User talk:Trainsandotherthings/Archive 8

Archive 5

Archive 6

Archive 7

Archive 8

Archive 9

Thank you

Hello Trainsandotherthings,

More than 2 years ago, you put an edit on my user talk page teaching me how to use piped links on Wikipedia. You showed me kindness that made me decide to continue on my Wikipedia editing journey. Yesterday afternoon, I received extended-confirmed status. I just want to say thank you for what you did all those years ago. It may look like nothing, but it meant a lot to me. I hope you have a good rest of your day.

Sussybaka6000 (talk) 17:05, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

@Sussybaka6000: I'd long forgotten all about this message, but I'm touched to hear that it was meaningful to you and encouraged you to continue editing. I hope you'll be here to celebrate crossing 5,000 edits as well. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 00:54, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Narragansett Pier Railroad

On 20 July 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Narragansett Pier Railroad, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the owners of the Narragansett Pier Railroad included a family of industrialists, a dentist, a systems analyst, a lumberyard, and the founder of Textron? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Narragansett Pier Railroad. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Narragansett Pier Railroad), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

^Complex/_Rational 00:03, 20 July 2024 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for Sacred Cod

Sacred Cod 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. Cpotisch (talk) 13:37, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

Some moral support

		The Original Barnstar
		I saw your comments at FAC. I'm sorry you're having a hard time. I originally came here to say that I thought you were a bit harsh on Gog, but I've decided instead to say that I totally feel your pain about broken cars (painfully remembering the several hours I once waited for a tow truck to show up) and stand with you to celebrate your accomplishments. I know barnstars are a bit silly, but you sounded like you needed somebody to cheer you up so I'm hoping this helps in some small way to do that. RoySmith (talk) 15:14, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

@RoySmith: I really appreciate this. It's been a difficult month, and I reacted quite strongly at the FAC because it felt to me like I wasn't being heard. Gog is doing his job as coordinator, but I felt that it was being forgotten that I'm human, just like everyone else. Let's just say if I had known my life was going to be this hectic, I wouldn't have gone to FAC at the time I did. Unfortunately, we don't get to control when our car breaks down or when life circumstances come together to leave you with little to no free time. I also didn't make clear with my earlier reply to Gog that I would be working more actively on the FAC. It's easy as a nominator to forget that the coords are a few people handling upwards of 50 nominations at once sometimes, and they can't religiously track everything. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:48, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

In appreciation

		The Special Barnstar
		By the authority vested in me by myself it gives me great pleasure to present you with this barnstar in recognition of, well, your deserving it. I hope that life becomes more manageable for you. Gog the Mild (talk) 21:58, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

New pages patrol September 2024 Backlog drive

New pages patrol | September 2024 Backlog Drive
On 1 September 2024, a one-month backlog drive for new pages patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles and redirects patrolled. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Each article review will earn 1 point, and each redirect review will earn 0.2 points. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
You're receiving this message because you are a new page patroller. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:11, 26 August 2024 (UTC)

WikiCup 2024 August newsletter

The fourth round of the 2024 WikiCup ended on 29 August. Each of the 8 contestants who advanced to Round 4 scored at least 472 points, and the following contestants scored more than 700 points:

• Generalissima (submissions) with 1,150 points, mostly from 3 featured articles, 2 featured lists, 7 good articles, and 13 did you know nominations;
• Arconning (submissions) with 791 points, mostly from 2 featured lists, 8 good articles, 4 did you know nominations, and plenty of reviews;
• AirshipJungleman29 (submissions) with 718 points, mostly from a high-multiplier featured article on Genghis Khan and 2 good articles; and
• BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 714 points, mostly from 1 featured article on Susanna Hoffs, 2 featured lists, and 3 good articles.

Congratulations to our eight finalists and all who participated. Contestants put in extraordinary amounts of effort during this round, and their scores can be seen here. So far this year, competitors have gotten 36 featured articles, 55 featured lists, 15 good articles, 93 in the news credits, and at least 333 did you know credits. They have conducted 357 featured content reviews, as well as 553 good article reviews and peer reviews, and have added 30 articles to featured topics and good topics.

Any content promoted after 29 August but before the start of Round 5 can be claimed during Round 5, which starts on 1 September 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. 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 for a good article, featured content, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. Remember to claim your points within 14 days of earning them, and importantly, before the deadline on 31 October.

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 (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) 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 Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:13, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Valley Falls train collision

On 31 August 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Valley Falls train collision, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the 1853 Valley Falls train collision led to the creation of a time zone? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Valley Falls train collision. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Valley Falls train collision), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

—Kusma (talk) 00:03, 31 August 2024 (UTC)

Voting for coordinators is now open!

