[talk-au] Historical rail lines

[Matt White]

Not sure of the original source - the rail line is in old Melways etc. 
and in some out of copy right maps I have. The existence of the inner 
circle rail line isn't really a secret.

The problem for me is that it just isn't there any more (aside from the 
handful of things I mentioned below, which I agree can be kept mapped 
correctly because they exist physically, but it amounts to above 100 
metres of track in a dozen small sections, plus a cutting underneath 
Royak parade and an old station building that is now a community centre).

The actual align of the rail line is also out by about 30 meters at 
least - it's too far south on OSM to be accurate

Just because is existed once in a time past doesn't mean we should map 
it. Parts of the Deepdene rail spur still exist (some cuttings and the 
like), but there's no rails, and it has been mostly built over. Ditto 
the Rosstown railway <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosstown_Railway> 
(Elsternwick to Oakleigh)

It's not a "disused" railway where the infrastucture is still there. 
It's a bike path, the lines have been pulled up, the stations torn down, 
the overhead gantry towers removed...

It's just a slippery slope... immediately north of the rail line in the 
link below is Holden St. It used to have a tram line on it, with a 
curious little dogleg at the end onto St Georges Road. That was also 40 
years ago. There's not much left now, but there are a few traces if you 
know what you are looking for (old overhead cable mounts etc). But I 
hardly think it needs to be mapped.

Matt


On 25/11/2012 9:28 PM, Ian Sergeant wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm pretty sure we've reached consensus in the past that if there is 
> absolutely no evidence of it on the ground - no tunnels - no cuttings 
> - no tracks.  In other words there was a railway line, but now it is a 
> shopping mall, then it doesn't get mapped.  We don't maintain layers 
> of history in OSM right now.
>
> If there is evidence still on the ground, then we have tags for that.
>
> What is the source for the data that is there, if there is no evidence 
> on the ground?  Where was it copied from?
>
> Ian.
>
> On 25 November 2012 17:15, Matt White <mattwhite at iinet.net.au 
> <mailto:mattwhite at iinet.net.au>> wrote:
>
>     A question for the list regarding historical/disused rail lines.
>
>     The old inner circle rail line in Melbourne is mapped in OSM, and
>     I'm unconvinced of it being a good thing. Here's a little bit of
>     it that I can talk about with some local knowledge of:
>     http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-37.780512&lon=144.982887&zoom=18&layers=M
>
>     Given that there is pretty much no trace of the rail line left,
>     why are we mapping it? It was "on the ground" 30 years ago, but it
>     certainly isn't now.
>
>     (That said, there are some small pieces of the track remaining -
>     where it crosses Rae St and Brunswick St Nth, two or three 15
>     metre sections + a set of points just north of the end of
>     Birkenhead St (including what appears to be an old rail
>     weighbridge), and a short three metre section in Edinburgh
>     Gardens, and the old North Carlton station building is still there)
>
>     If there are no complaints, I'm going to remove it. It's
>     historical, and appears on old maps, but does not exist today.
>
>     Matt
>
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