Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Droxford railway station

Droxford railway station

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/June 4, 2019 by Wehwalt (talk) 11:24, 19 May 2019 (UTC)



Droxford railway station was a rural station on the Meon Valley Railway in Hampshire, England. In 1944 it was used by Winston Churchill as his base during preparations for the Normandy landings. Based in an armoured train parked in its sidings, Churchill met with numerous ministers, military commanders and leaders of allied nations. On 4 June 1944, shortly before the landings were due to take place, Free French leader Charles de Gaulle visited Churchill at Droxford, and was informed of the invasion plans. Churchill told de Gaulle that if ever forced to choose between France and the US he would always choose the US, a remark which instilled in de Gaulle a suspicion of Britain and caused long-term damage to the relationship between France and the UK. In 1955 the station closed to passengers and in 1962 to goods, after which the station and a section of its track were used for demonstrating an experimental railbus and as a driving school, before becoming a private residence.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Depends how you measure it. If one treats it as a transport article State Route 74 (New York–Vermont) will run a week beforehand, but has nothing in common with this. If one treats it as a MILHIST topic, Bobby Gibbes (6 May) will be the most recent WWII article, but again has nothing in common. Green Park tube station (1 May) will be the most recent UK transport article.
 * Main editors: Iridescent
 * Promoted: 24 March 2018
 * Reasons for nomination: I know I'm generally opposed to "date significance" TFAs, but in my opinion this one actually makes sense. 4 June 2019 will mark the 75th anniversary of the disastrous meeting at Droxford at which Winston Churchill fell out with Charles De Gaulle, setting UK foreign policy on the separate, Atlanticist track to that of the rest of post-war Europe that ultimately led to Brexit. Running it on 4 June will also have the additional bonus of meaning that it's still on the Main Page on the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, but won't be so obviously a D-Day article as to clash with any other commemorations that are planned for that date. Because of the date relevance, the blurb is intentionally tilted towards Droxford's significance to the Normandy landings rather than to its more general (and deeply uninteresting) history.
 * Support as nominator. &#8209; Iridescent 08:45, 19 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Support, makes a lot of sense to me ;) - The blurb still looks too long, but I don't care about bits yet. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:54, 19 April 2019 (UTC)
 * It's still slightly too long–about 1250 characters—but I'll do the final trimming nearer the time if it's decided to run it; there's no point taking the time if the delegates already have a D-Day article lined up for the 75th anniversary on 6 June and understandably don't want to run two in a row. &#8209; Iridescent 09:01, 19 April 2019 (UTC) Now shortened as there aren't any alternative 75th anniversary articles being proposed. &#8209; Iridescent 09:36, 27 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Support promoting public transport is a Good Thing....Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 22:59, 18 May 2019 (UTC)