Nominations for the upcoming project coordinator election have opened. A team of up to ten coordinators will be elected for the next coordination year. The project coordinators are the designated points of contact for issues concerning the project, and are responsible for maintaining our internal structure and processes. They do not, however, have any authority over article content or editor conduct, or any other special powers. More information on being a coordinator is available here. If you are interested in running, please sign up here by 23:59 UTC on 14 September! Voting will commence on 15 September. If you have any questions, you can contact any member of the current coord team. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:41, 1 September 2024 (UTC)

hello

excuse me but why is this removed i put it back for a reason and this is not unsourced and it's not railfan puffery

Collapsed in interest of keeping my talk page readable Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:26, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Paint and colors

NS's locomotives are often called "catfish" by railfans, as the stripes are said to look like catfish whiskers.

The current "Horsehead" paint scheme for NS locomotives is black and white, with yellow grab irons and step-edge highlights. Locomotives feature a rearing horse decal enclosed in the "catfish" stripes on both the nose and rear, which is consistent with marketing campaigns where NS has billed itself as "The Thoroughbred of Transportation".

The first few AC44C6Ms features a special version of the Horsehead scheme, which is painted for the D.C. To A.C. Project. The others retain the regular paint job. The GE AC44C6Ms are rebuilt from GE Dash 9-40Cs.

In 1994, EMD GP59 No. 4610 was painted in predecessor Southern colors of green and white with gold trim and was a favorite of railfans.[33] The locomotive was repainted in the Norfolk Southern "Operation Lifesaver" paint in February 2012 because of ES44AC #8099 also being in Southern paint.

Norfolk Southern painted 20 new-order ES44ACs and SD70ACes in commemorative heritage paint schemes as part of NS's 30th anniversary celebration in 2012 (more info below in the "Heritage Schemes" section).

Norfolk Southern also has many locomotives painted in various versions of the Operation Lifesaver scheme.

In February 2015, Norfolk Southern unveiled restored NS 3170 in the Southern Railway "Tuxedo" paint scheme. The 3170 is a SD40, the first ordered by the Southern Railway and was retired by Norfolk Southern in 2007. In September 2015, SD45-2 1700 was unveiled wearing its original Erie Lackawanna paint. Another SD40, NS 1580, was set aside for repaint into its original Norfolk and Western paint scheme; however, as of January 2017, it has yet to be repainted. Since 2024 it has been donated to the Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS

In January 2015, the first of the state-funded "ECO Class" units – painted in a two-tone green, white, and black paint scheme – was completed. "ECO" locomotives thus far (January 2017) include GP33ECO and SD33ECO; additionally, these units come with 'slug' types: RP-M4C (GP33ECO) and RPU6D (SD33ECO).

In November 2011, Norfolk Southern unveiled SD60E 6920 – painted in a blue, red, white and black "Honoring our Veterans" paint scheme. In March 2013, Norfolk Southern released NS SD60E 6963, which was painted in a special paint scheme for "GORAIL." In May 2015, Norfolk Southern unveiled another SD60E, number 911 – painted in a red, white, and gold, "Honoring First Responders" paint scheme.

Locomotives

A large majority of Norfolk Southern's locomotives come from the company's many predecessors, which include but are not limited to Norfolk and Western, Southern Railway, and Conrail. Of the engines from Norfolk and Western (NW) and Southern, many were equipped with high short hoods. Although these locomotives are aging, some 'high hoods' still remain on the roster as of April 2020. Norfolk Southern has drastically reduced the number of them by scrapping, rebuilding, or selling them.

Historically, NS has only purchased DC traction diesel locomotives, and was one of the last North American AC-traction hold-outs aside from Canadian National Railway. In September 2008, however, NS placed its first order for new AC traction locomotives: 23 GE ES44ACs, numbered 8000-8023. In the years since, NS has purchased several more ES44ACs as well as over 150 EMD SD70ACes.

Beginning in 2012, Norfolk Southern began to take delivery of several types of older EMD locomotives from various railroads and leasing companies, including 9 ex-BNSF "tri-clops" SD60Ms, 6 ex-ATSF (BNSF) SD75Ms, the remaining 12 ex-Conrail SD80MACs owned by CSX, a majority of Union Pacific's SD9043MACs, and more than 130 SD40-2's from First Union Rail, CIT Group, and Helm Leasing.

Norfolk Southern is the only railroad ever to own SD80MACs and SD90MACs simultaneously. Norfolk Southern owned all of the SD80MACs and 110 of the SD90MACs from Union Pacific. Norfolk Southern also acquired 10 SD90MACs from CIT Group in exchange for 15 MP15DCs. The SD90MACs have been rebuilt into SD70ACUs. By late 2021, the SD80MACs were been sold (most scrapped), and most of the EMD SD70ACus were sold.

