User talk:Geof Sheppard

Thanks for putting me right. I purchased this photo years ago in Teignmouth. I always thought that a pixie was standing against the fence in the foreground!! Computer magnification dispels that belief. I am glad you like the photographs of the last train - one (Heathfield) was wrong & is now corrected. I am writing an article on the Haytor Granite Tramway at the moment.

Rosser1954

There are a couple of places in these articles where you got your Wiki markup wrong:

=History= 

should be

==History== 

since headings are meant to start at the second level (the first being reserved for the page heading), and

[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk| The National Archives] 

should be

[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk The National Archives] 

since external links use a space to separate the target from the text, not a pipe. Still it's nice to see station articles that do more than describe the current train service. I'll tidy them up when I add pictures to them. --bjh21 11:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I need some help with the expansion of this list. I hope to this will contain all the railway viaducts and bridges in the UK. Simply south 12:59, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I will move the page in accordance. Simply south 12:51, 29 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Another editor has listed an article that you may have an interest in, South Devon Sea Wall Rail Incidents, at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/South Devon Sea Wall Rail Incidents. Please look there to see why this is, if you are interested in whether it should be deleted. Thank you. -- Eastmain 19:27, 17 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I was thinking "Cornish China Clay Mining" or "China Clay Mining in Cornwall" would be a good title for the main article (other potential names could be redirects), as it is the origin of the freight on the railway anyway, and in that capacity the article would serve as the "origin" of the railway articles (albeit created in the wrong order), almost like a start page where users can follow the process from the pit to the railway to the port, or back the other way. It would basically be the tree trunk from which other articles branch out. I was thinking that to coordinate our efforts we might want to start a wikiproject to perhaps encourage others to participate in areas needing attention? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this. ▫Bad▫harlick♠ 15:29, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Inviting contributions through the Cornwall wikiproject sounds like a good idea to me. The subject is within the scope of the project, and as a standalone topic probably isn't large enough to make the grade for a wikiproject - I was mainly thinking in terms of ways in which we could bring attention to this overlooked area. Cornish mining in general is probably a better bet for a wikiproject, but at the time I was fresh out of ideas.

As for the title of the article, whichever title is chosen we must be mindful of all potential search strings, and make allowances for these by the provision of redirect articles for as many variations as we deem most likely. Also, a link/disambiguation to the Cornish China Clay page on the Kaolinite article, and vice versa, may also be helpful to people interested in the subject. ▫Bad▫harlick♠ 01:54, 31 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Geoff - re your edit to Solihull - I have no doubt that you are right that the Cornish Riviera Express ran from Paddington and therefore not via Solihull. However...... as a 10 year old train-spotter, spotting from a bridge over the line just above Solihull station, we used to see Kings and Castles wearing the Cornish Riviera Express plate hauling long passenger trains out of Snowhill. It is possible that they may be been out of service or in transit but as a 10 year old the only way that I would ever have known of such a service was to see the trains themselves. Any explanations would be very welcome. Velela 14:47, 13 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the response - you are probably right - I can only blame ageing brain cells !Velela 16:09, 14 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is fixed now... I put   (non-[line]-breaking space) between the two words to prevent it from line wrapping there, and forxe the table's colun to be wide enough. By the way, when doing templates links using {{tl}}, use curly brackets, not square ones :-) Tompw (talk) 14:45, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for putting the picture up on this page, I've always wondered what the station looked like during the Somerset & Dorset days! PiffPuffPickle 11:39, 2 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Having added the list of stations from the 1957 leaflet from BR I intend to work through the links etc when I have the time. Please feel free to add comments particularly re the format; I feel that a single column would look simpler but leave a lot of white space and little content. The next job is to ensure that all links go to the stations not the towns - do you think that putting in red links for stations would encourage people to write more station articles? Britmax 22:13, 5 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. I've made some modifications to your table of distance to the path on each railway station article and changed it to a template, Template:Swcp. Hopefully this will make it easier to maintain and ensure consistency across the articles. I've added Category:Railway stations on the South West Coast Path to the template so it doesn't need adding manually. Regards. Adambro 15:35, 12 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Should i make the older template a redirect to this one?

Secondly, instead of the name Bristol railway stations, i think it would be beter called Greater Bristol railway stations as it does not just serve the Bristol area. Simply south 16:51, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Disused railway stations (Bristol to Exeter Line) article is definitely the way to go regarding closed stations. It should address the majority of concerns about their inclusion in WP. Do you think the article would cope with the addition of station photos?

Main reason for writing is that when I was proof-reading, I checked that Hele was correct (it was, but there is a Hele Bay in North Devon, isn't there?) and noted that that article referred to its railway station. So, I created an anchored link back to your article. And the thought struck me: shouldn't we do this for each of the stations mentioned?

My initial thought was that it should be the article creator who does this linking ( :o) ), but I've since realised that there's enough work to make it into a mini-mini-project for each page – it would be enough to have a talk page list of the stations to link and some means of indicating which had been done, and any editor could then work their way through the list....

Just a thought!

(It's surprising what these routemaps have unleashed, isn't it?)

EdJogg 13:56, 27 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It is always my intention to wade through station and route articles, checking that there are working links both ways between the railway and topgraphical articles. As you have noticed, there can be a lot of these. Sometimes I get bored with clicking on all those links so I go off and write another article instead! (Exeter to Plymouth is on the way - most of it is merging the old individual pages)

I love the way that Wikipedeans tend to smooth out most of these blips (and the proof-reading - thanks for yours). Geof Sheppard 15:35, 27 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh yes. The pages would be improved if there were photographs of the stations - both as they used to be and also as they are now where there are visible remians. Geof Sheppard 07:03, 30 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just completed my proof-reading of Disused railway stations (Exeter to Plymouth Line).

Not many problems to fix, and just a few requiring consultation:

• Wrangaton railway station would appear to be redundant now. Redirect required?
• Exminster and Cornwood both use the phrase "station staff master", which I don't recognise. Do you mean "station staff", "station master" or "station master and staff"? Or something else?
• Route-map contains a few omissions/anomalies:
  • Kingsbridge Branch Line is not shown, although mentioned in text. (Incidentally, trying to include links to both "Kingsbridge" and "Kingsbridge Branch" in such a short space is tricky, isn't it? I hope my revised text is still OK with you!)
  • Cornwall-bound trains would appear to have to reverse at Plymouth Millbay, which I didn't think was the case...

Keep up the good work! -- EdJogg 13:32, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I take a few days off, come back to finish editing the new page and you have done half of it for me. And someone nominated for the Main Page DYK!

