Template talk:Infobox Railroad

Chicago and Northwestern Railway
Overview
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Reporting mark	CNW, CNWS, CNWZ
Locale	Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
Dates of operation	1865–1995
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm), some 3 ft (914 mm) gauge branch lines

Usage

Template

What it makes

Notes

{{Infobox Railroad}}
talk

Parameters:

railroad_name - The legal (official) name of the railroad (example shown uses Chicago and Northwestern Railway)
logo_filename - The filename of the uploaded image of the most well-known (usually the current) company logo (Chicago_and_Northwestern_Herald.png); Note: Use logo_filename=No image.png| and railroad_abbr=| if no logo has been uploaded
railroad_abbr - The most common abbreviation for the railroad's common name (C&NW)
marks - The railroad's official AAR reporting marks (CNW, CNWS, CNWZ)
locale - Where the railroad has operated or still does operate ([[Illinois]], [[Iowa]], [[Kansas]], [[Michigan]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[Nebraska]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Wyoming]])
start_year - The year the railroad began operations ([[1865]])
end_year - The year the railroad ended operations (1995)
gauge - The track gauge(s) used by the railroad (4 [[foot (unit of length)|ft]] 8½ [[inch|in]] (1435 [[millimetre|mm]]), some 3 ft (914 mm) gauge branch lines)
hq_city - The city where the railroad's headquarters are located ([[Chicago, Illinois]])

Why the move?

Why was the template moved from Railroad to Infobox Railroad? I can understand consistency with Infobox Biography, but who's going to update all of the train articles that use the template over the old name? slambo 00:03, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)

They don't have to be changed; the old name can still be used. --SPUI (talk) 13:45, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Rail gauge vs. track gauge

I don't think rail gauge is the correct term for the infobox. When I see "rail gauge" I think of the weight of the rail itself (i.e. 70 pound per foot) while "track gauge" refers to the distance between the rails. slambo 20:49, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC) Okay, the article is titled "rail gauge", but it still doesn't sound quite right. slambo 20:50, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for adding the above comment, I almost missed that due to the misleading edit summary and the edit being marked as minor. I think we should either use "track gauge" or maybe just "gauge" (although the latter might be ambiguous). JYolkowski 21:01, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Since no-one's disagreed, I'm reverting. JYolkowski 23:32, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

System map?

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad
DM&E
DM&E/IC&E combined route map as of 2002
Reporting marks	DME
Locale	Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming
Years of operation	1986 – present
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm)
Headquarters	Sioux Falls, South Dakota

I've been thinking it might be helpful to add a system map parameter to the template. It would appear in the section just below the logo image and would look something like the example shown here. Thoughts? slambo 11:30, May 19, 2005 (UTC)

You can always hack it into the logo caption with a horizontal rule separating it. --SPUI (talk) 13:43, 19 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, but that seems a bit klugey. It seems to me that a route map should be included on all articles about railroad companies. slambo 15:13, May 19, 2005 (UTC)