content and unreliable. Self-published railfan websites such as rrpicturearchives (which hosts railfan photos that are UGC), utahrails (one dude's railfan page), ssloan.net (noe photographer's personal website), are also not reliable. Dieselmotive company is a company that works with trains. Nothing makes them a reliable or secondary source. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 00:21, 21 September 2023 (UTC)
 * What about here: http://www.rgusrail.com/ 220.240.166.58 (talk) 08:10, 21 September 2023 (UTC)
 * rgusrail is a big collection of images. It is self-published. The website does not cite any sources nor list authors. Also note the text on the main page: Updates to this site ceased on 13th July 2020. Some links published on the pages may have expired. This means that any errors will never be corrected. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 01:59, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

New pages patrol newsletter
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:46, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for Train
Train has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Eldomtom2 (talk) 16:45, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

November Articles for creation backlog drive
 Hello Trainsandotherthings:

WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive!

The goal of this drive is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed drafts to less than 2 months outstanding reviews from the current 4+ months. Bonus points will be given for reviewing drafts that have been waiting more than 30 days. The drive is running from 1 November 2023 through 30 November 2023.

You may find Category:AfC pending submissions by age or other categories and sorting helpful.

Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.

There is a backlog of over pages, so start reviewing drafts. We're looking forward to your help! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:25, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

WikiCup 2023 November newsletter
The WikiCup is a marathon rather than a sprint and all those reaching the final round have been involved in the competition for the last ten months, improving Wikipedia vastly during the process. After all this hard work, BeanieFan11 has emerged as the 2023 winner and the WikiCup Champion. The finalists this year were:-


 * BeanieFan11 with 2582 points
 * Thebiguglyalien with 1615 points
 * Epicgenius with 1518 points
 * MyCatIsAChonk with 1012 points
 * BennyOnTheLoose with 974 points
 * AirshipJungleman29 with 673 points
 * Sammi Brie with 520 points
 * Unlimitedlead with 5 points

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether they made it to the final round or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the competition, some of whom did very well. Wikipedia has benefitted greatly from the quality creations, expansions and improvements made, and the numerous reviews performed. All those who reached the final round will win awards. The following special awards will be made based on high performance in particular areas of content creation and review. Awards will be handed out in the next few days.


 * Unlimitedlead wins the featured article prize, for 7 FAs in total including 3 in round 2.
 * MyCatIsAChonk wins the featured list prize, for 5 FLs in total.
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lee Vilenski wins the featured topic prize, for a 6-article featured topic in round 4.
 * MyCatIsAChonk wins the featured picture prize, for 6 FPs in total.
 * BeanieFan11 wins the good article prize, for 75 GAs in total, including 61 in the final round.
 * Epicgenius wins the good topic prize, for a 41-article good topic in the final round.
 * LunaEatsTuna wins the GA reviewer prize, for 70 GA reviews in round 1.
 * MyCatIsAChonk wins the FA reviewer prize, for 66 FA reviews in the final round.
 * Epicgenius wins the DYK prize, for 49 did you know articles in total.
 * 🇺🇦 Muboshgu wins the ITN prize, for 46 in the news articles in total.

The WikiCup has run every year since 2007. With the 2023 contest now concluded, I will be standing down as a judge due to real life commitments, so I hope that another editor will take over running the competition. Please get in touch if you are interested. Next year's competition will hopefully begin on 1 January 2024. You are invited to sign up to participate in the contest; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors. It only remains to congratulate our worthy winners once again and thank all participants for their involvement! (If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send.) Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:52, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

Precious anniversary
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:47, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

KD Subdivision
I've been thinking on names for the KD Subdivision and I'm open to suggestions. There's no real tradition on the English Wikipedia of using constructed or descriptive names for railway lines in the United States, though this is quite common elsewhere. This is probably because we tend to have official names for extant lines (Subdivision, District, Line, Branch, etc). Anyway, the KD Subdivision name goes back to the L&N. It was part of the Corbin Division then:. This doesn't change under the Seaboard System:. Historically, it's part of the L&N's Cincinnati–Atlanta line, which is finished around 1902 and was a mix of new and existing build. Kincaid Herr discusses the line in some depth. It doesn't have an official name that I've run across. If I were throwing out official names I suppose I'd write Cincinnati–Atlanta railway line (Bahnstrecke Cincinnati–Atlanta), with appropriate sections or anchors for the modern subdivisions. Mackensen (talk) 12:50, 23 November 2023 (UTC)


