Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Style advice

This is an essay on style. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how to format and present article content within their area of interest. This information is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

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Following are guidelines and suggestions on the style of train articles for WikiProject Trains.

A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. For general advice on notability of articles see WP:N.

The primary Wikipedia notability criteria for organisations (WP:ORG) would also need to be consulted. In particular, a company, corporation, organization, group, product, or service is notable if it has been the subject of coverage in secondary sources. Such sources must be reliable, and independent of the subject. The depth of coverage of the subject by the source must be considered. If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources should be cited to establish notability. Trivial or incidental coverage of a subject by secondary sources is not sufficient to establish notability. Once notability is established, primary sources may be used to add content. Ultimately, and most importantly, all content must be attributable.

When that has been done, train specific criteria may be considered. That an article meets one or more of these criteria, or doesn't meet any of them, is not by itself proof of notability.

1. Railroad and rail transport operating companies
   • Any current or defunct railroad or operating company with an assigned reporting mark.
   • Railroads that have been honored at the national level with an award, i.e. Short Line Railroad of the Year or E.H. Harriman Award.
   • Railroads that have appeared on postage stamps.
   • Currently operating railroads.
   • Railroads that were first to enter or be built in major political divisions (states, provinces or nations).
   • see also Wikipedia:Notability (companies and corporations)
2. Rolling stock
   • Generic classes by manufacturer for diesel and electric locomotives, i.e. EMD GP30 or GE U30C.
   • Generic classes by railroad for steam locomotives, i.e. PRR K5 or Southern Pacific class AC-12.
   • Individual equipment that has been labeled as a superlative type (only, first, last, largest, longest, smallest, oldest, etc.), i.e. El Gobernador or C. P. Huntington.
   • Individual equipment labeled as historically significant by reputable and verifiable external sources, such as the National Register of Historic Places, i.e. Pere Marquette 1225. See also Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places.
3. Equipment manufacturers
   • Currently operating manufacturers.
   • Companies that have been labeled as a superlative type (first, largest, etc.).
   • Companies that have been depicted on postage stamps in any country.
4. Railroad infrastructure and buildings (Note that discussion is ongoing for notability guidelines on railway and rapid transit/subway stations.)
   • Any structure labeled as historically significant by reputable and verifiable external sources, such as the National Register of Historic Places.
   • Structures that have appeared on postage stamps in any country.
   • Any piece of equipment or equipment part where a history of the development can be described (more than just a dictionary definition).
5. Rail transport museums
   • Any museum whose collection includes culturally or historically significant rolling stock or infrastructure, such as equipment or structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
6. People (For articles on living people, the Wikipedia policy Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons applies, and must be consulted. In all cases Wikipedia:Notability (people) should also be consulted.)
   • Founders, Presidents, CEOs and Chief Mechanical Engineers of railroad companies.
   • Railroaders who have been honored at the national level in any country with an award, such as Railroader of the Year.
   • Railroaders who have appeared on postage stamps in any country, i.e. Jimmie Rodgers (the "singing brakeman") or Casey Jones.
   • Railroaders who have been identified as noteworthy by reputable and verifiable external sources, such as those who appear in: White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15. ISSN 0090-7847. JSTOR 43523785. OCLC 1785797.
7. Events
   • Events that served as important turning points in rail transport history.
   • Accidents where a significant number of casualties or a significant amount of property damage occur (this is purposely not nailed down to a specific number for either criterion).
   • Accidents that form the basis for rail transport legislation.
   • Events that have been labeled as historically significant by reputable and verifiable external sources.
8. Historical, technical and preservation organizations
   • Organizations that have been recognized as superlative (i.e. first, oldest, largest, etc.) by multiple reputable external sources.
   • Organizations that have appeared as the primary subject of postage stamps.
   • Organizations that are stewards of equipment or facilities of historical or cultural significance (i.e. listed buildings or equipment or structures on the National Register of Historic Places, etc.).
   • see also Wikipedia:Notability (organizations) (proposed) and Wikipedia:Notability (companies and corporations)

This list is not intended to be used as minimum requirements.

• Don't use apostrophes for plurals. For example, the plural of EMD GP40 is EMD GP40s and not EMD GP40's.
• A large number of templates for use on rail transport articles are listed on Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Article templates and in Category:Rail transport templates
• When equipment or train service names are mentioned in an article text, they should be showin in italics (such as Super Chief or Stourbridge Lion)

• Write a concise lead section that summarizes the content of the entire article.
• The first sentence should provide a definition of the article subject, including (where applicable) the company's reporting marks; use the {{reporting mark}} template to present the mark in a standardized format.
• If there is another common abbreviation or alternative name for the subject, state it in the lead section.