Norfolk Southern has a very large program for re-cabbing locomotives. NS has its own designed "Admiral Cab," which they use on their 'standard cab' rebuilds. NS has rebuilt GP38-2s, SD40-2s, ECO units, and many more with the Admiral Cab. In 2015, Norfolk Southern began a program to convert their reliable, but aging GE Dash 8-40Cs into Dash 8.5-40CW units (NS calls them D8.5-40CW). The few units that were upgraded included new cabs, rebuilt and modified engine, electrical upgrades and more. Due to repeated failures, the program was deemed unsuccessful in 2016, and ET44AC units were ordered to replace the un-rebuildable 8-40Cs. The Dash 8.5s have since been sold. In 2016, NS bought 46 GE ET44AC Locomotives, also known as Tier 4 Locomotives, numbered 3600-3646. These are the first Tier 4 road engines purchased, and not immediately stored, by NS. Norfolk Southern purchased 34 more units, delivered in 2017. The ET44ACs were purchased as the replacement for the Dash 8-40C units, all of which were sold shortly after the ET44ACs entered service. They were the first order of new locomotives from NS since late 2014, when EPA Tier 4 requirements were put in place.

In 2016, Norfolk Southern began a rebuild program on the Dash 9-40C units. The rebuild involved overhaul of the engine, emissions upgrades, a new cab (featuring GE Trip Optimizer, PTC, and NS Cab Signals / Locomotive Speed Limiter), new electronics, DPU and ECP capabilities, increased weight, and an electric parking brake. Norfolk Southern has rebuilt all the C40-9 "Top Hats" and some of the Dash 9-44CWs. The new locomotives are being classified as GE AC44C6M.

Heritage fleet

In the first half of 2012, Norfolk Southern painted 10 EMD SD70ACes and 10 GE ES44ACs as special heritage units, each bearing the paint schemes and markings of the various predecessor railroads of Norfolk Southern and Conrail. On July 1–3, 2012, all 20 units gathered together at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer, North Carolina, as the highlight of NS's 30th-anniversary celebration. The locomotives have since traveled throughout the United States on various Class I railroads as run-through pool power, attracting much attention from railfans

The Heritage Units include:

• Central of Georgia (GE ES44AC) #8101
• Central Railroad of New Jersey (EMD SD70ACe) #1071
• Conrail ("Big Blue") (GE ES44AC) #8098 (Storage)
• Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western (EMD SD70ACe) #1074
• Erie (EMD SD70ACe) #1068
• Lehigh Valley Railroad (Red) (GE ES44AC) #8104
• Illinois Terminal Railroad (EMD SD70ACe) #1072
• Interstate Railroad (GE ES44AC) #8105
• Monongahela Railway (GE ES44AC) #8025
• New York Central Railroad (EMD SD70ACe) #1066
• Nickel Plate Road (GE ES44AC) #8100
• Norfolk & Western (Blue "Hamburger" Logo) (GE ES44AC) #8103
• Norfolk Southern (Original) (GE ES44AC) #8114
• Penn Central (EMD SD70ACe) #1073
• Pennsylvania Railroad (Tuscan Red) (GE ES44AC) #8102
• Reading Company (Bee Line) (EMD SD70ACe) #1067
• Savannah & Atlanta (Tuxedo Black scheme) (EMD SD70ACe) #1065
• Southern (Crescent Green scheme) (GE ES44AC) #8099
• Virginian (EMD SD70ACe) #1069
• Wabash Railroad (EMD SD70ACe) #1070
• Erie Lackawanna (EMD SD45-2) #1700

2601:18C:500:2360:8C51:4D5D:E18D:68D2 (talk) 02:04, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

You included exactly zero references. Are you really surprised I removed it? We have policies like verifiability which require references for content. Again, you included zero references. You did not include here the most egregious edit , where you wrote blatant puffery like "this locomotive gem" "memorable journeys" and "esteemed arrival". Wikipedia is not your personal railfan blog. Writing like this is unacceptable per WP:NPOV. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:26, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

I'm very sorry i didn't realize this i just wanted to put back the info of norfolk southern's locomotive's, it's paint scheme, it's locomotive rebild it's heritage units, and the locomotives that they donated. 2601:18C:500:2360:58B4:DC8A:A281:64C2 (talk) 22:10, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Notability

