Category talk:Locomotives by gauge

Proposed structure for this category

Currently, this category is a mess with inconsistent naming and subcategories at multiple and inconsistent levels. Accordingly, propose the following structure to sort it out:

• Category:Locomotives by gauge (this category)
  • Category:Broad gauge locomotives (new category)
    • Categories for locos by individual gauges (e.g. Category:5 ft gauge locomotives)
    • Category:Broad gauge locomotives by country (optional level if we want to add cats for countries other than Australia, e.g. UK)
      • Category:Broad gauge locomotives of Australia (renamed from Category:Broad gauge locomotives in Australia)
  • Category:Standard gauge locomotives (renamed from Category:Standard gauge railway locomotives; Category:4 ft 8½ in gauge locomotives would be converted to a redirect to this category)
    • Category:Standard gauge locomotives by continent (new category - is this level needed? Categories like Category:Standard gauge locomotives of Asia exist)
      • Category:Standard gauge locomotives by country (new category)
        • Categories for countries, (e.g. Category:Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain)
          • Categories by country and motive power (optional, e.g. Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain)
    • Category:Standard gauge locomotives by motive power (new category)
      • Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives
        • (Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives by continent) (potential future level, not currently needed)
          • Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives by country (new category)
            • Categories by country and motive power (e.g. Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain)
  • Category:Narrow gauge locomotives
    • Categories by gauge, e.g. Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives
      • Categories by gauge and country, e.g. Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia
    • Categories by country, e.g. Category:Narrow gauge locomotives of Australia
      • Categories by gauge and country, e.g. Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia
      • other by country subcats, (e.g. Category:Preserved narrow gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain)
    • Category:Narrow gauge locomotives by motive power (new category)
      • Category:Narrow gauge steam locomotives
        • Categories by motive power and gauge, (e.g. Category:Metre gauge steam locomotives)
        • Category:Narrow gauge steam locomotives by country (new category)
          • Categories by motive power and country, (e.g. Category:Narrow gauge steam locomotives of Germany)

General principals:

• Categories should be named "locomotives" not "railway locomotives"
• By country categories should be "of country" not "in country", or "adjective country", etc (e.g. "Narrow gauge locomotives of Australia" not "Narrow gauge locomotives in Australia" or "Australian narrow gauge locomotives")

Open questions:

• Do we need a tree for preserved locomotives?
• What to do with named gauge categories? e.g. Category:Cape gauge railway locomotives is currently a subcategory of Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives
• What to do with metric and imperial definitions of the same gauge? e.g. Category:1067 mm gauge locomotives of Japan‎ is currently a subcategory of Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives.

Comments, suggestions and improvements are encouraged! Thryduulf (talk) 14:24, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

Discussion

• Comment:- whilst it may seem obvious that a locomotive runs on rails, there is such a thing as a road locomotive. This can be got around by stating the the scope of each category is for railway locomotives at the category's page. I see no harm in having a category for preserved locomotives. The Cape gauge / 1067mm gauge subcats are correct. The former being for locomotives in the south of Africa and the latter being for Japanese locomotives, Japan using metric to measure its 3' 6" gauge railways. Mjroots (talk) 18:49, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

  So Category:Cape gauge railway locomotives should be a sub-category of Category:Narrow gauge locomotives of South Africa? Category:Locomotives is about railway rolling stock (although it doesn't explicitly state that) but I see no issue with confusion, especially as gauge isn't really a defining characteristic of road locomotives. Thryduulf (talk) 19:26, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

  Yes, because there were also 2-foot gauge railways in South Africa. Cape gauge is not exclusive to the country of South Africa though. It is used in much of southern Africa. Mjroots (talk) 20:02, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

  That sounds then like it should be a redirect to Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives, with the SA locos being in Category:Category Cape gauge locomotives of South Africa with similar ones for other countries? Thryduulf (talk) 21:53, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

  I don't think we need to split Cape gauge locomotives by country. The current split of 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives is good, and logical. Mjroots (talk) 08:01, 24 March 2021 (UTC)

• From my comment at the TfD: don't think we need to have duplicate categories for different units of measurement. Some merges are obvious when there's a common name which does not involve a unit (Standard gauge, ...). Haven't looked up the rest. RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 16:20, 24 March 2021 (UTC)