Talk:Railway track

Dester13

Hey Trainsandotherthings, we need to discuss this. Why did you undo my changes when i was putting “railroad”, “railway”, and “rail” terms in Railway Track Article. I just needed because in real life via United States i saw “Railroad Crossing” sign means a simple “Railroad” crossing a road and the past years i have it heard and seen “Rail” and “railway” before sure. Please reply to me why. Dester13 (talk) 00:21, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

The "track" is not the railway (or railroad) itself: It is just the physical structure on which a railroad runs.

For example: To have a "railroad crossing" sign, you do not only need the track, but also the running railroad. If you just build a demo piece of railroad track - e.g. for a museum -, you can happily cross it with a road without erecting any signs: This shows that a "track" is not the same as the "full railroad".

Moreover, for such important changes at the very head of an article, please always give a written source that shows that what you change is actually common usage for specialists in the field. User:Haraldmmueller 07:22, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

But sure Haraldmmueller, i mean a "Railroad Crossing" sign indicates that is just commonly say "Railroad" that crosses a road in United States. That's the term of a railway track. Reply please. Dester13 (talk) 12:54, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

As I said, a railroad is much more than a railroad track. User:Haraldmmueller 13:32, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Okay then Haraldmmueller, i really know, but i just realized there is just "Rail" in sandbox games such as Minecraft rather than real life. So no matter what sure. Maybe i can just put simply Railroad on the article? Answers..... Dester13 (talk) 16:33, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

A railroad is not synonymous with a railroad track. You need a track on which to run a railroad, but without an actual train to run on the track, it's not a railroad, it's just a pair of rails. This is similar to saying that a plane is an airline - if you don't have airports, you'll just have a huge hunk of flying metal. – Epicgenius (talk) 21:42, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Haraldmmueller has said basically everything I wanted to say. The proposed changes don't make sense. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:11, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I agree with @Trainsandotherthings, the words ‘railway’ and ‘railroad’ refer to much more than just the track itself. In Australia, for example, a common saying is that “a person works for the railway” meaning that they (edited Fork99 (talk) 00:26, 17 June 2023 (UTC)) could be a train driver, a guard (or what Americans call a ‘conductor’), a signaller, or anything in between like track maintenance workers, station staff, etc. Fork99 (talk) 21:19, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I know that two of you. But like others in sandbox games such as Minecraft, it’s just say “Rail” with other variants where minecarts runs on it. So maybe i can just put Rail on Railway Track article sure. I agree to me. Dester13 (talk) 22:07, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

@Dester13: It doesn’t matter if you agree with yourself. It matters that other people agree with the edits and decisions as part of editing, being one of Wikipedia’s policies of consensus. That is one particular example, in a world with countably infinite other examples in which “rail” does NOT mean a railway as a whole. Fork99 (talk) 22:28, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Okay, but in sandbox games such as Minecraft, it’s just simply named “Rail” and it’s variation. No matter what i can say. Do we have to agree with this in Minecraft sure. Dester13 (talk) 23:18, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

You have now mentioned Minecraft in three separate posts. Since when has Minecraft been a reliable source? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 07:18, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

I’m not talking to you Redrose64. I’m agree to me that in sandbox games like Minecraft, the name was just “Rail” within other variations. So if i’m right than i can simply add that term sure Fork99. Dester13 (talk) 14:15, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Not only are you in the wrong here, you're clearly using Google Translate here and it's causing all sorts of mistakes. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 15:15, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

But okay sure. How about sandbox games such as Minecraft. They actually name it Rail and it’s variation Trainsandotherthings. Dester13 (talk) 16:34, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

You wrote I’m not talking to you Redrose64 - you seem to misunderstand how Wikipedia works. By posting on any talk page (other than a user talk page), you are addressing the whole community, and that includes me. You have now mentioned Minecraft in five posts without once explaining why it should be considered to be a reliable source. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 17:06, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

@Dester13: As I said in a different discussion at Talk:Apostrophe#Dester13, please STOP using Google Translate. If you genuinely believe that “railway” means “railway track”, or for that matter, ANY word on ANY article, please use the article’s talk page (such as this one) to ask a native speaker of English. For example: “I’m not a native speaker of English, but does ‘railway’ mean ‘railway track’? If so, can someone add this to the article for me please?”

We do not need to have this same conversation over multiple articles more than once (see Talk:Apostrophe#Dester13, Talk:Volcanic plateau#Dester13, Talk:Cities: Skylines#Dester13, Talk:Lock (water navigation)#Dester13).

As I said in other discussions, machine translation of languages is very difficult. Without further context, a computer would not understand that an English ‘ball’ could refer to either ‘a formal dance party’ OR ‘a usually round-shaped object that is usually used in various sports’. I’m sure that your native language (like any language, including English) has similar homonyms, homophones and linguistic aspects that a native English speaker would find difficult to learn and understand. Fork99 (talk) 19:45, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

I got tired of the nonsense and took Dester13 to ANI, where they proceeded to try and blank my thread twice, got blocked for 72 hours, created a sock to comment at ANI, and then got blocked a week for socking. I don't think they'll be an issue anymore. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 03:32, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Now indeffed as a sock of... wait for it... Dester12. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:41, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Strength of steel track material

A paragraph is needed about the tensile strength of railroad track. In the USA, structural steel strength is usually stated as the minimum yield strength in pounds per square inch. For example, pipe used in oil wells is standardized steps from 40,000 psi to 150,000 psi. Looking just now I found that the applicable Wikipedia page Casing_(borehole)#Design also has this omission, so I'll work on that. Casey (talk) 02:19, 4 October 2023 (UTC)