 * In the area I focus on (southern New England) there's almost always a clear history that can be used; I'll either incorporate the line into the article on the railroad that built it, or for branch lines they typically have a name and that will be the title of the article (like East Providence Branch). This is likely because of geography and terrain which means most lines in the area are not especially lengthy. In areas like the Midwest the lines can be significantly longer, and it's not as easy to make the decision as to what constitutes a full rail line or how it should be divided up. With the evidence you've presented, it seems the subdivision name might be the most common name, or we could go to the generic Cincinatti-Atlanta rail line. The editor who originally created these articles just mass-produced them because he thought every single subdivision should have an article. Waycross Air Line Railroad originated because the question was asked about its overlap with Fitzgerald Subdivision. We ultimately decided to consolidate everything in the Waycross Air Line Railroad article, since the Fitzgerald Subdivision article looked like this. With that said, you've already improved the KD Subdivision article enough that it's clear there's actually a notable subject present. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 14:09, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

ArbCom 2023 Elections voter message
 Hello! Voting in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

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Editor experience invitation
Hi Trainsandotherthings :) It's been awhile, hasn't it? Hope things have been going well for you. I'm looking for people to interview here. Feel free to pass if you're not interested. Clovermoss 🍀  (talk) 00:14, 30 November 2023 (UTC)


 * Hi I'd be glad to participate. I should be able to add in my responses this weekend. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 00:37, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

Community impact section in Union Pacific
I would like to know why you selected this section to tag as undue in June 2022, but left facility list and train car model numbers and their invetory quantity intact even though those per WP:NOTPRICE, equipment inventory listing is something to be avoided, whereas the section you tagged is backed with WP:RS. Graywalls (talk) 23:24, 13 December 2023 (UTC)


 * If you think another section is an issue, there is nothing stopping you from tagging it or taking action. I don't need you to leave me messages saying "why didn't you tag this section"? If you think I made an oversight, tag it or otherwise take action yourself. This was also a year and a half ago, and you're really coming here to complain now? Trainsandotherthings (talk) 23:22, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I just noticed it now. I was asking for your explanation, as a courtesy. Graywalls (talk) 23:25, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Because the phrase "community responsibility" is corporate BS, and the Utah stuff actually belongs in the environmental record section. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 23:28, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

New pages patrol January 2024 Backlog drive
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:11, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

Voting for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2023 is now open!
Voting is now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2023! The the top editors will be awarded the coveted Gold Wiki. Cast your votes vote here and here respectively. Voting closes at 23:59 on 30 December 2023. On behalf of the coordinators, wishing you the very best for the festive season and the new year. via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:56, 22 December 2023 (UTC)

A solstice greeting
 ❄️Happy holidays!❄️

Hi Trainsandotherthings! I'd like to wish you a splendid solstice season as we wrap up the year. Here is an artwork, made individually for you, to celebrate. I was sad to see that Train was delisted, and hope we can get it back to GA soon! Take care, and thanks for all you do to make Wikipedia better!Cheers, &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb }&#125;  talk

&#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 07:08, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

Welcome to the 2024 WikiCup!
Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The 2024 competition has just begun and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. Even if you are a novice editor you should be able to advance to at least the second round, improving your editing skills as you go. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page ready for you to take part. Any questions on the scoring, rules or anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close on 31 January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. The judges for the WikiCup this year are:, , and. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:21, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of East Junction Branch
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article East Junction Branch you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of TwoScars -- TwoScars (talk) 16:44, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I think we are just about done for GA. I think the writing under History - Operations under Old Colony and New Haven needs to be cleaned up, and I would like to add "alt=" for each image if you don't want to. See the green text in the review. You may already know this: the "alt=" used to be part of a the GA tools, but it was removed. It enables blind/eyesight-impared "readers" to hear a description of the image. BTW, if you ever need ICC Transport Statistics (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, equipment, road & track, service units), I have links to about 15 of those annual reports beginning with 1888 (including 1970, 1950, 1930, 1920, 1901 and others). They usually have stats for Class I, II, and III railroads. For a decade or two they combined Class II and III into Class II, but then reversed that method of classification. In the mid-1990s reporting began being for Class I railroads only. TwoScars (talk) 16:02, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
 * You're free to add alt text if you'd like. I'm not super confident in my ability to do a good job writing it, but I have no objections in principle. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 17:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
 * We need to finish up the improvements. It has been a month. I added the alt text. TwoScars (talk) 21:59, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
 * It is unclear to me what you want changed. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 01:11, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Also two comments - it has been less than 3 weeks, not a month, and I am very busy with work at the moment. In the past three weeks I have had both Covid and a nasty cold. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 01:18, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

WikiCup 2024 February newsletter
The 2024 WikiCup is off to a flying start, with 135 participants. This is the largest number of participants we have seen since 2017.

