Template talk:Ridable miniature railways in England

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What is this template for?

Looking at the history, there is a certain amount of coming and going here! Railways are being added and/or removed due to different criteria being applied. One line has been removed because it is on the 15" template, but the main 15" gauge lines are still listed here, as well as there. That makes no sense. Likewise people are using their own judgement about whether a line is "miniature" or "minimum" gauge. I suggest we need to define clearly what this template is for, so that we're all singing from the same song-sheet. Timothy Titus ^{Talk To TT} 02:29, 15 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(Two comments below copied from a user talk page, to keep the conversation in one logical place.)

Some of the entries are not what I would call 'miniature' railways, but are closer to the Heywood concept of a 'minimum' gauge railway which is something different. ( The Ruislip Lido line being an example of a 'minimum' gauge as opposed to a miniature railway.) To me miniature railways have scaled replicas of 'larger' gauge or mainline locos...whereas 'minimum' gauge railways have stock that more closely resembles narrow gauge rolling stock which is not a 'scaled' replica of large gauge examples... I appreciate that for some lines the distinction can be hard to draw, Are you able to provide some guidelines based on the respective articles? Sfan00 IMG (talk) 11:08, 19 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I absolutely agree. The trouble is, your suggestion above doesn't work. There are many miniature railways which use narrow-gauge type locos rather than scale models - and many others which have a mixture of both. When I first discovered the template it already included both the RHDR and the R&ER, both of which use scale model locos, but provide long-distance public transport facilities (eg RHDR shoppers services, school trains, and tourist shuttles to Burmarsh and Warren Halt). I wouldn't call the RHDR a miniature railway, but someone else clearly would, as they added it to the template. I DO agree we need to clarify. Timothy Titus ^{Talk To TT} 09:55, 20 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]