Template:Did you know nominations/Wood River Branch Railroad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by RoySmith (talk) 01:00, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

Wood River Branch Railroad

  • ... that the Wood River Branch Railroad was once sold for $301? Source: "Five-Mile Railroad Sold For $301". Popular Science. December 1938. p. 92. Retrieved October 31, 2022. [1]
    • ALT1: that the Wood River Branch Railroad was saved from abandonment when a railroad executive had doughnuts with the owner's mother? Source: "Abandon Rhode Island's One-Man Six-Mile Railroad". The Lewiston Daily Sun. April 14, 1937. p. 11. Retrieved November 1, 2022. [2]
    • ALT2: ... that a Rhode Island resident bought the Wood River Branch Railroad "so his mother wouldn't feel lonely" and then personally ran it for 40 years? Source: "Abandon Rhode Island's One-Man Six-Mile Railroad". The Lewiston Daily Sun. April 14, 1937. p. 11. Retrieved November 1, 2022. [3]
    • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Bir Hakeim rescue
    • Comment: Requesting the quirky hook slot for this article. QPQ coming soon.

Created by Trainsandotherthings (talk). Self-nominated at 02:34, 2 November 2022 (UTC).

  • Hi Trainsandotherthings, review follows: article created 31 October and exceeds minimum length; article is well written and cited inline throughout to what appear to be reliable sources; there's a discrepency between the infobox (which states 5.6 miles) and lead (6.0 miles) on the length of the railway and the length is note cited anywhere, neither is the fact that it was standard gauge; hook facts are interesting, I am not sure about ALT1 as the source seems to say that the talk with the mother did most of the work, but the other two check out; awaiting a QPQ - Dumelow (talk) 10:18, 2 November 2022 (UTC)
    The length is 5.6 miles. Sources often rounded it up to 6 miles or down to 5 miles, but the 1947 article in The Day lists the exact length of 5.6 miles. This has been cited, explicitly stated in the body, and made uniform throughout the article. The fact that the railroad is standard gauge is not generally something that needs a citation in the U.S.; the national rail network has been standard gauge for 150 years, but if you insist I can probably track down a cite. Multiple FAs on standard gauge railroads do not directly cite the track gauge. I know ALT1 is editorialized, but generally some editorializing is allowed with hooks, and I really don't think this is an issue to the point the hook needs to be rejected. The source does indeed state there was a box of doughnuts involved. I am open to rewording ALT1. QPQ will be done today and I will post it here when it's done. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 12:53, 2 November 2022 (UTC)
Hi Trainsandotherthings, thanks for replying. I am happy with your explanation on standard gauge. Not sure about ALT1. The source states "it was preserved only by Watrous bringing the railroad executive who wanted to abandon the system to see his mother. 'I gave him some doughnuts, a glass of milk, and let him talk to my mother.' Watrous said, 'We decided not to abandon it'". The first sentence seems to make it clear (to me) that it was the discussions with the mother that were important. Happy to refer this for a second opinion if you like and ALT1 is your strong preference - Dumelow (talk) 13:11, 2 November 2022 (UTC)
Would you be open to a rewording of ALT1? Such as "that the Wood River Branch Railroad was saved from abandonment when a railroad executive had doughnuts with the owner's mother?" Also, I just completed QPQ. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 13:14, 2 November 2022 (UTC)
Yep, that works for me. I've amended ALT1 and approved - Dumelow (talk) 16:01, 2 November 2022 (UTC)