Our current leader is newcomer, who has one FA on John Littlejohn (preacher) and 10 GAs and 12 DYKs mostly on New Zealand coinage and Inuit figures. Here are some more noteworthy scorers:


 * , with one FA on Hö'elün, two GAs on Mongolia-related articles, and two DYKs;
 * , with one FA on Doom (2016 video game), one GA on Boundary Fire (2017), and 11 reviews;
 * , with one FA on Holidays (Meghan Trainor song), a nine-article FT on 30 (album), and two DYKs;
 * , with one FA on OneShot and one DYK;
 * , with five GAs and five DYKs on television and radio stations;
 * and, both with one FA and one DYK each.

As a reminder, competitors may submit work for the first round until 23:59 (UTC) on 27 February, and the second round starts 1 March. Remember that only the top 64 scoring competitors will make it through to the second round; currently, competitors need at least 15 points to progress. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAN, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (,, and ) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:58, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

What was the issue? Customers of PVRR.
What was the issue?

Are customers not allowed to be posted on Wiki? I might have to go over 1000 small railroads others put and remove them if theyre not allowed.

Westfield, MA

 * Agway


 * Lowes Distribution Center


 * Duie Pyle


 * James Hardie Building Supply


 * Kleer Lumber


 * NGL Supply Co.


 * Prolamina


 * Transload facility operated by the Pioneer Valley

East Otis, MA
Yeahimaboss413 (talk) 14:11, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Williams Stone
 * You need to cite a reliable source. See WP:RS. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:32, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Article mergers
Hello there! I hope that you don’t find it awkward that I’m messaging you after everything that has happened a couple months ago, but I just want to ask you a small favor.

Not long ago, I created some discussions on the talk pages of the Grand Trunk Western Class K-4a, the Grand Trunk Western Class K-4b, and the Atlantic Coast Line class P-5-A, citing that, in my opinion, they should be merged with their companion articles, namely No. 5629, No. 5632, and No. 1504, since the classes themselves aren’t noteworthy enough to have their own pages. Would you recommend just redirecting them, or is there anything else that has to be done with these proposed mergers? Someone who likes train writing (talk) 19:02, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of East Junction Branch
The article East Junction Branch you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:East Junction Branch for comments about the article, and Talk:East Junction Branch/GA1 for the nomination. Well done! If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of TwoScars -- TwoScars (talk) 17:25, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

WikiCup 2024 March newsletter
The first round of the 2024 WikiCup ended at 23:59 (UTC) on 27 February. Everyone with at least 30 points moved on to Round 2, the highest number of points required to advance to the second round since 2014. Due to a six-way tie for the 64th-place spot, 67 contestants have qualified for Round 2.

The following scorers in Round 1 all scored more than 300 points:


 * , who has 916 points mostly from one FA on John Littlejohn (preacher), 15 GAs, and 16 DYKs on a variety of topics including New Zealand coinage and Inuit figures, in addition to seven reviews
 * , who has 790 points from two FAs on Felix M. Warburg House and Doom (2016 video game), two GAs, one DYK, and 11 reviews
 * , who has 580 points from one FA on Hö'elün, two GAs on Mongolia-related articles, two DYKs, and five reviews
 * , who has 420 points mostly from nine GAs and seven DYKs on television and radio stations
 * , who has 351 points from one FA on Holidays (Meghan Trainor song), a nine-article FT on 30 (album), and three DYKs
 * , who has 345 points from one FA on OneShot, one DYK and two reviews

In this newsletter, the judges would like to pay a special tribute to, who unfortunately passed away this February. At the time of his death, he was the second-highest-scoring competitor. Outside the WikiCup, he had eight other featured articles, five A-class articles, eight other good articles, and two Four Awards. Vami also wrote an essay on completionism, a philosophy in which he deeply believed. If you can, please join us in honoring his memory by improving one of the articles on his to-do list.