• Add {{TrainsWikiProject}} and {{Todo, trains}} to the article's talk page to indicate that the article is part of the Trains WikiProject and to list the tasks that need to be completed. If there are many talk page templates for a specific article, consider using small=yes to reduce the display size of the template's output.
• Using {{TrainsWikiProject}} without any parameters will automatically add the article's talk page to Category:Unassessed rail transport articles and Category:Unknown-importance rail transport articles, where other editors will see it and assess it based on the guidelines at Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Assessment. This is often backlogged, so try and fill out these parameters yourself if you are comfortable doing so.
• The appropriate WikiProject(s) for the geographical area(s) served by a rail line, rail company or facility, or the location of a preserved locomotive should also be added. For example, the Branford Steam Railroad falls under both WikiProject Trains and WikiProject Connecticut.

• The most general stub type for rail transport is {{rail-transport-stub}}.
• Use the most specific stub type applicable (as listed on Category:Rail transport stubs), deferring to {{rail-transport-stub}} only when the existing subtypes are not appropriate.
• Multiple stub templates can be used on a stub (such as using both {{diesel-loco-stub}} and {{US-rail-transport-stub}} on an article about a diesel locomotive that was only used in the US), but avoid adding more than two stub templates to any specific article.
• In order to create a new stub type, identify at least around 50 articles that would fall into the proposed stub category and then make a proposal on the WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals page.

• The most general category for rail transport is Category:Rail transport
• Use the most specific categories applicable, deferring to Category:Rail transport only when the existing categories are not appropriate.
• Do not place articles into both a category and that category's parent category, but use the more specific of the two.
• There are categories for beginnings and endings based on start and end years as appropriate. For companies, add [[Category:Railway companies established in YEAR]] and [[Category:Railway companies disestablished in YEAR]]; for biographies, add [[Category:YEAR births]] and [[Category:YEAR deaths]] (if both birth and death years are known). Train service or rolling stock equipment introductions can be categorized in [[Category:YEAR introductions]]. In each of these, substitute YEAR with the appropriate year number (the complete four-digit year).

• Articles should be named using the railroad company's most common name in independent reliable sources. Create redirects from alternate names and abbreviations. Example: BNSF Railway is the most common name; its longer official name BNSF Railway Company, even longer former official name Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and abbreviation BNSF all redirect to the article.
• Article names should use the word "and" instead of an ampersand ("&"), e.g. Chicago and North Western Railway, unless the ampersand can be shown to be part of the proper name, as in Decatur & Eastern Illinois Railroad.

• Use {{Infobox rail}} to present standardized summary information about the railroad; {{Infobox SG rail}} is a special case that has the gauge parameter already filled in for standard gauge railroads.

• History of the railroad and significant predecessors and/or successors (history may be broken up into further subsections as appropriate)
• Territory and/or station list
• Company officers (presidents and CEOs only) through history
• Major service areas

A default sort key should be created by removing commas and conjunctions, adding an extra space before the "Railroad" or "Railway", spelling out abbreviations like St., and "updating" old spellings like Pittsburg. For instance, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, Chicago and North Western Railway, and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad would be "Chicago Milwaukee Saint Paul  Railway", "Chicago Milwaukee Saint Paul Pacific  Railroad", "Chicago North Western  Railway", and "Chicago Rock Island Pacific  Railroad", and would appear in that order in categories such as Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States.

• Do not use "she" to describe equipment.
• Use {{Infobox Locomotive}} for motive power.

• Articles about a generic type of equipment should use the equipment type's most general name with subsections for specific subtypes (such as Refrigerator car)
• Articles about a specific model of equipment that may have been used by more than one company should be named as MANUFACTURER MODEL (such as EMD SD40-2)
• Articles about a specific class of equipment used by a specific railroad company should be named with the most common company and class names (such as PRR K4s)
• Articles about specific single pieces of equipment should be named with the most common name used to identify the equipment, using disambiguation as appropriate (such as John Bull (locomotive)); if the equipment is known by its operating number, the number should be prefaced with the most common railroad identifier (such as Santa Fe 3751)

• Design and historical development
• Export Variations
• Rebuilds
• Preservation

• The first sentence of the article text should list the service name, operating railroad(s), service endpoints (i.e. Chicago to Los Angeles) and the beginning and ending service years; for example, the following would be an acceptable lead sentence:

  The Fooian Express was a passenger train service operated by the Bar None Railroad between Frozz, Michigan, and Bazz, Ohio, from 1882 to 1926.

• Within the article text, train names are italicized (as in Super Chief)
• For Amtrak services, use {{Infobox rail service}} and the appropriate footer navbox(es)

• The article name should be the service's official name
• Where disambiguation is necessary, first disambiguate to "(train)", as in Chief (train), then to individual railroad companies as needed, as in Overland Limited (ATSF train) and Overland Limited (UP train).
• Do not use the word "the" in the article title unless it is part of the service's official name

• History
• Route and equipment used
• Legacy

• Add articles to the appropriate [[Category:Railway services introduced in YEAR]] and [[Category:Railway services discontinued in YEAR]], where YEAR is the year that the named service began or ended.
• Where there is a category for the operating railroad, add the article to that category (and to the specific passenger service subcategory if it exists)
• For named passenger services, add it to the appropriate category under Category:Named passenger trains

For the opening date, if there are multiple dates (such as a "grand opening" prior to the start of revenue service), use the start of revenue service for the infobox and categorization, but discuss both dates in the article text.