New board - for history and models

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Edit to add - and models. See follow up post

Proposal - New board for "Railway and related history"
No longer a proposal - here it is!

Background - from time to time a topic crops up that's of interest to members, but it's not about a current service, museum, heritage operation, campaign or newcoing service - nothing to see on the ground - purely historic. Initial posts have tended tend to include words like "I'm not sure where to post this, but ...".  This proposal is to add a board is to cover posts about railway and related history where there isn't (and won't be) anything substantial to see on the ground anywhere.   Here are some recent examples:

http://www.passenger.chat/24488 - Travelling Post Office
http://www.passenger.chat/24482 - Oxford - first railway station
http://www.passenger.chat/23953 - Weston-super-Mare and the Great Reform Bill of 1832
http://www.passenger.chat/23814 - Horse Drawn Vehicles on Railways
http://www.passenger.chat/23738 - Slip Coaches
http://www.passenger.chat/23503 - Fovant Military Railway
http://www.passenger.chat/23482 - RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) Chilmark
http://www.passenger.chat/23413 - Railway Catering in a World War
http://www.passenger.chat/22548 - The Grove, Watford

These threads have tended to generate significant replies, suggesting they are interesting to many members, and a suggestion made in the modrators's area of a "history" board has brought signiticant support, not withstanding that there will be some fuzzy edges around some of the topics should (for example) someone campaign for the Fovant Military Railway to re-open, or add a slip carriage exhibition at the Didcot Railway Centre, or there be a TV program about it.

I am mulling over a description of just how wide an area we should cover in this new board. Clearly, current GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area things, and wider / nationwide topics that come into the area, are "on topic" - so I'm including the Withered Arm and the Somerset and Dorset.  Personally happy with anything British Isles, and even wider around the world if it's likely to be of some general interest to our members - but others may prefer "Original GWR", "GB^▸ (Great Britain)" or "UK^▸ (United Kingdom)" areas as the guidance.

[johnneyw]

My view is that a fairly wide interpretation of what is relevant is preferable... otherwise, who knows what little gems I might miss?

[grahame]

My view is that a fairly wide interpretation of what is relevant is preferable... otherwise, who knows what little gems I might miss?

The text chosen is:

Railway and Related History
Railways as they were - mainly GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area, but some UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and even overseas. Things we can't see any more and are not campaigning to get back.

Which I hope rules nothing out, but discourages us being overtaken by too many posts on the Cincinnati Subway from Love Exploring:

As downtown congestion increased rapidly in the first quarter of the 20th century, the construction of the Cincinnati Subway began in the early 1900s. However, escalating costs, the collapse of funding due to political uncertainty and the Great Depression meant that the project was subsequently abandoned. In 1928 it was indefinitely cancelled and there have been no plans to revive it since. Today it is the largest abandoned subway tunnel system in the United States.

Also at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Subway

[grahame]

Should the Coffee Shop cover model railways?

Well - it seems natural to allow / have some coverage of what's a subject of interest to a good proportion of our members, and a linked subject in many ways, but not to flood the main boards.    So this "Sideshoots" board is now a general place for things which are "pure interest" if you like to put it that way - things you probably can't see because they're gone or in people's private homes, but never the less of interest to members from time to time.