Remember that any content promoted after 27 February but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, feel free to review one of the nominations listed on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:41, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Signups open for The Core Contest 2024
The Core Contest—Wikipedia's most exciting contest—returns again this year from April 15 to May 31. The goal: to improve vital or other core articles, with a focus on those in the worst state of disrepair. Editing can be done individually, but in the past groups have also successfully competed. There is GB£300 of prize money divided among editors who provide the "best additive encyclopedic value". Signups are open now. Cheers from the judges, Femke, Casliber, Aza24. –  Aza24  (talk)   02:20, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

If you wish to start or stop receiving news about The Core Contest, please add or remove yourself from the delivery list.

New Pages Patrol newsletter April 2024
Hello ,

Backlog update: The October drive reduced the article backlog from 11,626 to 7,609 and the redirect backlog from 16,985 to 6,431! Congratulations to, who led with over 2,300 points.

Following that, New Page Patrol organized another backlog drive for articles in January 2024. The January drive started with 13,650 articles and reduced the backlog to 7,430 articles. Congratulations to, who achieved first place with 1,340 points in this drive.

Looking at the graph, it seems like backlog drives are one of the only things keeping the backlog under control. Another backlog drive is being planned for May. Feel free to participate in the May backlog drive planning discussion.

It's worth noting that both queues are gradually increasing again and are nearing 14,034 articles and 22,540 redirects. We encourage you to keep contributing, even if it's just a single patrol per day. Your support is greatly appreciated!

2023 Awards won the 2023 cup with 17,761 article reviews last year - that's an average of nearly 50/day. There was one Platinum Award (10,000+ reviews), 2 Gold Awards (5000+ reviews), 6 Silver (2000+), 8 Bronze (1000+), 30 Iron (360+) and 70 more for the 100+ barnstar. led on redirect reviews by clearing 36,175 of them. For the full details, see the Awards page and the Hall of Fame. Congratulations everyone for their efforts in reviewing!

WMF work on PageTriage: The WMF Moderator Tools team and volunteer software developers deployed the rewritten NewPagesFeed in October, and then gave the NewPagesFeed a slight visual facelift in November. This concludes most major work to Special:NewPagesFeed, and most major work by the WMF Moderator Tools team, who wrapped up their major work on PageTriage in October. The WMF Moderator Tools team and volunteer software developers will continue small work on PageTriage as time permits.

Recruitment: A couple of the coordinators have been inviting editors to become reviewers, via mass-messages to their talk pages. If you know someone who you'd think would make a good reviewer, then a personal invitation to them would be great. Additionally, if there are Wikiprojects that you are active on, then you can add a post there asking participants to join NPP. Please be careful not to double invite folks that have already been invited.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:27, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

WikiCup 2024 April newsletter
We are approaching the end of the 2024 WikiCup's second round, with a little over two weeks remaining. Currently, contestants must score at least 105 points to progress to the third round.

Our current top scorers are as follows:


 * with 642 points, mostly from 11 GAs about radio and television;
 * with 530 points, mostly from two FAs (Well he would, wouldn't he? and Cora Agnes Benneson) and three GAs;
 * with 523 points, mostly from 11 GAs about coinage and history;
 * with 497 points, mostly from a FA about the 2020 season of the soccer club Seattle Sounders FC and two GAs;
 * with 410 points, mostly from a FA about the drink Capri-Sun and three GAs;
 * with 330 points, mostly from a FA about the English botanist Anna Blackburne and a GA.

Competitors may submit work for the second round until the end of 28 April, and the third round starts 1 May. Remember that only competitors with the top 32 scores will make it through to the third round. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. Please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAN, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs. As a reminder, competitors are strictly prohibited from gaming Wikipedia policies or processes to receive more points.

If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please read WikiCup/Scoring. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (,, and ) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:06, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

ARC Aerosystems.
I note you've put a tag; but it's still early for there to be much in the way of 3rd party sources, especially as ARC haven't gone beyond a prototype (although ARC have supposedly agreed to supply some aircraft to existing shareholders/investors. I'll leave it to other editors to search and add stuff; I've done my bit! Cheers! Arrivisto (talk) 12:52, 19 April 2024 (UTC)


 * but it's still early for there to be much in the way of 3rd party sources Please read WP:TOOSOON. If secondary sourcing can't be found, the article might end up at AfD. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 18:58, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

"Do let me know if you have any useful contributions to make"
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough on this point: for future reference, being pointlessly snitty at the noticeboards is not a contribution (in fact, it's the opposite of a contribution, since it makes the website unpleasant for other people, deters them from contributing, and wastes their time and emotional energy regardless). jp×g🗯️ 12:38, 25 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I think maybe this AN/I thread should have been a Discord argument is not a useful contribution, and I stand by that. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 19:33, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Street running trains.
Hello Trainandotherthings. I want to discuss something. 1. I noticed that the "concept" Street (Running) Train does not appear on the FRA website.