I think I have finished the merges, but there is still the links to and from the topographical pages relating to all these towns that need to be added. (BTW - Cornwood and Exminster never had station masters based there, the accommodation was for "the person in charge")Geof Sheppard 13:05, 8 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Having just proof-read Disused railway stations (Newton Abbot to Kingswear Line) and subsequently looked at Riviera Line, I couldn't help feeling that there was a certain amount of overlap between the two routemaps. Indeed Riviera Line's map seems to duplicate quite a few other maps' features, and still contains some closed stations, although there were some features (eg crossings and tunnels) that appeared to be unique. It just occurred to me that you might care to consider all this during your rationalisation process. (I think I found at least four pages containing maps which showed all or part of the Painton to Dartmouth Steam Railway, and each showed a slightly different set of features!)

EdJogg 12:48, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We are both thinking along the same lines. My gut feeling is that the disused stations with little or no remains should disappear from the route articles, and the historic company articles should only show features open before they were taken over by the GWR/LSWR/whoever. I'm holding back for a few days in case the discussion at UK Railways throws up any extreme views. Somehow, I doubt it!

The station articles have very few non-station features on purpose - they are about stations, after all! I'm not sure that the "LUECKE" icons are relevant on these, or else the links could be changed to be like "Disused railway stations (Exeter to Plymouth Line)|To Exeter"? Geof Sheppard 12:55, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No problem about the 'non-station' features, although I would have thought it helpful/appropriate to include links to the main 'line' article. As for 'LUECKE' icons, I think they make it clearer where a line continues, and look more natural than an abrupt end. In general I have avoided adding them to branch lines (although that would be a natural progression!) as I anticipate they would become overpowering -- maybe something a little more understated is required for these?

EdJogg 13:53, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On 19 May, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Disused railway stations (Plymouth to Penzance Line), which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--howcheng {chat} 06:49, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

But I hadn't proof-read it yet!! (It was on my todo list, honest.)

Have done so now! (reactive editing :o)). Fortunately, not much needed doing.

You're doing well with DYKs, aren't you?

--EdJogg 08:48, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am aware of the discussion we had regarding map rationalisation (see above), but having just compared this route map with the Cornish Main Line map, it is clear that they both need some attention. It is surprisingly difficult to compare the two! Listing the many differences would be unhelpful here, so I won't. But if you take a look you may agree, for example, that the various branch lines should look the same (I love the Gunnislake branch loop on the CML page!) and that there should be similar 'features' on both maps to aid navigation and context-setting.

(This is not intended as a 'nag'. Rather it is that I had made a note to do this comparison and thought I'd mention my conclusion here for your future reference!)

EdJogg 18:38, 22 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Geof.

I've just noticed a small inconsistency between the excellent route diagrams that you have created for the articles on the Atlantic Coast Line, Cornwall and the Cornwall Minerals Railway.

• The ACL article shows that the former tramway that ran over the Treffry Viaduct had a direct route from Pontsmill to Luxulyan without reversal.

• The CMR article shows a reversal being needed at a point marked The Treffry Viaduct, Colcerrow Tramway.

I've no idea which is correct. It is possible both were true at different times. But equally one might be a simple markup error with the rather fiddly graphics, so I thought I'd best point it out. Any thoughts?. -- Chris j wood 17:38, 24 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well spotted! it is a complicated location and I got my right mixed up with my left. I think the CMR map is now essentially correct, although I have a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that the Colcerrow branch was actually fed off a kick-back siding as the curve is so tight at the end of the viaduct. Geof Sheppard 07:27, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

SR West Country and Battle of Britain Classes Hello, as a fellow member of the trains wiki-project, is it possible that you could give a run-through of the above article, as it is up for FA status. Any feedback you give would be gratefully received, and taken onboard on improving this article for FA status. Thanks, --Bulleid Pacific 12:33, 7 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I see that you removed the 'Broad guage' cat from this railway - ISTR reading somewhere that the lines were actually a mix of guages at one stage, as at least one of the constituent railway companies used broad guage, but I can't recall or find out which one, off-hand. A couple of the stations look like they were once broad guage. I'm travelling for the next few weeks so won't have a chance to track down the reference, but you might want to keep an eye open for this. Best regards, Ephebi 08:22, 11 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Have you seen the proposal to create a Somerset wikiproject at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals ?— Rod ^talk 17:51, 14 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I still prefer the old ones Mark999 13:38, 20 September 2007 (UTC) can i have a say in something Mark999 22:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mark999 (talk • contribs)

Experiments should not be put on live pages - they should be for talk and project pages. And I've been through the discussion and can see no evidence of any agreement for changing infoboxes. Besides which, the emphasis should not be on the route but the operator, and your experimental ones do not give this emphasis. Unless there is agreement that infoboxes across the entire network be changed en masse, then they should be left alone. I will be changing them back at the earliest opportunity. Hammersfan 02/10/07, 14.20 BST —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 13:20, 2 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I've just realised that we have an article on the GWR Devonport railway station but not one on the LSWR station - would you be able to start one? The reason I'm asking you is that you seem to be highly knowledgeable and productive about railways. Thanks. DuncanHill 12:57, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It is on my "dreckly" list! Right now I am trying to advance all the stub status open railway station articles, but at some point I need to fill in all the gaps for the closed lines and Kings Road and Friary are both important ones that are currently missing. In the meantime, I am watching the slow advance of the West of England Main Line and the associated routes, so someone might beat me to it! Geof Sheppard 13:28, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK, cool - I must say I really appreciate all your contributions, I've learnt so much through reading them. Best wishes, DuncanHill 13:32, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

All done now – Devonport Kings Road railway station and Plymouth Friary railway station, with Railways in Plymouth as a bonus! Geof Sheppard (talk) 14:04, 3 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		for consistent hard work on railways in the West Country DuncanHill 13:53, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please can you leave them, its only 5 days and there are so many about, think it would be easier to leave them Mark999 14:19, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

The WikiProject UK Railways has always followed the WP:CRYSTAL process of not including future events unless they are notable, hence it is okay to create a page for a new franchise when it is awarded, but this information is not put into the station link boxes of individual station articles until the actual change. With the Virgin CrossCountry franchise changing to Arriva on 11 November 2007, that is when the changes should be made. Newquay railway station in particular does not need to change so early as Ariva does not Arrive there until next summer.