People cried that all the train stations would be purged last time, and that has not happened. I really wish that you'd phrased this, and the rest of your comment, differently. Mackensen (talk) 23:03, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Has there been a purge of train stations? I certainly haven't seen one, and people were absolutely saying that the last RfC was just an excuse to mass delete train stations. I have never been in favor of that. Forgive me if I have little sympathy for a group that's repeatedly targeted me with personal attacks, including a sitting admin who should have known better. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 00:08, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Oh no, you were right about that. I'm sure you can understand that people talking about fifty stations in the UK being notable makes one nervous, and similar sentiments were expressed the last time around. I know that's not your view. I've spoken to the admin in question before, and got nowhere. In fairness, I've asked many people to be pleasant over the years without much success. Mackensen (talk) 01:20, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I was more than a little surprised to see someone say "maybe 1% of train stations are notable" because that's simply not true at all. Despite my feelings about notability I felt the need to actually argue the other side a bit and emphasize most train stations are clearly notable on their own merits. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 23:16, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Voting for WikiProject Military history coordinators is now open!

Voting for WikiProject Military history coordinators is now open! A team of up to ten coordinators will be elected for the next coordination year. Register your vote here by 23:59 UTC on 29 September! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:35, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

VALE 3025

Just so you know, I’ve also expanded and improved the Valley Railroad 3025 page shortly after I completed NYS&W 142, if you’d like to give the former a look over, as well. I’m shocked no one else has even tried to expand that page since it was created back in 2008. Someone who likes train writing (talk) 03:29, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

@Someone who likes train writing: I'll take a look this evening. Thanks for your contributions, you've made a big difference already in our coverage of locomotives. It's always nice to look in the edit history of an article and see a +15,000 byte addition. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 20:55, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

I really have tried to redeem myself in my Wikipedia editing skills for a while now. There are plenty of other pages that I would like to heavily improve, with the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway page being next in line in my book. Someone who likes train writing (talk) 01:42, 12 October 2024 (UTC)

Reading and Northern Class II Status

Regarding the recent addition of RBMN to the List of U.S. Class II railroads, the AAR defines the lower bounds of Class II as $40M in revenue or 350 miles of trackage (this is defined within that Wikipedia page as well). The source I attached says that the RBMN runs over 400 miles of trackage (confusingly, so does the AAR in their own document for Pennsylvania). I am not sure where to look up revenues of railroads, but being that the RBMN does indeed cover more than 350 miles would they not qualify as Class II? 192.234.195.153 (talk) 17:43, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) there isn't a great source on whether a railroad is or isn't a Class II. The AAR factsheets are the best we have at the moment, and they say that the Reading and Northern is a Class III. We can't really argue otherwise without engaging in original research, and in this case we'd be flatly contradicting a reliable source. Mackensen (talk) 17:49, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

I consulted with the most recent Pennsylvania state rail plan (2020), and it also lists the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern as a Class III . The railroad's own magazine does refer to itself as a Class II: . They appear to be right on the line between Class II and Class III. I can't find any other sources supporting Class II status, so I generally agree with Mackensen above. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 20:54, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

Looking for ANI of LTA

There was an LTA editing as a few IPs out of Australia. Do you happen to have the original ANI filing that got that LTA site-banned? I'm trying to chase down if a NSW IP lines up with this LTA. ~ Pbritti (talk) 03:17, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

@Pbritti: The infamous "Australian railroad IP" was banned at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1143#Australian railroad IP. Because the search tool sucks, I had to go back into my contributions in the Wikipedia namespace, find the date of the thread, and then try to find the archive from that date to dig up the thread. It will remain here on my talk page (and ultimately in my talk archives) if you ever need it again. Let me know if you're having further issues with this editor. I was hoping they'd give up the ghost by now but seems not. In my experience, 100% of the time they geolocated to either Sydney or Melbourne or their immediate suburbs. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 20:57, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Also, the EMD engine LTA that I see you've been hunting is back at it again today . I'm confident they're unrelated to the Australian IP, very different MO. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:00, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Ah! Thank you finding that ANI; I similarly struggled using the search tool. I'll file it somewhere for my own use if they pop up again. Thanks for your opinion on that IP LTA, by the way, and I'll try to keep tabs on them, too. ~ Pbritti (talk) 21:06, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

@Pbritti, also check out Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/LB&SCR E2/Archive for some IPs which have been the Australian railroad IP. TarnishedPath^talk 02:02, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

@TarnishedPath: That's exactly what I needed! Thank you. ~ Pbritti (talk) 15:13, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

@Pbritti, also in the first ANI discussion that @Trainsandotherthings linked to above there's a collapsed list of IPs and also a collapsed list of article created by the IP (I collated a bit of it along with others). I'm very willing to help with this editor. @Daniel has been an admin who has kept on top of them quite a bit, but there have been others who might be able to help out with providing information. TarnishedPath^talk 15:26, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern 65