2. I then asked a FRA safety-expert by email if there were any special rules for street running trains. He was very willing, but I had to explain what it is first❗️ So I sent him a link about Amtrak street running in Oakland. He sent me two links with many regulations, and the term street running train or something like that does not appear in them either. He confirmed that there are no special rules. I therefore conclude that there is no offical definition and no requirements are imposted on the infrastructure or on the trains for street running trains (in the USA). What do you think about that? Can I put that in the article, with those links?? Regards, Straatspoor (talk) 12:48, 27 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I've given up on watching that article, to be honest, so I don't really have an opinion. Do what you'd like, as long as you can source it reliably (I don't think emails can be used as a source). Trainsandotherthings (talk) 17:57, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. No, not emails, but the links are. But I asked the creator of the article, and am waiting for his response. Straatspoor (talk) 07:21, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

WikiCup 2024 May newsletter
The second round of the 2024 WikiCup ended on 28 April. This round was particularly competitive: each of the 32 contestants who advanced to Round 3 scored at least 141 points. This is the highest number of points required to advance to Round 3 since 2014.

The following scorers in Round 2 all scored more than 500 points:
 * with 707 points, mostly from 45 good article nomination reviews and 12 good articless about radio and television;
 * with 600 points, mostly from 12 good articles and 12 did you know nominations about coinage and history;
 * with 552 points, mostly from a featured article about the 2020 Seattle Sounders FC season, three featured lists, and two good articles;
 * with 548 points, mostly from a featured article about the snooker player John Pulman, two featured lists, and one good article;
 * with 530 points, mostly from two featured articles (Well he would, wouldn't he? and Cora Agnes Benneson) and three good articles.

The full scores for Round 2 can be seen here. So far this year, competitors have gotten 18 featured articles, 22 featured lists, and 186 good articles, 76 in the news credits and at least 200 did you know credits. They have conducted 165 featured article reviews, as well as 399 good article reviews and peer reviews, and have added 21 articles to featured topics and good topics.

Remember that any content promoted after 28 April but before the start of Round 3 can be claimed during Round 3, which starts on 1 May at 00:00 (UTC). Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed.

If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please see this page. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (,, and ) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:38, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Draft:2024 Colombia Mil Mi-17 crash
Italic text I added some more information and reformatted the article. Check to see if you think it should still stay in draft space. WikiCleanerMan (talk) 18:13, 1 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your improvements. I've moved the article back to mainspace. I don't know if it's notable or not and expressed as much in the move summary, but it's at least to the point I don't feel it's harmful in mainspace the way it was before. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 19:53, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

A kitten for you!
Thank you for all of your contributions! They're the best! I learned so much!!! :)

Iceypurple (talk) 06:08, 15 May 2024 (UTC) 

Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company
Hello Trainsandotherthings: You might want to check citation 18 on Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company. My screen is showing mostly in red " : |last=has generic name (help) ". Separately, I can confirm that the Newport and Wickford Railroad Company owned 3.4 miles of railroad line per the Interstate Commerce Commission's Fourteenth Annual Report of the Statistics of Railways in the United States for the year ending June 30, 1901. This can be found on page 142, and it also says the same railroad operates 3.4 miles of railroad line. TwoScars (talk) 19:08, 13 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Hi. First off, in the future I would prefer you bring questions about specific articles to the talk pages of said articles, that way other interested editors can see them. Now as to your comments:
 * The generic name message is showing up because I am citing the Report of the Public Utilities Commission, and the citation template is set to automatically flag certain phrases as potentially in error. In this case, however, there is no individual author that can be identified, so naming the PUC as the author is the next best thing as they are the ones who wrote the report. There is a way to override the message.
 * 3.5 vs 3.4 is little more than a rounding error. All of the sources I have used in the article concur on 3.5 miles, including Karr, Heppner, American Railroad Manual for the United States and the Dominion (published in 1874, just a few years after the railroad first opened), and the 1895 report of the Rhode Island Railroad Commissioner. As such, I do not feel comfortable altering the number based on just one source you have found. It is also possible the milage changed slightly at a later date (between 1895 and 1901, presumably), but the length should reflect the maximum historic extent. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:57, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Actually, I was only trying to help you out for whenever someone reviews the article. It looks like that worked, since you fixed the red error message. I don't think anyone would want a comment about an error message in an article's talk page. I'm not concerned about you using 3.4 or 3.5 miles since I am not reviewing the article, but it is good for you to know about the differences in case someone is concerned. I believe the Interstate Commerce Commission's Statistics of Railways and Poor's Manual of Railroads are the two best sources for railroad statistics. The ICC's data are from required reporting. The 3.4 miles noted by the ICC could reflect a decrease from the early years, or it could account for rounding of the mileage of segments. The ICC number is as of June 30, 1901, and it notes that the 3.4 represents no change from the previous year. It also notes that the railroad operated the same amount of mileage as it owned, which implies it had no trackage rights. Poor's 1894 Manual of Railroads, on page 26, says 3.4 miles for the year ended June 30, 1893. TwoScars (talk) 21:22, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't think anyone would want a comment about an error message in an article's talk page. I think that's exactly where such a comment should go, actually. Per WP:TPG, The purpose of a page's associated talk page (accessible via the talk or discussion tab) is to provide space for editors to discuss editing that page which is what both of your comments were about. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 01:22, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Agree to disagree on the error messages. There is nothing in WP:TPG about error messages. If you want me to put something about the milage in the talk page, even though it is hardly any difference, fine. TwoScars (talk) 16:04, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Buddy the Beefalo


The article Buddy the Beefalo has been proposed for deletion&#32;because of the following concern: "WP:NOTNEWS, local coverage, no lasting significance. Animal version of WP:BLP1E."

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Reywas92Talk 01:58, 21 May 2024 (UTC)


 * You do realize I was going to immediately contest the PROD, right? PRODs are meant for uncontroversial deletions. The subject has attracted plenty of coverage from outside Connecticut and continuing coverage several years after his escape and capture. Please take the article to AfD if you believe it should be deleted. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 02:16, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of LunaEatsTuna -- LunaEatsTuna (talk) 05:02, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Narragansett Pier Railroad
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Narragansett Pier Railroad you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Hog Farm -- Hog Farm (talk) 20:01, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Strasburg Rail Road
I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but is there any chance you can make a page protected request l? Because this IP user keeps continiesly adding the China Railway locomotive in the locomotive roster, this is like the third or fourth time this users has done this. Therefore I think the article should be protected indefinitely to prevent future vandalism. 136.226.106.244 (talk) 17:36, 6 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Hello IP editor, I have requested page protection on your behalf due to the repeated addition of unsourced claims to the article. I doubt protection will be granted indefinitely, but I've asked for at least 1 month. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 17:46, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Re: MF 88
I've only finally managed to look at this article today for the first time in a long time (17 years), unfortunately at a very poor timing - just four hours after you've reviewed it - sorry! I could move the article back myself after researching and sourcing the article, but since it was so recently reviewed I thought I should double check with you to see if it's now up to scratch for it to return. - Mailer Diablo 19:24, 17 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Wow, the article looks quite different from the one I reviewed this morning. I think it's ready for mainspace now, I will accept it if you submit it. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 19:30, 17 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Thank you, just submitted it. :) Let me know if anything more is needed. - Mailer Diablo 19:41, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Valley Falls train collision
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Valley Falls train collision you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Pi.1415926535 -- Pi.1415926535 (talk) 20:25, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Valley Falls train collision
The article Valley Falls train collision you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Valley Falls train collision for comments about the article, and Talk:Valley Falls train collision/GA1 for the nomination. Well done! If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Pi.1415926535 -- Pi.1415926535 (talk) 22:23, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you!
Sorry for taking a long time to reply, but I just wanted to say thank you for requesting the Strasburg Railroad article to be protected again from vandalism. But unfortunately the vandalism still hasn’t stopped, because recently this user removed this info here:https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Strasburg_Rail_Road&diff=prev&oldid=1229367113, about 90’s 1,472, is there by any chance you could revert that? Thank you! 50.214.136.117 (talk) 17:14, 18 June 2024 (UTC)