Similarly, I notice that the planned december changes to the First Great Western local services pattern around Bristol have started to appear. (Groan! I thought they had settled that last year!). IMHO this just confuses the station link boxes. Remember, Wikipedia is not a timetable Geof Sheppard 08:59, 6 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Your input would be very much appreciated at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject UK Railways#S-rail redux. Thanks, Mackensen (talk) 17:27, 14 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I see you are a member of the Cornwall Wikiproject. A proposal has been made to merge the Penwith Wikiproject into it. You can join in the debate here. Best wishes, DuncanHill (talk) 12:25, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ummm.... this diff [1] - spot the deliberate mistake? DuncanHill (talk) 13:56, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it starts with the right letter...! Geof Sheppard (talk) 08:05, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Geoff, re: [2]. There you go, you really do learn something new every day. Thanks for fixing my mistake. Gwernol 14:17, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, I hope you are well. I asked a question at Template talk:Disused railway stations (Plymouth to Penzance Line), which I then thought would be right up your street - hope you can answer. DuncanHill (talk) 09:15, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Well spotted! That's the problem with laying in redlinks months before the article actually gets written! Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:49, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - and thanks for all you've done on railways in Cornwall. There is a new article at Transport in Cornwall which needs expansion - fancy taking on the rail section? I can't think of anyone who could do a better job. DuncanHill (talk) 15:50, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

With the template mentioned above, i'm not sure what to do with it so i have left a note on WT:Rail. Simply south (talk) 21:57, 8 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A picture at last!! Thank you! EdJogg (talk) 14:28, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I would query your removal of Tiverton Parkway, Tiverton station and the Exe Valley line from the diagram here. My thinking was that in its previous form the diagram informed the uninitiated that the current Tiverton Parkway is neither the station in the town, nor on the site of the former junction station, and showed what the relationship of these railways was: and for very little diagram space used. Thoughts? Britmax (talk) 13:20, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I always thinks that an article's diagram should reflect the article. As the subject for this one is the Culm Valley line then Tiverton Parkway is certainly outside the scope (both geographically and historically) and Tiverton railway station itself is only relevant as to show where some of the through trains ran to, but that line too should just be the subject of a separate article (I was originally thinking of creating the Tiverton branch as just a sub-heading in the histroy of Tiverton station – see Clevedon railway station for the nearest west Country equivalent. After logging off I thought that it might make sense to leave the LUECKE for the branch but show an exBHF for Tiverton station (a similar thing happens on the Reading to Plymouth Line diagram to show Paddington and Penzance).

A thought for the station articles... rather than create a series of stubs that are unlikey to ever become fully-fledged articles, why not add the stations to the exisiting Culm Valley article and just create redirect pages for the individual names? (As was done for Castle Cary Cut-Off).

But thanks for working on the articles for this area - I can cross them off my to do list! Geof Sheppard (talk) 07:18, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep up the good work with this. I'm making proof-reading your changes a priority, as you make them, but only to a 'normal' level. Once we actually try for GA status it'll need a more serious proof-read, but you need a 'complete' article before doing that really.

Anyway, the reason for dropping by was to suggest that the history in the infobox should include a reference to The Grouping. Was there any change of status to the company at this point, or did it simply inherit a number of smaller railways? (The latter is all I am aware of, and I couldn't think of a 2-3 word description for the infobox!) Of course, it may be sufficient to mention the 1921 Railways Act at that point and be done with it!

EdJogg (talk) 14:07, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nice of you to drop by! I'm particularly interested in seeing how the GWR fits into the semi-standardised layout that has been suggested for the Big Four as its continuity through the Grouping makes it a rather more complex beast than the other three. I think that it was legally the same copmany, and anyway the merged railways were spread over about 30 months so there was not one simple date. I'm mulling over the Infobox and will put some comments on the UK Rail project talk page sometime next week (I'll be off network for a couple of days now).

I am thundering through all the likely sections so that we can get a proper feel for what the finished article will look like, and going back to do a rewrite on the History and Locomotives sections will almost certainly fall at the end of the To Do list (you never know, someone else may get there first:-)

The next things to tackle are the People and Operations sections, then I want to finish the Further reading, See also, and External links. If the sky stays blue I'm off with the camera tomorrow to try to fill a couple of gaps in the images. Meanwhile, there is also Bristol Temple Meads railway station which I satrted doing a rewrite of before this turned up in the project "goals", and I am hoping that thinking through the GA process will help me clarify how to finish the job on GWR. My guess is BTM can be nominated in June or July if the locals don't revert the Services or Description section, and then GWR about August.

More power to your dictionary! Geof Sheppard (talk) 16:18, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Another suggestion. In the "Heritage" section should we mention the 'heritage' which is still in daily use? For example, that many of the structures and stations have been individually Listed? I was thinking of continuing by saying something like: "...stations such as Paddington, Hanwell, Slough, and Windsor & Eton Central – despite later modifications to reflect changing traffic patterns – clearly show the varied architectural heritage handed-down from the GWR." I'm quite happy for you to work-in the paragraph yourself and re-word it as you see fit!

I must try and do another proof-read, as it is a while since I last did so. At present I'm still tackling the watchlist backlog from my two weeks of holiday! (And there's also Bulleid Pacific tackling the Southern counterpart article to proof-read -- but that's my fault as I put him up to it!) EdJogg (talk) 14:13, 15 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done that – and I thought I had covered all the angles! I have left it alone for a few weeks so that I can come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes. I won't have much time for editing over the next couple of weeks, but then I think it will be time to give it a final push on to GA.

Not that I've been taking it too quietly. I've been working up Royal Albert Bridge and Plymouth railway station with an eye on GA status for both of them. Geof Sheppard (talk) 07:28, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi - just a little request. When you change the order of sections, could you do so in a separate edit to any text changes (and indicate so in the summary)? I try to remember to do this myself, although I don't always succeed. The reason for asking is that it makes proof reading the differences that much easier. (Your recent edits to GWR showed the entire Passenger and Freight sections in red, in the diff window. I managed to check the text by copying the previous text into the current article and examining the changes.)

Cheers - EdJogg (talk) 14:42, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see what you mean! I moved the two tables up to the top of their sections (in two separate edits) to get rid of the white space at the end of the sections. Wiki's 'history' treats each line of the table as a paragraph and got rather confused. I'll try to remember that if I need to do something similar in the future. Thanks for keeping an eye on this one - at this rate it will be Christmas before I get to the bottom of it all! Geof Sheppard (talk) 07:25, 22 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is so easily done. Simply adding/removing a line break can throw the system -- I don't think the diff tool is very advanced.

'fraid I keep getting side-tracked from the GWR task. First Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal (now at FA, although my contribution was small, and 50% late!) and more recently Bridgwater and Taunton Canal (currently up for GA)...the second of these was a response to a personal request for help proof-reading.