This is a new article created by our friend who we suspect to be the Australian railroad IP. I imagine you probably have some of the books listed in the references. Would you be able to tell me if any of them have WP:SIGCOV for the locomotive. Kind Regards, TarnishedPath^talk 02:05, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Hi @TarnishedPath: That's not a bad guess, I've got a decent number of Brian Solomon's books, but unfortunately I do not have the one cited in the article. I was able to view the pages on Google books, as I'm quite confident this editor doesn't have the books and just goes off of whatever they can find from Google. The coverage in the book amounts to 1 sentence on one page, and two sentences on another page (one of which is about H.K. Porter, Inc. in general rather than the specific locomotive, so really two sentences). In other words, not significant coverage. The other sources either say nothing at all about the locomotive or very little. The Reading Eagle source is one sentence, Railfan's Guide to Museums doesn't seem to mention the locomotive at all, and neither does Railroad History. I'd either pursue AfD or redirect to Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern Railroad.

From reading the article, there are tells in the writing style that match the IP's editing style. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 14:37, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

I'll go with a redirect. TarnishedPath^talk 14:58, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Adoption of a DYK nomnation

Do you have time to adopt Template:Did you know nominations/Cannonball (MILW train), and make improvements? I'd happily do the review and give you credit for the DYK. Flibirigit (talk) 23:08, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

I see someone has taken care of this before I was able to respond. I honestly don't think it's a great DYK candidate but hopefully you are able to make it work. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 23:34, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

WikiCup 2024 November newsletter

The 2024 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round being a very tight race. Our new champion is AirshipJungleman29 (submissions), who scored 2,283 points mainly through 3 high-multiplier FAs and 3 GAs on military history topics. By a 1% margin, Airship beat out last year's champion, BeanieFan11 (submissions), who scored second with 2,264 points, mainly from an impressive 58 GAs about athletes. In third place, Generalissima (submissions) scored 1,528 points, primarily from two FAs on U.S. Librarians of Congress and 20 GAs about various historical topics. Our other finalists are: Sammi Brie (submissions) with 879 points, Hey man im josh (submissions) with 533 points, BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 432 points, Arconning (submissions) with 244 points, and AryKun (submissions) with 15 points. Congratulations to our finalists and all who participated!

The final round was very productive, and contestants had 7 FAs, 9 FLs, 94 GAs, 73 FAC reviews, and 79 GAN reviews and peer reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!

All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.

• Generalissima (submissions) wins the featured article prize for 3 FAs in round 4, and 7 FAs overall.
• Hey man im josh (submissions) wins the featured list prize for 23 FLs overall.
• MaranoFan (submissions) wins the featured topic prize for 9 articles in featured topics in round 1.
• Hey man im josh (submissions) wins the featured content reviewer prize for 110 FA/FL reviews overall.
• BeanieFan11 (submissions) wins the good article prize for 58 GAs in round 5, and 70 GAs overall.
• Fritzmann (submissions) wins the good topic prize for 6 articles in good topics in round 2.
• Sammi Brie (submissions) wins the good article reviewer prize for 45 GA reviews in round 2, and 78 GA reviews overall.
• BeanieFan11 (submissions) wins the DYK prize, for 131 Did you know articles overall.
• Muboshgu (submissions) wins the ITN prize, for 15 In the news articles in round 1, and 36 overall.

Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2025 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement!

If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:49, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Cannonball (Milwaukee Road train)

On 14 November 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Cannonball (Milwaukee Road train), which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that despite being an ordinary commuter train, the Cannonball (pictured) was known for its Friday-night parties? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Cannonball (MILW train). You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Cannonball (Milwaukee Road train)), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

 — Chris Woodrich (talk) 00:02, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

		Hook update
		Your hook reached 28,204 views (1,175.2 per hour), making it one of the most viewed hooks of November 2024 – nice work!

GalliumBot (talk • contribs) (he/it) 03:28, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Good job coming up with that hook, Trainsandotherthings! Viriditas (talk) 08:55, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

@Viriditas: I was wondering why I got credit for this and then your comment reminded me. Thank you! Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:08, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

You're welcome! Viriditas (talk) 22:09, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

A couple of things

Here are a couple of things I thought I’d let you know of. Firstly, I created a draft for Everett Railroad 11, as you somewhat recently requested. I’m busy trying to improve other pages at the moment, but once I’m done, I’ll try to find sources for Everett 11 via Newspapers.com and Trains magazine’s archive.

