Talk:Avonside Locomotive Works

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I am rather unhappy with this page, but I'm new to Wikipedia, so don't want to jump in by editing the page straight away.

Let me instead start by raising two points.

Firstly, I am not convinced that "Avonside Locomotive Works" was ever an official title of "The Avonside Engine Company"; actually, I am convinced that it never was. As evidence I can mention the worksplate on Elidir (2071) which I photographed at Shildon in August 2006. This clearly reads "The Avonside Engine Company". I therefore feel that this article if falsely titled, and the material in it should be included, if at all, in the article entitled "Avonside Engine Company".

As for the content, I was amazed by the inclusion of GWR 1103 at Danygraig, Swansea Docks, under "Surviving Fishponds Built Avonside Locomotives". If this were true, it would be a sensation, but neither of the two authoritative sources on preserved locomotives in Britain, namely the EL series of Industrial Railway Society books (currently No. 14EL) and the web-site uklocos.com mention this loco at all. A quick google search for "Avonside 1103" revealed a page at PhilT.org.uk which showed a photo of 1103 (Avonside 1989/1926), previously "Picture of the Month" for July/August 2007. It is clear to me that the author of this Wikipedia page has simply misinterpreted this photo as meaning that 1103 is still at Danygraig, whereas a short check would have proved this to be totally unfounded.

The rest of the content is of moderate quality, and could well be improved. The reference to "The 0-4-0 gauge" is suspicious, and should be corrected immediately.

Any comments welcome.

Umberslade (talk) 01:02, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

All good points and worthwhile clarifications. Please note the guidelines about being positive Wikipedia:Talk_page_guidelines, and feel free to merge with Avonside Engine Company should it clarify the title/content. Regards Robinboulby (talk) 19:43, 17 April 2008 (UTC)