Let me know when you think you're in a position to submit the GWR article. It is on my ToDo list as needing a full re-read, but it's probably best if I just keep monitoring changes for now and leave the full review to be fresh for GA.

EdJogg (talk) 09:34, 22 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, Ages ago you did some great work on South West Coast Path & I wondered if you would be interested in helping with the Monarch's Way article. I've started using the talk page as a sandbox in the same way you did & any contributions would be great.— Rod ^talk 22:10, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,

As a regularly contributing UK Wikipedian, we were wondering if you wanted to contribute to the Oxford bid to host the 2010 Wikimania conference. Please see here for details of how to get involved, we need all the help we can get if we are to put in a compelling bid.

We are also in the process of forming a new UK Wikimedia chapter to replace the soon to be folded old one. If you are interested in helping shape our plans, showing your support or becoming a future member or board member, please head over to the Wikimedia UK v2.0 page and let us know. We plan on holding an election in the next month to find the initial board, who will oversee the process of founding the company and accepting membership applications. They will then call an AGM to formally elect a new board who after obtaining charitable status will start the fund raising, promotion and active support for the UK Wikimedian community for which the chapter is being founded.

You may also wish to attend the next London meet-up at which both of these issues will be discussed. If you can't attend this meetup, you may want to watch Wikipedia:Meetup, for updates on future meets.

We look forward to hearing from you soon, and we send our apologies for this automated intrusion onto your talk page!

Addbot (talk) 21:34, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Having seen the tweaks you did to this article after I passed by I'd say thanks for pulling me back to it, I'd forgotten to do a routebox. And why I didn't think of putting one of the pictures in the infobox I don't know, good idea. Could I ask, though, why you rounded off the dates in the infobox to years when both Butt and Karau have the same days and months? Britmax (talk) 14:45, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Some Infoboxes have full dates and some just have years (clue: parameter is "years"...). I tend to use just the years now as (1) the Infobox is a summary of the more complete data that is found elsewhere in the article, (2) some cited dates (not here, but at other places) are just months or even years, and (3) since the automatic date formatting is no longer used in Wiki, just having the year makes for a tidier list. Of course, other people have other views! Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:41, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, I notice that you have contributed to many railway articles. I have drawn a map of the railways in Cornwall (for another project) which I have uploaded to my talk page. I would be very grateful if you could check the map for accuracy, add any comments if you want, and (once it is corrected) suggest suitable deployments. Please reply to my talk page. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 11:55, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again, Geoff. Thanks very much for your constructive comments on the railway map of Cornwall. I have incorporated your changes and you may wish to check the revised map on my talk page. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 10:51, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And 'hi' again! I have uploaded another map on my talk page. This one shows the (major) closed GWR lines, the former LSWR system in north Cornwall, and the existing lines. Please have a look and leave any corrections and comments on my talk page. Thanks very much, Andy F (talk) 11:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

PS I have now added the original map to the page List of railway stations in Cornwall. Andy F (talk) 13:27, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, I have been working on the Transport in Cornwall page and today I have uploaded a substantial expansion of the article. As you have been a major contributor to the article, I would be very grateful if you would have a look at what I've uploaded. Please expand it and/or edit it as necessary; you can also leave comments and suggestions on my talk page, of course. I intend to add a section (which I am researching at the moment) about Cornwall County Council's transport policy and plans. Also, I feel the article needs further expansion of the sections on bus travel and air travel. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 12:57, 4 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there - I've changed your edit at Dartmouth railway station. The naval college was originally BRITANNIA, but no longer holds the name - it was re-named to release the name for Royal Yacht. It's listed in the Navy List as DARTMOUTH BRNC. Only the ship's company - that is, the staff at the college - use HMS DARTMOUTH. Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry (talk) 00:54, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but I belive that "HMS Britannia" is the correct name to use in this article due to its historical context - "HMS Dartmouth" has only been used since 1953 whereas the station master was paid his higher salary a long time before that. Geof Sheppard (talk) 08:06, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I understand. Might I suggest that we reword the sentence slightly to make it clearer? You've already done it - thanks, brilliant wording :-) Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry (talk) 18:11, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, hope you are well. I don't know if you have noticed it yet, but there is something wrong at Liskeard on the template - the red lines don't line up! As I have no idea whatsoever about how to fix it, I thought I should let you know. DuncanHill (talk) 11:22, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Strange, {{Cornish Main Line}} looks okay to me. Can you describe which lines are wrong and where (use the text alongside to tell me which row you are looking at). Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

thumb|This illustrates the problem as I see it.

In line with "243.50 Liskeard" - the outer two red lines don't line up. DuncanHill (talk) 13:45, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also, the central redline (the mainline itself) is not appearing, and to the left of that I suspect something is missing from where the branch loops around into the station. DuncanHill (talk) 13:49, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are two icons not displaying in your browser – there should be a red dot on the left line for the Looe Valley Line terminal station, and the main line should run through with another red dot, the two looped around by a black line to show them as one station. Can you tell me what browser you are using? I may be able to find a technical expert on this diagrams who can do something about it. Geof Sheppard (talk) 14:24, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Safari on WinXP. The thing is, if I click on the individual icons, the ones which are not displaying when I view the whole template are clearly not correct (the shew as grey curves on a white background). DuncanHill (talk) 14:35, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

For example, where there should be a symbol for Liskeard Station, it is File:BSicon HUB82.svg. DuncanHill (talk) 14:37, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• I have found the diff where the error is introduced, it is at [3]. DuncanHill (talk) 14:42, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It seems that you are not the only one who can't see these overlays, so I've taken them out of this diagram and simplified the layout a bit. Hope it all makes sense now. Geof Sheppard (talk) 16:27, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for Gribben Head, a landmark of my youth :) DuncanHill (talk) 04:51, 23 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

hi Geoff, the coordinates for Mutley on Disused railway stations (Exeter to Plymouth Line) seem way off. DuncanHill (talk) 03:57, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sorted! Geof Sheppard (talk) 08:15, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I noted your comment elsewhere. I have been catching up with a 'watchlist backlog' that built up over Christmas (I was busy doing non-WP things -- they do exist!) and pages that were subject to major or frequent changes tended to be put 'off-watch' until I could give them the time they deserve. The GWR, SR and LMS articles all fall into that category. (Sorry.)

Now, however, I am once more tackling stuff on my extensive ToDo list. But priority is usually given to articles in the process of GA or FA reviews. So, where are you up to with this article? How close do you reckon you are to submitting it for GAR? (I ask mainly to gauge how long I have to do my own review for you!)