Secondly, the “other pages” I’m referring to are those of the Delaware Otsego Corporation and it’s shortline subsidiaries. I’m almost done with at least improving the grammar of those pages, but I couldn’t help but feel like some of them were mostly copy and pasted from their sources, particularly the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad page and the Rahway Valley Railroad page. Wouldn’t that be a Wikipedia violation? Someone who likes train writing (talk) 04:59, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

@Someone who likes train writing: Glad to see you were able to start a draft on Everett Railroad 11, I'll drop by to contribute this weekend. You're certainly right that copying and pasting from sources is a copyright violation. I'll take a look today and let you know what I find. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:45, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Commented on Talk:Rahway Valley Railroad that I unfortunately was able to confirm close paraphrasing. It was likely much worse before you made changes. The sources for Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad are almost entirely offline so I can't really check if there are problems. When in doubt, rewrite suspicious text in your own words. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 23:13, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Nominations now open for the WikiProject Military history newcomer of the year and military historian of the year

Nominations now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2024! The the top editors will be awarded the coveted Gold Wiki. Nominations are open here and here respectively. The nomination period closes at 23:59 on 30 November 2024 when voting begins. On behalf of the coordinators, wishing you the very best for the festive season and the new year. MediaWiki message delivery via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:21, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

Precious

Three years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:42, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

ArbCom 2024 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2024 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 2 December 2024. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2024 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:45, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Voting is now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards

Voting is now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2024! The top editors will be awarded the coveted Gold Wiki. Cast your votes here and here respectively. Voting closes at 23:59 on 30 December 2024. On behalf of the coordinators, wishing you the very best for the festive season and the new year. MediaWiki message delivery via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:00, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

Need your help!

Hey if you don’t mind, I really need your help since your a patient user. I’ve been deleting the serial numbers on the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum because you stated in the edit summaries on the Strasburg Railroad article that we don’t include serial numbers for locomotives on an encyclopedia. I’ve explained to him three times in my edit summaries, but he doesn’t believe me. He’s threatening me of vandalism when I clear did nothing wrong. He was complaining that because I removed it, I didn’t like it, which it’s not true. If there’s any chance you could respectfully talk some sense into him before something crazy happens, thanks, it would r much appreciated. 2.56.173.95 (talk) 22:25, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

While I am indeed of the opinion that listing serial numbers is pointless excessive detail, I am only one editor and when someone contests a change the best move is generally to try and gain consensus on the talk page. With that said, I do see that a second editor has restored your changes (which I do agree with), so there's not really anything further for me to do at the moment. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:53, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

No problem, I completely understand. Thank you for listening. 2.56.173.95 (talk) 23:00, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

GTW 5632

I need an opinion. An IP user removed the redirect on the Grand Trunk Western 5632 page. An admin put the redirect there after I did what I could to improve the page with all reliable sources from a GTW book and newspapers.com. If you look at the 5632 page for yourself, do you think it’s alright to remain a standalone page, or do you think it’s not notable enough? And keep in mind, there are locomotive pages shorter than this one, like Pere Marquette 1223 and Canadian National 47. Even the Timken 1111 page has fewer bytes. Someone who likes train writing (talk) 04:57, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Someone who likes train writing:, the article was redirected not only because of notability concerns, but also due to the original author (and the person who edit warred to restore it) being community banned. With that said, I think the sources you added show a decent argument for including this locomotive somewhere within Wikipedia. However, it's generally tougher to write articles on locomotives that were placed into static preservation. Ideally I think this locomotive would be best covered as part of an article on its class. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 14:28, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

@Trainsandotherthings Of course. I feel like I left a pretty bad can of worms by making multiple pages for random obscure locomotives, and a lot of them are still in need of improvements. I did resurrect some of the 5632 info on the USRA Light Pacific page, so it can still be seen there. Someone who likes train writing (talk) 16:22, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

That's a good solution. It preserves the content somewhere in mainspace and leave the potential to write an article in the future if more sources are identified. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:01, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Everett Railroad 11

On 17 December 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Everett Railroad 11, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Everett Railroad 11 (pictured) had to be modified after it met a sharp curve on its first trip? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Everett Railroad 11. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Everett Railroad 11), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

 — Chris Woodrich (talk) 00:02, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

New pages patrol January 2025 Backlog drive

January 2025 Backlog Drive | New pages patrol
On 1 January 2025, a one-month backlog drive for new pages patrol will begin in hopes of addressing the growing backlog. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles and redirects patrolled. Each article review will earn 1 point, while each redirect review will earn 0.2 points. Streak awards will be given out based on consistently hitting point thresholds for each week of the drive. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
You're receiving this message because you are a new page patroller. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:54, 18 December 2024 (UTC)

Season's Greetings

Hello Trainsandotherthings: Enjoy the holiday season and winter solstice if it's occurring in your area of the world, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 02:13, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings}} to send this message

Seasonal greetings!

