My username is Trainsandotherthings, and I joined Wikipedia on July 22, 2021, but I've been a reader for years. My username reflects my areas of interest on Wikipedia - primarily articles related to trains, but plenty of other areas as well, depending on what interests me at the moment. I specialize in New England, especially Southern New England where I've lived most of my life, but I on occasion edit other train articles in the United States and Canada. Some of my favorite articles to work on are rail yards (I consider Cedar Hill Yard my very best work), former railroad companies largely forgotten, and current shortline/regional railroads. I consider my very-long-term goal to bring as many train related articles as possible to good article status, especially in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
I love Wikipedia because I strongly support its mission of making information more widely available, and how it allows such a wide variety of voices and perspectives to contribute. The truth is, Wikipedia is taken for granted by millions every day, but by comparison a very small number of people work to keep it going and expand its scope. There are issues with Wikipedia, sure, but nothing else comes close to making so much information widely accessible and (usually) truthful and verifiable.
For the most part, I don't have hard and fast rules to describe my editing style. I do identify as a mergist, primarily because there are so many articles out there on subjects which barely meet notability and have so few sources that they can never expand past a stub. In my opinion, such subjects should be merged together into more comprehensive articles, which better serve the reader by providing more context. I suppose you could say I lean towards deletionism, though I wish to pursue alternatives to deletion when reasonable.
User:Trainsandotherthings/Train Editing Toolbox This is a reference for myself, but anyone is welcome to refer to it. Much of this is just my personal practice and does not necessarily reflect Wikipedia policy.
Nothing annoys this user more than when a teacher says that Wikipedia isn't reliable and that anybody can enter anything completely untrue that'll stay.
Thank you for helping out at CCI. Your help is greatly appreciated, especially as you been tackling an old and long CCI as your first case! Keep up the good work :) MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 02:49, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
The bahn star award
You still hadn't received one of these yourself, so here you go: #A railway barnstar :) but in German! ~~~~
Nice work on the references for the Milford-Bennington Railroad article! Whiteguru (talk) 07:59, 22 October 2021 (UTC)
The Nuclear Barnstar
For your creation of Railcar-launched ICBM, I award you this barnstar to recognize your dedication and contribution to Wikipedia's coverage of nuclear warfare. Display this with pride... just in a lead-lined case. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 15:13, 26 October 2021 (UTC)
Some stroopwafels for you!
For some extra energy while you keep hacking away at train - great work :) MSG17 (talk) 21:19, 6 November 2021 (UTC)
The Socratic Barnstar
Taking a featured article to AfD is no easy task, especially when it's already survived once before. Props for successfully persuading others to upmerge to a more encyclopedic level! {{u|Sdkb}}talk 00:34, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
You are recipient no. 2669 of Precious, a prize of QAI. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:05, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
The Purple Star
Just spreading a little kindness and purple is one of my favorite colors so it seemed appropriate. Thank you for all your many contributions, whether they are great or small. Every one of them matter. Please accept this barnstar as a symbol of peace, wikilove and true gratefulness. ARoseWolf 21:43, 30 November 2021 (UTC)
The Baseball Barnstar
Thank you so much for your GA review of Ronald Torreyes! I know that it can be difficult reviewing articles that aren't exactly in your wheelhouse, especially ones that have been sitting in the slush pile for a while, so I commend you for taking it on. And I'll finish my FAC review tonight! — GhostRiver 18:19, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
bonus points
well done for reviewing that really long article! DirkJandeGeer (щи) 19:28, 5 January 2022 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
I really appreciated your opinions and ideas. Thanks for making your voice be heard. Rlink2 (talk) 15:49, 25 January 2022 (UTC)
The Quarter Million Award
For your contributions to bring Train (estimated annual readership: 455,000) to Good Article status, I hereby present you the Quarter Million Award. Congratulations on this rare accomplishment, and thanks for all you do for Wikipedia's readers! {{u|Sdkb}}talk 18:35, 26 January 2022 (UTC)
I have a number of books on the subject of railroading, mostly focused in the New England area. If you think I might have a book that could help an article with references, feel free to let me know on my talk page. Here is a partial list, which I also keep to help me add citations to articles because I'm too lazy to type out the ISBN each and every time:
Vintage Diesel Locomotives, by Mike Schafer ISBN: 0760305072
Railway Maintenance, by Brian Solomon ISBN: 0760309752
Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years, by Louis A. Marre ISBN: 0890242585
American Shortline Railway Guide, by Edward A. Lewis ISBN: 0890242909
Field Guide to Modern Diesel Locomotives, by Greg McDonnell ISBN: 0890246076
Streamliners: History of a Railroad Icon, by Mike Schafer and Joe Welsh
Train Wrecks, by Robert C. Reed
Freight Train Cars, by Mike Schafer with Mike McBride
The Great Railroads of North America, by Bill Yenne
Atlas of North American Railroads, by Bill Yenne
CSX, by Brian Solomon
The History of North American Steam, by Christopher Chant
Railroads: The Great American Adventure, by Charlton Ogburn
Passenger Trains of Northern New England In The Streamline Era, by Kevin J. Holland
The Rail Lines of Southern New England, by Ronald Dale Karr ISBN: 0942147022
The Art of the Streamliner, by Bob Johnston and Joe Welsh with Mike Schafer
Giants of the Rails: Accurate Drawings in Full Color and Descriptions of Modern Locomotives of Every Type on the Major Railroads of the U.S.A., by S. Kip Farrington Jr. (this book is from 1944!)
Railroads of Rhode Island, by Frank Heppner
The Blackstone Valley Line: The Story of the Blackstone Canal Company and the Providence & Worcester Railroad, by Edward A. Lewis
Two Tickets on the Wood River Train: The Life and Times of the Wood River Branch Railroad 1872-1947, by J.B. Kennedy
Just about every issue of Trains Magazine going back to 2010
As of November 16, 2021, I have been the subject of 1 ANI thread.
"What are you a Wikipedia police officer?"
"Your crazy, this all doesn’t need sources. No matter how many times you remove all this, it’s gonna freaking stay here no matter what! Now stop touching this article and leave it alone!!!!"
"Can an editor personally enter bias into an article?, because that is what Trainsandotherthings has done."
"Busybody deleter."
"Deleted a page I found as a red link while I was having dinner and coming back to it."
"With people wanting the page to be deleted with their illogical points espacially User:Whpq and User:Trainsandotherthings who see deletion of these pages as the only solution."
"As I have said, given his appalling attitude and obvious superiority complex, I have no desire to have any further contact with Trainsandotherthings."
"I am requesting investigation into the dilettante cabal (User:Jpgordon, User:Diannaa, User:Sphilbrick, User:Trainsandotherthings, and User:Ravenswing) for harassment (including bullying, intimidation, talk-page spamming, false accusations, mis-gendering, and unwarranted destruction of good faith edits and contributions totaling hundreds of hours of work) and abuse of power culminating in the suspension of my account without due process."