EdJogg (talk) 09:45, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

With the Coaches of the Great Western Railway in place I don't think there will be any more major changes to the text right now; I can't find any more images that would improve things right now. That just leaves the lead to be brought in line with the current article, then I think we're ready to go. I will be short of editing time at the end of the month, so it will either be next week or early March. I guess! Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:56, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As these things can drag on a bit, March might be a better bet, but it's your call!

I'll try to keep hold of the mental note that this is now more urgent, and spend some time reading it...

EdJogg (talk) 19:11, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

BulleidPacific has asked me to check over another Southern loco article, so I thought I ought to finish off examining GWR first. I've now made it to the end of the article, although I haven't checked the spelling/formatting of the references very closely -- since you have added most, perhaps its best if you re-visit this at some point.

You are already well aware of the comments I have left on the talk page, so I'll leave you to it for now while you tackle them (although obviously I'll be watching changes as they occur). Feel free to ask if you need to discuss anything further.

Cheers -- EdJogg (talk) 13:04, 20 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi...thought I'd ask you this as you'd be likely to know the answer, or where to find it quickly, and might appreciate a 5-minute diversion.

To cut a long story short, I've just added station links to Wilton, Wiltshire. I'm not sure that I've stated the correct names, since neither station yet has an article. There was a GWR station and an LSWR station (which would appear to have been called Wilton South). List of closed railway stations in Britain: W-Z lists them as Wilton North and Wilton South; but there appears to be no agreement on the maps as to what the GWR station was called - although the name 'Wilton' has been used, I've seen plain 'Wilton', 'Wilton North' and 'Wilton...(GWR)' in the links underneath.

Can you shed any light on this? EdJogg (talk) 13:54, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like both were just plain "Wilton" until 1949, so I have been through the obvious pages and made the links consistent with the North/South names. If it stays wet over Easter I will probably write some articles to get rid of the redlinks! Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:42, 9 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oh to have so much time on my hands! -- EdJogg (talk) 13:43, 9 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You did not restore a lost ^{[citation needed]} tag. You added a back dated tag to a completely new piece of information (the original contribution was incorrect). That the Coombe token machine is unstaffed is not in doubt as it is in a small locked hut by the side of the track (as stated elsewhere in the article) which is seldom (if ever these days) used. In any case you can go and see for yourself, if you travel the line. 86.133.11.175 (talk) 10:41, 16 April 2009 (UTC) [reply]

I don't dispute the existence of the signalling equipment - I took most of the photographs that illustrate the article - but Wiki has a no original research policy which means that the detailed information about how it is used needs to be backed up by citations. Do you know where we can find these, other than in "private and not for publication" railway rule books? Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:32, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This discussion has been moved to the Looe Valley Line talk page. Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:44, 20 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I note you have added London to Penzance Line to a number of articles. As all this does is redirect to Reading to Plymouth Line (there is support for this article to be split) and the fact that London to Penzance is just one route by one TOC (I don't see anyone suggesting Birmingham to Plymouth Line even though that is as much a route as London to Penzance is) I find this a bit pointless. ZoeL (talk) 00:45, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I created that redirect to save typing [[Reading to Plymouth Line|London to Penzance Line]] into so many articles – it is mainly found in the "services" summary of station articles. I started this before the discussion to split the article (which has never been concluded) and it will need to be addressed if it does become split. As for the Cross Country Route, that is a whole different - and longer - discussion!Geof Sheppard (talk) 07:11, 20 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof. I just noticed your comment on the above image - I agree completely that it's a likely copyright violation; and I have tagged it as having no evidence of permission. Just to let you know that talk pages of images generally aren't great places to draw attention to this kind of thing - they tend not to be watched by anyone. If in future you run into problems like this, you're better-served asking at media copyright questions. That way you're likely to get a quicker response. Thanks! ~ mazca ^t|c 22:29, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Did the Ross and Ledbury company actually build the Dymock to Ledbury section or did they have troubles before that stage. And was the Dymock-Ross section ever built? Eldumpo (talk) 17:13, 31 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for correcting the route box for Codford. Is there a style guide for which box to use or is it just something you pick up as you go along? Scillystuff (talk) 17:59, 31 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that. I'm having a bit of a purge on a number of websites which are setup to sell photos. Most are owned by the same person and are peppered across Wikipedia, mostly as external links but occasionally as references. --Simple Bob (talk) 15:58, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No problem. Thanks for the better link, I'd forgotten about that site. Geof Sheppard (talk) 16:00, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi as someone who knows more about railways in south west England than anyone else I know, would you have any time to take a look at Transport in Somerset a new article by a new editor, which could do with some help?— Rod ^talk 12:49, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I just spotted that and added it to my watchlist ten minutes ago! It's on my "to do" list for September. Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:51, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your edit to Transport in Somerset. I was just adding bits from it to the town articles & noticed Taunton "double deckers were sold to Leamington". I presume this is Leamington Spa but it links to a dab page so I thought I'd better check with the expert.— Rod ^talk 14:20, 9 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well spotted! I've corrected it now. Geof Sheppard (talk) 15:45, 9 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thought you might be interested in WT:UKRail#Line usage. Simply south (talk) 17:09, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, you added a cleanup tag to the article Chard Branch Line, I've found one or two minor issues with it which have been fixed, but can't see why the article has been tagged. It seems a fairly good article in comparison to many...

