Talk:Rail transport
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This article is within the scope of WikiProject Trains, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to rail transport on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. See also: WikiProject Trains to do list |
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Pending tasks for Rail transport: |
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| See also Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Todo | ||
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| 2005-2006 |
Contents |
[edit] Terrible 'Further Reading' List
The "Further Reading" section is appalling. Articles in 60-year-old journals? I don't think so. This should be for GENERAL READING, not scholarly research. The list should contain general and widely available books on trains and railroads. Seriously, think about your audience: would you really tell someone off the street who wanted to know more about trains to look up THIS set of sources? I don't think so.
I say this because I am, in fact, myself looking for a general reference on the history of railways and am having trouble finding one that suits me. \ Fnarf999 \ talk \ contribs \ 22:24, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Energy efficiency
Statistics about energy efficiency need to be put in context. For example, it is not more efficient for a gigantic locomotive to move a small number of people or a small amount of cargo, than a smaller car or truck, even though the train's rolling friction is lower. -- Beland 17:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] "Iron way"
In many (but not all) languages, the literal translation of the word or phrase used for "railway" is "iron way"; for example, "chemin de fer" (French), "ferrovia" (Italian and Portuguese; the latter also uses "estrada de ferro") and Modern Greek "σιδηρόδρομος". (See the discussion in Wiktionary of this idea.)
The article suggests that iron rails might have been invented by the British ("In the late 18th century iron rails began to appear: British civil engineer William Jessop designed ...") but does not make this clear. If this is indeed true, could it be that iron rails were exported all over the British Empire and led to railways being known as "iron ways" in various languages? This is just a conjecture of mine, but the similarity in many languages must have arisen somehow.
It's interesting to note, however, that English itself does not use "iron way" - has this ever been used in English? If not, this might mean my conjecture is false, although the words in various languages could of course be calques of another language. — Paul G 08:50, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
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- Paul, yes, the term 'iron road' was used. For example a classic book on the early history of railways is 'Our Iron Roads' by F S Williams, 1852. I have put this in the further reading list. Paul Matthews 13:07, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Section removed from 'General'
I have removed the bulk of the following from the 'General' section. It contains far more detail than for other countries, and throws the balance of the section out of kilter.
- As compared to most developed European and Asian nations, intercity rail transport in the United States is relatively scarce outside the Northeast Corridor. Major U.S. cities with heavily-used, local rail-based passenger transport systems are New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Philadelphia. Other U.S. cities with significant light rail or commuter rail operations include Atlanta, Dallas,Los Angeles, San Diego, and Portland, Oregon.[1] Amtrak, an agency of the federal government, is the sole nationwide passenger rail operator. In Canada, the government-owned VIA Rail system provides intercity service at prices that are usually higher than bus service but lower than air travel. Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver operate rapid transit and/or light rail services that receive millions of riders a year, and Ottawa has considered expanding its light rail pilot project.
Perhaps it would be better in an article discussing US railroads?
EdJogg 23:03, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Towards GA Status...
As may be seen from the header at the top of the page, this article has been selected for inclusion in Wikipedia 0.7 as an important article. This is because it is (or at least should be) the 'top level' article relating to railways/railroads (both terms redirect here).
However, before it can be included, the article really should be pushed towards 'Good Article' status, at the very least, preferably aiming for 'Featured' status.
With this in mind, several editors have started looking at the many areas where this article falls short. A substantial ToDo list has been drawn-up (see top of page), and some of the necessary work has already been started. I would like to encourage you to join in with this collaborative effort to improve the article.
EdJogg 10:09, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Scotland missing
Why is there no coverage in this article of Scotland's contribution to railway history? The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was opened more than ten years before the Stockton and Darlington line. TheBourtreehillian 19:08, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
- We were waiting for you to add it. B-) Actually, it's probably just that nobody's had a reliable source to cite when making such an update. Do you have a citation for the information you've added? I haven't had a chance to look through my own references yet. Slambo (Speak) 19:23, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
There's a wondeful video about a narrow-gauge railroad at www.tollgateproductions.com. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.23.137.9 (talk) 18:22, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] tons
The article mentions tons without specifying whether they are long or short ones. Could this be fixed so that a conversion to tonnes can be made? JЇѦρ 01:32, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