Hello Trainsandotherthings: Enjoy the holiday season and winter solstice if it's occurring in your area of the world, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, 1234qwer1234qwer4 19:50, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings}} to send this message

Welcome to the 2025 WikiCup!

Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The 2025 competition has just begun and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. Even if you are a novice editor, we hope the WikiCup will give you a chance to improve 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.

For the 2025 WikiCup, we've implemented several changes to the scoring system. The highest-ranking contestants will now receive tournament points at the end of each round, and final rankings are decided by the number of tournament points each contestant has. If you're busy and can't sign up in January, don't worry: Signups are now open throughout the year. To make things fairer for latecomers, the lowest-scoring contestants will no longer be eliminated at the end of each round.

The first round will end on 26 February. The judges for the WikiCup this year are: Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email), Epicgenius (talk · contribs · email), Frostly (talk · contribs · email), Guerillero (talk · contribs · email) and Lee Vilenski (talk · contribs · email). Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:14, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

West Philly streetcar suburbs

West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District is about neighborhoods within the city of Philadelphia, while Draft:Western Street Car Suburbs of Philadelphia is about towns in Delaware and perhaps Chester County. I am pretty dubious about the draft (I'm not sure it's possible to write on that topic without SYNTH), but they're not the same thing. Choess (talk) 20:42, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

Everett Railroad 11

Please stop deleting my edits, I’ve sourced out some information and you keep constantly removing it. The sources LITERALLY say it ran at Rail City Museum in 1955. What more do you want from me!?!? Please stop deleting those edits, I’ve worked so hard on them, first you said it was coal firing, now your saying it’s not? Make up you mind then. If it is originally a coal burner, then why do you keep deleting it from the fuel info in the infobox!? What more do you want for proof!?!? 45.83.21.43 (talk) 03:19, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

You're an LTA evading numerous blocks through use of VPNs. There's no negotiation to be had. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:25, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

Re: Maintenance tag removals

Hi, sorry, but I don't know this policy. Regards. LukeWiller (talk) 23:12, 13 February 2025 (UTC).

Answering on your talk. If I start the discussion on your talk, please answer there rather than coming here so the discussion does not become fragmented. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 23:16, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Merger discussion for Storrs, Connecticut

An article that you have been involved in editing—Storrs, Connecticut—has been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. Newsjunkiect (talk) 02:00, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

WikiCup 2025 March newsletter

The first round of the 2025 WikiCup ended on 26 February. As a reminder, we are no longer disqualifying the lowest-scoring contestants; everyone who competed in round 1 will advance to round 2 unless they have withdrawn or been banned from Wikipedia. Instead, the contestants with the highest round-point totals now receive tournament points at the end of each round. Unlike the round points in the main WikiCup table, which are reset at the end of each round, tournament points are carried over between rounds and can only be earned if a competitor is among the top 16 round-point scorers. This table shows all competitors who have received tournament points so far.

Round 1 was very competitive compared with previous years; two contestants scored more than 1,000 round points, and the top 16 contestants all scored more than 500 round points. The following competitors scored more than 800 round points:

• Gog the Mild (submissions) with 1,168 round points, mainly from 4 featured articles and 4 good articles on old military history, in addition to an assortment of GA and FA reviews.
• Generalissima (submissions) with 1,095 round points, mainly from 2 FAs, 2 featured lists, 8 GAs, and 16 Did You Know articles mainly on historical topics.
• BeanieFan11 (submissions), with 866 round points from 20 GAs, 23 DYKs, and 2 In the News articles primarily about athletes.
• Sammi Brie (submissions), with 846 round points from 16 GAs about radio and TV stations, 45 GA reviews, and 3 DYKs.
• Hey man im josh (submissions), with 816 round points from 5 FLs about sports and Olympic topics, 46 FL reviews, 3 ITN articles, and a large number of bonus points.
• MaranoFan (submissions), with 815 round points primarily from 3 FAs and 1 GA about music, in addition to 9 article reviews.

The full scores for round 1 can be seen here. During this round, contestants have claimed 18 featured articles, 26 featured lists, 1 featured-topic article, 197 good articles, 38 good-topic articles and more than 100 Did You Know articles. In addition, competitors have worked on 23 In the News articles, and they have conducted nearly 550 reviews.