A message has been left at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Trains#Chard_Branch_Line requesting help - so it would be useful if you could clarify general what work needs doing on the article, either there, or on the articles talk page. Thank you.83.100.251.196 (talk) 00:03, 7 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I see you've moved Broad Clyst to "Broadclyst" as per the locality, although my copies of Butt and Clinker both indicate that it was only ever known as Broad Clyst. Could you please either revert your change or let me know where you have found the alternative name. Many thanks Lamberhurst (talk) 20:50, 5 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My references are evenly split on which name to use, but having dived into some 'primary' resources, I think that "Broad Clyst railway station" is probably the better name to use. "Broadclyst railway station" is now the redirect page. Interestingly, I even found a map that showed the village with the "Broad Clyst" version.Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:53, 6 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Do you have a copy of MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863-1921. London: Great Western Railway.? It was used as a reference for Bridgwater railway station#Somerset Bridge but without a page number & I've just reused the info on the bridge on River Parrett which we are working on nominating for FA (again). I can image them asking for the page number & I don't have ready access to the book. If you had it & were willing to look up the page no that would be great.— Rod ^talk 07:57, 12 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, I just came across one of your articles at newpage patrol, and was surprised to see that an editor who has been contributing articles since 2006 hadn't already been approved as an wp:Autoreviewer. So I've taken the liberty of rectifying that. ϢereSpielChequers 17:24, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, just a quick note to say hallo and tell you that, after an absence, I'll soon be editing Cornwall and railway articles again. Meanwhile, I've started work improving this article Leamington_to_Rugby_line and I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have, either on the article's [page] or on mine. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 08:15, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you Geof for reverting the merger of Rail Ale Ramble and Rail Ale Trail. Let's hope that now user:SilkTork will now think about the difference between a set of geographically fixed entities and the concept of a tour to a number of variable geographic locations... Best regards, --Weydonian (talk) 22:23, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, I've written a new article about Angarrack viaduct to separated references to the viaduct from the article about Angarrack village. The new material references John Binding's book (see page 106) and also links back to your Cornwall railway viaducts article. I'd appreciate you giving the new page a quick look. Andy F (talk) 08:47, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again Geoff, many thanks for sorting the refs and linear conversions. Andy F (talk) 13:36, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, hope you are keeping well. I just noticed that Doublebois station is shewing in red not pink on Template:Disused railway stations (Plymouth to Penzance Line). DuncanHill (talk) 10:23, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Can I ask for your help with sorting out my confusion with stations & lines in Yeovil. I put the article up for GA & the reviewer said "The article vaguely states that in 1853 Yeovil was "connected to the rest of Britain via railway", yes but what railway company?". I've tried to do a paragraph (middle of the history section) including Yeovil Pen Mill railway station, Yeovil Town railway station & Yeovil Junction railway station with their various lines & dates of opening etc, but I've confused myself, so if you could clarify it (& possibly add some references) that would be great.— Rod ^talk 15:59, 24 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, thanks for fixing the Doublebois icon on this. Just noticed another which is red but should be pink - Chacewater. I'm pretty sure all the others are right. DuncanHill (talk) 13:21, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I shifted and updated info on the naming of this class into a table because the GWR 3031 Class already has a table, and is much more readable that way. It condenses the information and makes it more accessible. The only significant change is shifting the order from being an alphasort list to ordering by year (retaining alphasort within year unless info is available which were the first built). This way the list takes up less space and the information is more accessible. I was drawn to this when there was some disagreement as to where the names of the GWR 3031 Class came from, as the names themselves were wikilinked to inappropriate pages. I went to some length to re-work the information in the table to avoid WP:OR and inaccuracy - specifically by pointing to the previous class where the name had been used, and which would indicate the origin of the name there. I am now working on the 0-6-0 broad gauge class, as some of the 3031 Class names were derived from there also. I would like you to consider that transposing this information into a table improves the article, and thereby the encyclopedia, and that by ordering by year the connectedness of the names in time becomes more apparent (without being drawn attention to, which would be WP:OR). As an alphabetical list, it does not serve the reader well. Mish (talk) 17:46, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, how are you? Thanks for sorting the lead on St Blaise – it now reads more clearly and looks cleaner.

I'm not sure if it's up your street but you might have some comments on this discussion: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Cornwall#Updating_parishes_and_local_councils. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 13:41, 13 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know I am glad to be reviewing the article Great Western Railway you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 19:33, 18 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And its now passed. Just to let you know that I should encourage you to review another article as a "swap" for your article being reviewed :). -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 17:29, 2 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Belated congratulations. A long slog, but, I hope, worth the effort. A little icon showing 'GA' is scant reward for the time and effort you've put into this! Sorry I couldn't contribute more in the final stages.

Now we just need some willing volunteers to drag the LMS/LNER/and SR articles to the same standard!

EdJogg (talk) 13:19, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, how are you? I realise that East Anglia may be the wrong end of the country but I thought you might be kind enough to cast your well-informed eye over a new article I've added – Railways in Ely. Thanks and best wishes Andy F (talk) 20:20, 25 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, I feel the lead to this article is too short, rather bald and does not summarise adequately (to quote WP:LS it should ... serve both as an introduction to the article and as a summary of the important aspects ... and ... be able to stand alone as a concise overview of the article...).

So I have expanded and re-written the lead but I'd like you to take a look at it before I insert it in the article - it is at User:Andy F/Sandbox2

Best wishes and keep up the good work Andy F (talk) 07:50, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've suggested some changes. The only serious one is a mater of scope – this article covers Plymouth to Falmouth so there are only 42 viaducts, but Bindings' book covered Truro to Penzance too so the total given looks odd. Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:52, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Doh! I've been thick! It has only just dawned on me what the article title means! It doesn't mean "Viaducts on GWR lines in Cornwall""... it means "Viaducts on the line built by the Cornwall Railway (precursor of the GWR)". That's why it doesn't include those on the West Cornwall Railway! So your changes to the text are absolutely necessary. If you're happy with it, tip me a nod and I'll add it to the article. best, Andy F (talk) 13:40, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've no problem with you moving it to the article as it stands. I'll have a look through my references and see if I can find a quote for you that is a little more specific about the Cornwall Railway, but that won't be until sometime after the weekend. As for the missing "West Cornwall Railway viaducts" article, that might not be for a few months yet!! Geof Sheppard (talk) 16:22, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps I could make a start on "West Cornwall Railway viaducts" as I have the John Binding book to hand? Andy F (talk) 18:00, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Can I pick your brains again? I've been doing some work on List of museums in Somerset and I'm hoping to get this to WP:FL at some point in the future. There are various heritage railway museums in the list & I wonder whether these deserve their own articles or should be added as a sub head within the station article & red links direct there. What do you think? Currently:

• Blue Anchor Railway Museum is directed to Blue Anchor railway station
• East Somerset Railway is a link to the general article
• Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Centre could link to Midsomer Norton railway station but doesn't have much about a museum
• Somerset and Dorset Railway Museum could link to Washford railway station but doesn't have much about a museum
• West Somerset Railway is a link to the general article
• Yeovil Railway Centre is a specific article

Any thoughts appreciated.— Rod ^talk 08:28, 6 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't count the East Somerset as a railway museum, rather as a heritage railway. But if that is the case, then the West Somerset is probably one too. The musuem at Bishops Lydeard would then need to be listed seperately (it is officially known as the 'Gauge Museum').

Blue Anchor would not merit a seperate article, although Washford might (is this more correctly 'Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Trust Museum'?). Yeovil is okay as it is. I'm not sure about Midsomer Norton so would tend to leave well alone for now.

If you are going to perpetuate the defunct museums, then you should add the one at Bleadon and Uphill railway station.

Thanks I've tweaked a couple of the articles, adding some stuff about museums to get rid of the red links.— Rod ^talk 15:56, 7 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. Your account has been granted the "reviewer" userright, allowing you to review other users' edits on certain flagged pages. Pending changes, also known as flagged protection, is currently undergoing a two-month trial scheduled to end 15 August 2010.

