Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 July 31

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July 31[edit]

Old Lego City/Train book[edit]

I seem to remember that in the early 1980s, I had a book that had photographs of large, elaborate scenes of train stations and city life, all built from Lego. I specifically remember some sort of movie theatre interior, with electrical lighting.

But I don't have that book any more, it was lost in my childhood. It might not necessarily have been an official book published by Lego. It might also have been from the 1970s, but I was a small baby then.

Does anyone have any idea about this book? I don't necessarily want an actual physical copy of it, mere photographs of its contents will do. JIP | Talk 01:03, 31 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@JIP: Something along the lines of this? The Lego Ideas books can be found digitally at brickset.com – there are several from the 80s. Cheers   01:39, 31 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Which are the longest river bridges of the world?[edit]

Hello all,

I was trying to find a list of the longest (say top 10) bridges over rivers in the world, but surprisingly could not find any. There are of course lists of longest bridges, of longest bridges "over water" (where most of the longest are over sea, lakes, swamps, etc.), but none specifically for those spanning rivers. I am looking primarily for road bridges, railway and ther facilities can be taken together, but road bridge is the primary criterion. Request all you knowledgeable people, to help me with a starting point. Many thanks in advanceDevakalpa (talk) 14:51, 31 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The Runyang Yangtze River Bridge south span is 1,490 metres (4,890 ft) long. But I see a problem with your definition. Many bridges will span both a river and the corresponding river valley. Do you include the entire length, or just that span, or just the width of the river at that point (which may vary) ? Some may have multiple spans over the river, perhaps using islands for bedrock. I'm assuming you want a single span that crosses the river and valley. SinisterLefty (talk) 15:02, 31 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]
There's so many definitional problems with the question. Do we want the widest river spanned by a bridge? What length are we looking for, the entire facility, or the span between supports? Where do rivers end and estuaries begin? Are we counting tidal rivers? Also everything Lefty speaks of: do we also count the portion of the bridge over dry land before it crosses the river, or only those over actual water? I think the best we can do is to send the OP to places to do his own research, where he can set his own criteria and his own limits. List of longest bridges is a Wikipedia article that would be a good starting place. --Jayron32 15:15, 31 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Just for an example of such issues regarding one particular bridge, see Talk:Vasco da Gama Bridge#Length. The article Vasco da Gama Bridge itself is now self-consistent but while looking for it I noticed that the article Tagus still gives the longer total length. --76.71.6.164 (talk) 22:14, 31 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]