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Australian railway station codes

Hello, I have several questions related to Victorian station identifier codes, but please direct me to another place if one exists.

• All but two Victorian stations have an identifier code in the infobox, e.g. Malvern railway station, Melbourne is "MAL". What are these codes called, i.e. is there a name for the system? Looking for something analogous to IATA code for airports.
• Is there a central database where I can look up a station's code? It doesn't appear to be on the PTV website, e.g. "MAL" is absent from the Malvern station's page. It's on the VicSig webpage, but that site's pages sometimes lack the codes.
• Huntly and Sherwood Park don't have any infobox codes at all. Any idea if they have them (and the articles are just missing them), or if the stations have no codes at all? Many stations have signs near the station (apparently for the sake of drivers and other railway staff), but Huntly and Sherwood Park are hundreds of kilometres away from me, so I can't just go there and look for signs. VicSig doesn't give any codes for them.
• BEN and CFD are used twice, for Benalla and Bentleigh, and Caulfield and Clarkefield respectively. How do I ascertain what's wrong? I go through Bentleigh and Caulfield routinely, but again, the others aren't near me. It seems absurd that these codes would be used twice, since that defeats the purpose of unique identifier codes.

Thanks! Nyttend (talk) 02:02, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Hello Nyttend.

I'm not sure what those codes are officially called, but those codes are used for internal identification of stations. Those codes are not meant for public use, and you won't find them on the PTV website or the Metro Trains Melbourne website. VicSig is a railfan website and is therefore not a reliable source. The only somewhat reliable source I can find talking about those codes is Daniel Bowen's blog, at [1]. He says that "Every station (and a good many other places, such as passing loops and sidings) in the state has a three letter code, used in railway circles. Occasionally you’ll see them creep into the public arena". He also lists all the station codes, but they are sourced from Wikipedia, which means we can't use that list as a source.

In my opinion, those codes should be entirely removed from Wikipedia. They are generally only used internally and there aren't really any useable sources for those codes. As for why they are even on Wikipedia in the first place, at least some of them (possibly most of them) were added by User:Sw2nd around 2012.

By the way, if you aren't aware, there is a WikiProject Australian Transport where there might be some other people who are more familiar on this matter than me. Steelkamp (talk) 02:19, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm in full agreement with Steelkamp here. Internal codes don't belong in infoboxes; only the rare systems that use them in public-facing materials (notably Amtrak) should have them listed. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 03:34, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Requested move at Talk:Gulf & Atlantic Railways#Requested move 8 May 2024

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:Gulf & Atlantic Railways#Requested move 8 May 2024 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. ASUKITE 15:18, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for SR Q class

SR Q class 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. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:29, 18 May 2024 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for SR V class

SR V class 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. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:32, 18 May 2024 (UTC)

Electric-steam locomotive

The electric-steam locomotive article has been moved to electric–steam locomotive (en-dash instead of hyphen). I'm pretty sure that the hyphen is correct. Should the move be reverted? Mjroots (talk) 06:21, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

I agree, it should be a hyphen, it is a compound word not a from/to situation. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 07:53, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

I've moved it back to the former title. Mjroots (talk) 16:32, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

This is where I bring general train-related problems like issues buying tickets? Y/N?

ok I'm kidding but please tell me if there's a good place to ask bc I know someone knows this immediately but I'm failing Google:

What train did Underground Railroad passenger Charlotte Gilchrist take to get to Canada in 1854? I'm pretty sure she stopped in St. Albans (town), Vermont and Rouses Point, New York. TY for any guidance you can offer. jengod (talk) 18:37, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

@Jengod: The most likely route from Rouses Point into Canada would have been the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, which enters Canada just a mile from Rouses Point, though it's possible she instead went west on the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad and crossed on one of its connecting lines. If she arrived in Rouses Point by train, it would have been on the Vermont Central Railroad, which passed through St. Albans. You can see these lines on commons:File:1854 Rail Road Map of the New England States.jpg. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 20:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Incredible. Transportation history at its finest. Thank you so much and I'm going to add this map to the article, TY so much for surfacing it @Pi.1415926535:. <3 jengod (talk) 20:16, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Identifying an early part of the NYC subway system