Reviewers can review edits made by users who are not autoconfirmed to articles placed under pending changes. Pending changes is applied to only a small number of articles, similarly to how semi-protection is applied but in a more controlled way for the trial. The list of articles with pending changes awaiting review is located at Special:OldReviewedPages.

When reviewing, edits should be accepted if they are not obvious vandalism or BLP violations, and not clearly problematic in light of the reason given for protection (see Wikipedia:Reviewing process). More detailed documentation and guidelines can be found here.

If you do not want this userright, you may ask any administrator to remove it for you at any time. Courcelles (talk) 01:35, 17 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a copy of Oakley, Mike (2006). Somerset Railway Stations. Bristol: Redcliffe Press. ISBN 1-904537-54-5? if so could you look up a page number for me? It is used as a reference on List_of_museums_in_Somerset (No 160) for the claim "This structure now houses a recreation of the interior of the S&DJR signal-box at Midford. A second signal box is used as part of a signalling display in the yard and was formerly used on the S&DJR at Burnham-on-Sea." - if you could help that would be great as this book is not available in my local library.— Rod ^talk 16:44, 19 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The same book is used on Chard, Somerset which I've nominated for GA to support the claim that the line to Chard closed in 1965, but without a page number. Also would you have a copy of MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863-1921. London: Great Western Railway which is used to support the claim "Chard's railway was created in 1860 to connect the two London and South Western Railway and Bristol and Exeter Railway main lines 'cross-country' connection through Chard. The line's first traffic came in 1866 when the railway and major stations were completed" but also without a page number. If you have access to these books - could you look for page numbers for me?— Rod ^talk 08:24, 30 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've tidied up the article so that it now matches the "main" branch line article. I've also taken out the bits that were removed from that article some time ago becasue they were uncited and/or lacking NPOV. I'll need to find some page numbers over the weekend for the new references that I have introduced. Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:30, 2 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks again for the excellent work. I don't suppose you'd fancy looking at the transport section of Nailsea which I'm working on as part of my crusade to get all settlements with over 5,000 population in Somerset to GA.— Rod ^talk 18:30, 2 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again, After you previous help I'm trying to get some more Somerset articles to GA standard & noticed several have books supporting claims about railways & stations but lack page numbers:

• Minehead

• "The Minehead Railway was itself absorbed into the GWR in 1897" is supported by MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway. Vol. 2 (1863-1921) (1 ed.). London: Great Western Railway. ISBN 0711004110.
• which in turn was nationalised into British Railways in 1948.Coleby, Ian (2006). The Minehead Branch 1848-1971. Witney: Lightmoor Press. ISBN 1-89988-920-5.
• It was closed on 4 January 1971 but has since been reopened as the West Somerset Railway.Oakley, Mike (2006). Somerset Railway Stations. Bristol: Redcliffe Press. ISBN 1-904537-54-5.

• Clevedon

• Another railway also served the town, the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway, which opened in 1897 and closed in 1940.Strange, Peter (1989). Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway: A Pictorial Record. Twelveheads Press. ISBN 978-0906294192.

• Crewkerne

• The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway on 19 July 1860.Nock, O. S. (1971) The London & South Western Railway, Ian Allen, ISBN 0-7110-0267-3

Any help you could offer with any of these would be great.— Rod ^talk 09:08, 22 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks again fro your help on these. I noticed your comment on Clevedon "branch line from the main railway at Yatton, opened in 1847, six years after the main line itself. This continued in operation for passengers until 1961,Maggs, Colin G. (1990). Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway (2nd ed.). Oakwood Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0853613886." That "This book is about the WC&PLR, not the GWR branch line." do you have an alternative that could/should be used - or any other way of improving it. Or should we just remove that ref & rely on the BBC one.?— Rod ^talk 08:47, 25 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm already on to it ... but I had to go and find a decent reference. Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:39, 25 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof,

I am new to this. I would like to ask your advice. My 2nd Great grand father worked for many years between 1850s and 1880s on the Railway based in Crediton. There is a slim chance that he is one of the people on the North_Devon_Railway_Creedy_at_Barnstaple picture that has your name by it. Might you per chance have a high quality version of this picture?

Best regards Jeremy —Preceding unsigned comment added by WikiReseach (talk • contribs) 08:32, 29 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The problem with pictures of this age is that most are copies of copies ... the original often being lost or perhaps a por print to start with. The largest copy that I can find is in The North Devon Line (Nicholas, John (1992). Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86093-461-6. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)). Which man do you think is your relative? Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:58, 2 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for taking the missing pictures to complete the set. I know the gallery looked a bit odd before, but I thought it wouldn't be right to not have a complete set of planets.

The new Bathpool image is useful for showing the size of the plinths, which isn't really apparent from the other pictures. When you do manage to get a picture of the other Neptune, it would be worth moving this pic into the article body for that purpose.

I take it that the stainless steel plaque has been removed from the plinth, which is a shame. Do you know if the Council is aware of this vandalism?

(One day I'll actually manage to schedule my summer holiday journey to allow me to visit the Space Walk. It hasn't happened so far!)

EdJogg (talk) 13:25, 27 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The plaque's been missing for years now. I'm tempted to jam a football or something in the hole! I keep meaning to pop over to the Bridgwater end to photograph their's, but the last twice I've been there it's been raining! Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:53, 28 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, I've noticed that you've added loads of great pictures to Somerset articles & I've reused some of them on Portal:Somerset which I've been trying to improve - hope that's OK. If you have or know of others which would be suitable for the Portal:Somerset/Selected picture section could you let me know or add them? Also I've been working my way through Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Somerset and wondered if you might have any suitable photos for those articles which are missing them?— Rod ^talk 09:34, 20 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geoff, You are right about the Trident ref. I went too quickly & found both ALX & Quantock within it but it doesn't actually support the claim "including an Alexander ALX200-bodied Dennis Dart" - I will remove it & put Citation needed back- if we can't find a ref to support it perhaps we should take it out. I'm working my way through the Somerset cleanup list - any help appreciated.— Rod ^talk 15:37, 1 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, You might want to look at these pics for Lynmouth Lifeboat Station.— Rod ^talk 14:33, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nice work on the lifeboats and BARB articles. I've been thinking about creating the latter for ages and I'm very happy to see you do it. --Simple Bob (talk) 15:17, 7 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No problem - they got to the top of my "to do" list so I thought I'd see how much I could whip up before Christmas. Feel free to find those better references - and keep your eye open for the techincal specifications for Light of Elizabeth.

