Wikipedia:Route diagram template/MOS

General

 * If a station has a Wikipedia article, link to that rather than the town.
 * Avoid overlinkage to a city or railway when its occurrences are adjacent to each other on the route map. When the same feature (river, connecting railway, etc.) appears in multiple places it should be linked in each instance so that it not necessary to search for the wikilink.
 * In order to comply with the no original research and Wikipedia is not a crystal ball policies, information regarding planned and proposed features need to be verifiable with reliable sources.
 * When a map grows too large (such as this), it is recommended to not transclude the map inside an infobox or table which floats or aligns to the left or right, otherwise it would compress the adjacent main text into too narrow a space. This problem is exaggerated for users with low screen resolution. It is a good idea to center align the standalone table (as explained in BS-map). If a left- or right-aligned table is desired, adjust the map width for a minimum of 1024px display width in Monobook or Vector Wiki style. Setting the table to “collapsed” by default (by applying the parameter yes) also helps.
 * If an unusual situation requires using an icon in a non-standard manner, give an explanation either on the text row with the icon, or by a note at the top or bottom of the map—separated by an empty row or horizontal line—showing the “misused” icon and its meaning.

Naming
If a route template does not have the same title as its parent article (Xyz railway and Template:Xyz railway), then the template should use the suffix "RDT" (Template:Xyz railway RDT). These are diagrammatic representations, not geographic maps of routes.

Titles
Route diagram titles should not be wikilinks. The diagram should be transcluded into the parent article, and a link to the parent is normally added to the template page by Railway-routemap or one of its related templates.

Directionality
Route diagrams should be laid out following the standard mapping convention of north at the top. For east-west lines the preference is for west to be at the top, but if there is any north-south aspect to a route that would take precedence. Distances and station numbers can ascend or descend down the page.

Colors
The standard colors for RDTs are

Although there are over three dozen other colors in the BSicon color palette, in general they should only be used for system diagrams.

Symbols
RDTs should only show physical routes, rather than individual lines and services.

Stations and stops
indicates a major stations: a city's central terminal, a multi-platform/multi-track junction, a major division point, a heavily-used (≥ 1,000,000 passengers/year) station, etc. In general, heavy-rail rapid transit uses this symbol.

A terminal station, especially on a minor branch line, does not automatically warrant the symbol.

indicates a minor/secondary station or stop. In general, light rail transit uses this symbol.

Similarly,

indicates a major, non-passenger facility (works, depot, freight station, port, etc.)

indicates a minor/secondary, non-passenger facility (factory, workshops, etc.). It should not be used to indicate passing tracks (loops and sidings), mileposts, or signalling control (signalboxes, switch towers and interlocking); there are specific icons for those: passing, mileage , and signalling.

Don't interleave stations on adjacent lines, as it makes the diagram unnecessarily confusing. (See why not to.)

Interchanges and junctions

 * For junction stations, show the lines as already joined in the station to indicate the connection or use the interchange set. The inclusion of this configuration shows that it has not been overlooked.
 * At intermodal interchanges, it is not desirable to list all the routes of the other modes, just the mode(s) themselves. For example, at a central railway station it is enough to show, rather than   , etc.

Station codes
Station codes should be against the outer edge of the diagram, not between the station symbol and name. Excessive white-space (particularly at junctions) can be confusing when names are separated from their stations.

Connecting lines

 * In general, other lines are shown in italics.
 * Connecting lines should be linked to their own articles.
 * At the ends of a line, show tracks which go further with a CONTinuation arrow:.
 * For lines branching off, specify “to X” or “”.
 * The templates RoutemapRouteIcon) and Arrow2 are helpful to show route directions in the text column:   ;.

Interruptions
Crossing and connecting lines which are shown more than once can be connected with interruptions, but it should not normally be necessary to have more than two interruption icons in a row. Note that WikiProject UK Waterways uses dotted lines to denote routes that are planned or under construction, in which case there is no restriction on the number needed.
 * Fades can also be used for clarity to show interruptions when no features are omitted in the "missing'" section.

Line ends
It is sufficient to use a icon at a terminal, unless the rails continue for a significant distance beyond (e.g. storage or overrun tracks, provision for a future extension, etc.), or the diagram is detailed enough to show individual tracks.

Waterways

 * Rivers are only shown continuously when they run adjacent to the railway.
 * In rapid transit/light rail diagrams that show both canals and non-navigable waterways, the similarly-coloured cerulean icons can be used to distinguish tracks from water (.

Non-standard usage
When icons are used in a different manner than shown in the catalog, a custom legend should be used.

Text
Standard abbreviations are acceptable to save space:

Places
To avoid clutter and repetition of the word "station" the use of shortcut templates (&thinsp;rws (railway station), stn (station) and slk (station link) – see the documentation for a full explanation) is encouraged.

Do not use foreign-language abbreviations in names. (e.g. Hauptbahnhof rather than Hbf.) The templates gare and hbf are used for untranslated French and German station names.

Connecting lines
The names of connecting lines should be spelled out. Icons should not be substituted for text; their use should be restricted to interchange locations.

When a destination is shown for a connecting lines, it is preferred to use the terminus rather than the adjacent station (for consistency with line names).

Station codes
When shown on a diagram, station codes should be in a column adjacent to the outer edge of the diagram. They can take up too much space when placed between the icons and names (particularly at junctions).

Bold
The use of bold, other than for titles, should be avoided as it is automatically applied to names when a diagram is transcluded into that self-same article. Bold is acceptable, as secondary text, for branch names on a diagram.

Italics
Italics, as secondary text, are used for connecting lines. Italics should not be used for any other features (including closed or future stations).

Strike-through
Striking out a name should be avoided, as it can obscure the text. An exception is to indicate temporary closures.

Text separation
When a visual separator is desired in text fields, the Unicode Box Drawing character  should be used. (It is visually identical to the vertical bar, but ignored by Wiki markup and will not change if italicized.) This character can be coded in HTML by  or inserted with the ¡ template. In Microsoft Windows it can be input directly from the keyboard by holding down Alt, followed by +2503 on the numeric keypad; or the sequence 2503 Alt.

Dates
Dates should be avoided, unless it is to differentiate between different locations of the same station, or if there is no article for a station; i.e. the information is in no other place.

Rail-interchange icons
Icons for connecting services can be either adjacent to names, or in the time/distance column (right/left justified), but not mixed. An exception is the airport icon, which is often shown on station signage.

Icons should not be used to indicate connecting lines (i.e. beside icons). The route or line name should be spelled out.

Documentation
Route diagram templates do not have documentation pages. All necessary information is normally included by transcluding Railway-routemap or one of the similar templates into the diagram.

Categories
Railway-routemap and its related templates automatically place RDTs into the appropriate category. However, the default categorization can be overridden if necessary.