Remember that any content promoted after 26 February but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2, which begins on 1 March. 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 Wikipedia: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 Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:13, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

Noah McCann (railfan)

Can I get your opinion on this page. The references used in the article don't demonstrate significant coverage in multiple reliable secondary sources and my search don't turn up any better. I know you might have access to stuff that isn't available online. What's your opinion? TarnishedPath^talk 09:56, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

@TarnishedPath: The company he's associated with (Dieselmotive Company) didn't survive AfD, so I find it exceedingly unlikely he's notable. This isn't someone who would have coverage in older sources. The description of him as "a railfan and private owner who is associated with many railroads and railroad-related stuff" almost made me laugh at how poorly written it is. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:01, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

Did you tag it with a CSD? TarnishedPath^talk 12:40, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

CSD was not me, it had already been tagged (by an admin or very experienced non-admin, I believe) by the time I logged in this morning and saw your message. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:49, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

All good in the end. Ps, and editor move it to Draft:Noah McCann (railfan) prior to deletion. TarnishedPath^talk 12:54, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

Randy Kryn ANI

There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Warrenᚋᚐᚊᚔ 10:23, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

I directly quoted some of your prior interactions with him and linked some of your posts, so I do believe I need to ping you here. They are from 2023, though. Warrenᚋᚐᚊᚔ 10:23, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

New pages patrol May 2025 Backlog drive

May 2025 Backlog Drive | New pages patrol
On 1 May 2025, a one-month backlog drive for New Pages Patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles patrolled. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Each review will earn 1 point. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
You're receiving this message because you are a new page patroller. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:26, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

WikiCup 2025 May newsletter

The second round of the 2025 WikiCup ended on 28 April at 23:59 UTC. To reiterate what we said in the previous newsletter, we are no longer disqualifying contestants based on how many points (now known as round points) they received. Instead, the contestants with the highest round-point totals now receive tournament points at the end of each round. These tournament points are carried over between rounds, and can only be earned if a competitor is among the top 16 round-point scorers at the end of each round. This table shows all competitors who have received tournament points so far. Everyone who competed in round 2 will advance to round 3 unless they have withdrawn or been banned.

Round 2 was quite competitive. Four contestants scored more than 1,000 round points, and eight scored more than 500 points (including one who has withdrawn). The following competitors scored at least 800 points:

• BeanieFan11 (submissions) with 1,233 round points from 24 good articles, 28 Did you know articles, and one In the news nomination, mainly about athletes and politicians
• Thebiguglyalien (submissions) with 1,127 round points, almost entirely from two high-multiplier featured articles on Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) and Grace Coolidge, in addition to two GAs and two reviews
• History6042 (submissions) with 1,088 round points from four featured lists about Michelin-starred restaurants, nine good articles and a good topic mostly on Olympic-related subjects, seven ITN articles, and dozens of reviews
• Gog the Mild (submissions) with 1,085 round points from three FAs, one GA, and four DYKs on military history, as well as 18 reviews
• Arconning (submissions) with 887 round points, mostly from four FLs, six GAs, and seven DYKs on Olympic topics, along with more than two dozen reviews

In addition, we would like to recognize Generalissima (submissions) for her efforts; she scored 801 round points but withdrew before the end of the round.

The full scores for round 2 can be seen here. During this round, contestants have claimed 13 featured articles, 20 featured lists, 4 featured-topic articles, 138 good articles, 7 good-topic articles, and more than 100 Did You Know articles. In addition, competitors have worked on 19 In the News articles, and they have conducted nearly 300 reviews.

Remember that any content promoted after 28 April but before the start of Round 3 can be claimed in Round 3. 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 Wikipedia: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 Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:03, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

ANI discussion followup

It feels like we're getting a little off topic in the discussion WP:ANI#David Eppstein and Good Article Reassessment, and I anyway try to keep responses short on ANI, but I wanted to drop a note to you. Over-provocative is a good description of the "suffer fools gladly" comment, which I don't think was well-considered. I'm completely sincere in my comment about appreciating our norm of collegiality, and I think that comment tends to fall short of that norm. It is likely that I should've responded immediately to disclaim the comment, but I didn't quickly see a pithy way to do it that wouldn't be subject to misinterpretation. I appreciate your thoughtful comments on various noticeboards (and even in the current case)! Russ Woodroofe (talk) 12:06, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

@Russ Woodroofe: I apologize, I saw this message, meant to respond, and then something else came up and it completely slipped my mind. And once the notification for my talk page was cleared, I had nothing reminding me. Thanks for the message; I'm glad to see you feel my noticeboard comments have been thoughtful, when I was a new editor I think I tended a little too much toward being combative even when that was the wrong course of action. Truth be told I was sad to see the whole situation at ANI go this way, because I do respect David's contributions to the encyclopedia and he raised some valid points about the GAR process back in January; he just needs to revise the way he responds to other editors. How to turn down the temperature was a skill that I've been working on for years and I still have room to grow. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:22, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
	Thank you so much for your detailed review of Worcester Consolidated Street Railway! Your comments made for great improvements to the article. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 03:37, 27 May 2025 (UTC)