I'm going to have a look at that archive PDF of The Lifeboat at sometime because I think it can fill in a lot of gaps in my own research for the early lifeboats. Geof Sheppard (talk) 17:05, 7 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Geof, I hope you don't mind that I undid this revision. I see what you meant, but I don't think it quite works either as (to some eyes at least) it has the potentially odd effect of having a missing person turn the lights on. On the other hand it would be horrendously clunky to have some formula like "... who was to go missing ..." or whatever, anticipating the disaster ... hmmm. It is giving me a slight headache trying to see a good clear and concise formula for this - what do you think? Cheers, DBaK (talk) 11:44, 20 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

By George I think you've got it! - Yup, that's the one - very nice rephrase, total horses frightened = 0. Cheers, DBaK (talk) 14:50, 20 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof. This is a bit hit-and-run, I'm afraid. (Page was on my watchlist having added the TWP banner or the GWR navibox, or something, way back.)

Just about to 'unwatch' page and noticed the entry for Caliban. All the other names in the class relate to animals/mythical monsters, but you have noted this one as a sword (actually links through to Excalibur!), yet 'Caliban' is a Shakespearean monster, which would seem the appropriate meaning. Any thoughts? (BTW none of it is referenced.) -- EdJogg (talk) 12:52, 10 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds good to me. Any idea about Nora Creina? Geof Sheppard (talk) 14:28, 10 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Redrose64 got to it (Caliban) first, and presumably has the references available for elsewhere!

As for Nora Creina -- have you Googled it? A most strange name for a steam loco. Seems to come from a poem by Thomas Moore (see here, and related link Lesbia), about which there was later a novel written by a Margaret Wolfe Hungerford (digital copy here), and there was a migrant ship (went to Australia -- list here) and later still, a settlement in Australia (which has significant internet presence, but almost none on WP). Take your pick...! -- EdJogg (talk) 00:25, 11 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I did Google several years ago but it drew a blank. As Hungerford's novel was published in 1892, it looks like Moore's muse is the source. These early locomotive names show how different people's education was 150 years ago - but no Google then!

This seems to fit well with Dido and Hero, so now I'm wondering if Florence isn't actually about the city? Reviewing and revising the broad gauge locomotives is on my "to do" list, but it's below a push to move the Cornwall Railway and it related pages a bit further up the quality scale. Geof Sheppard (talk) 08:37, 11 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

These edits are just being done in passing. I've ended up with a large number of GWR loco classes on my watchlist due to adding navi boxes or TWP banners, and I'm now trying to rationalise a bit as other editors (such as yourself) are keeping an eye out for random article vandalism and my watchlist is much too big. At least there seem to be some good reference books available for some of them, so your job should be easier in future. EdJogg (talk) 10:28, 11 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! One of the refs you have added here gone red (named ref with no defenition). I guess you care, and hopefully can find time to re-add it. Thank you, --ElComandanteChe (talk) 22:33, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for pointing this out - that page isn't on my watchlist. All sorted now! Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:55, 2 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

After several years of discussion the consensus was to split the Reading to Plymouth Line article into three articles - Bristol to Exeter line, Reading to Taunton line, and Exeter to Plymouth line. The split has now been done, though fairly crudely as I am not an expert on the subject. It will need an expert eye to look at it and smooth out the edges. SilkTork *^YES! 15:19, 17 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for taking the time to work on the DYK. I have added second citation to article which supports statement in hook and mentioned at nomination page. Hope that is acceptable. I have a question, if you don't mind, to which you may know the answer. The map image: Project Map from Gateway Project appears to be a Google-made map, used in official Gateway Project announcement website (represented as Amtrak w/ senate.gov url), which then it appears have been downloaded to Flckr. What do you think are the rules regarding its use? Thanks for your help Djflem (talk) 22:29, 17 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I don't know if you have West Somerset Mineral Railway on your watchlist? Another editor has added some tags eg Clarify (0-6-0ST "Atlas" Sharp Stewart), By whom (LNWR 1873) & Prose (for the list of engines). I was wondering if you could look at & help out with any of these as you know more about such topics than I do (or ever could)?— Rod ^talk 14:40, 7 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It clearly needs some work. I'll put it on my "to do" list, but I'll finish sorting out the mess on Transport in Somerset first. Geof Sheppard (talk) 13:37, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi I didn't know if you had spotted an issue raised about the wording of the hook at Template talk:Did you know#Open top buses in Weston-super-Mare which is stopping it appearing at present?— Rod ^talk 17:19, 13 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Really? No one's tagged the article, and it's in the queue for publishing right now. Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:34, 16 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Its obviously been resolved in the last couple of days - the argument was about whether they were real criminals or not. See the diff when it was moved to the queue.— Rod ^talk 12:45, 16 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's what the {{DYKproblem}} tag is for!. Anyway, I agree with the user who wrote:

Personally, I don't see a problem. The idea of a hook is to entice the reader to read the article.

I try to create interesting hooks to support my new articles, so I'm glad that some editors appreciate that. Geof Sheppard (talk) 12:57, 16 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Geof, your DYKs above are ample evidence of your suitability to help the NRM. As usual there will always be probs with releasing images but I have met 3 NRM staff who want to work with us and two (3?) of them just need some assistance. We plan to hold a meeting there around June 22 which you may like to attend as well. As you are not close then can I suggest that I put you in contact with these people. If you could "adopt them" and look over their edits then I think they will make a useful contribution and I'm sure you will get an inside track on this interesting work. T|hey intend to write a lot of articles about railway based paintings, but the first hurdle is to learn how to edit. Wikimedia UK (Who raise money and pay for Wikipedia etc~) are enthusiastic about the NRM and we really appreciate your off er of help. Do write on my talk page if you need any assistance to make this work. Thanks again Victuallers (talk) 14:01, 20 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thats very good news Geof, I have asked Tagishsimon if he will contact the NRM as he appears closest. There appears to be four editors interested. Yourself, Tagishsimon, an archaeology person, and Zeyi who is a former UK board member (maybe). As I said we are very keen for this to happen and your background looks very useful. I'm hoping that by the time of the meeting we have started to work together. The NRM contact is Mark Green, their web manager Victuallers (talk) 21:41, 20 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again. On my regular review of the cleanup listing for WP Somerset, I noticed that, about a month ago, you added citation needed tags for edits (by an IP) on Bishops Lydeard railway station, Norton Fitzwarren railway station and Taunton railway station. The edits all seem to imply through trains on the West Somerset Railway to Taunton. Having done a bit of looking I'm unable to find any evidence, but wanted to check with you as you have more expertise than me in this area. If there are no plans or sources for this should we just revert back to the version before the IP edits?— Rod ^talk 19:11, 6 June 2011 (UTC)