I've been working on Richard Harper Laimbeer, whose NYT obit says "He was one of the commissioners appointed to determine the present route of the first Interborough subway between City Hall, New York and Borough Hall, Brooklyn". I haven't found any other references to this yet and would like to know exactly which part of the modern subway system this is so I can add that detail to his article. Does anyone here know what this refers to? Thanks for any help. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 13:35, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

@Mike Christie: That should be the Joralemon Street Tunnel (Lexington Avenue Line to the Eastern Parkway Line). Cards84664 16:31, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Thanks; added a link to that article. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 17:55, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Invitation to contribute in new article, List of busiest railway stations

Hi. Gare du Nord states that "It is the busiest railway station in Europe by total passenger numbers, and the busiest outside Japan". I tried to check, but there is no world ranking reasonably up to date, so I created List of busiest railway stations as a humble stub. To make it right requires A LOT of work, you are most invited :) --Jbaranao (talk) 18:04, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

County Durham articles

Hi User: Pi.1415926535 redirected four stations at Demons Bridge railway station, Stillington railway station, Simpasture railway station and Saltersgate Cottage railway station. I've written these using sites like Disused Stations, Historic Rail Maps and some other news articles. Can we see these as being notable or are there any other links needed like books articles etc worth linking? DragonofBatley (talk) 19:42, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

None of these articles meet the notability guideline because there is not significant coverage in reliable, independent sources. Adding sources that scarcely mention the stations (if at all) does not demonstrate notability. I've nominated them for deletion:

• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Demons Bridge railway station
• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Stillington railway station
• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Saltersgate Cottage railway station
• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Simpasture railway station

Pi.1415926535 (talk) 20:03, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

Parameter Tagging for Article Assessment

Hi! I'm a relatively new wikieditor (be kind!) and I have been working on rating WikiProject Trains articles. I'm using WP:RATER and I see where I can add parameters. Can someone give me an explanation of the parameters within WikiProject Trains? Some I can figure out myself but others I'm not sure about. Other questions: Is there a difference between "needs-map" "map-needed" "map-requested"? Should Stations be marked as a parameter within WikiProject Trains or Project Stations? Is there a good definition of what counts as a subway? Is it always underground? Thank you!! Pencilsforall (talk) 23:51, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

@Pencilsforall: The various parameters should all be documented at Template:WikiProject Trains#Parameters. As shown at Template:WikiProject Trains#Aliases, |meeds-map= is the primary parameter, the others are aliases with lower precedence. {{WikiProject Stations}} isn't often used for railway stations, for which setting |stations=yes in the {{WikiProject Trains}} is normally sufficient. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 17:26, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Some of these parameters are duplicates, as a result of templates being merged or different terminology being used in different parts of the world. When in doubt, try adding parameters manually and then previewing the result before submitting the edit, or copy formatting from established articles that are in good condition. I will say that I started out with doing assessments as a new editor, but quickly found it unrewarding compared to editing articles directly. It can seem intimidating at first, but improving articles is what servers our readers, 99% of whom will never even look at article talk pages or assessments. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 17:49, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you! This was helpful. Pencilsforall (talk) 23:10, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Requested move at Talk:Mezhdunarodnaya (Moscow Metro)#Requested move 7 June 2024

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:Mezhdunarodnaya (Moscow Metro)#Requested move 7 June 2024 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. ASUKITE 13:57, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

GA review requests

I’ve recently nominated two steam locomotive pages—Chicago and North Western 1385 and Texas and Pacific 610–and I was wondering if anyone could take the time to look them over and let me know if they’re eligible for the GA grade or not. Someone who likes train writing (talk) 22:57, 9 June 2024 (UTC)