[Talk-GB] Naming of sewage treatment works and other such infrastructure

[Mark Goodge]

On 15/02/2023 12:09, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> 
> "Halt" was used as a distinct term by some of the pre-1948 railway 
> companies, often (not always) referring to a station with no 
> ticket-selling facilities. The GWR even had a third, more basic category 
> of station, the "Platform". But that went out when many more stations 
> became unstaffed, a trend that is only continuing today.
> 
> I can see how the "halt" definition makes sense for mappers in some 
> other countries but I'm not sure there's a helpful way to apply it in 
> the UK.

I entirely agree. To summarise as best I can:

1. The term "Halt" has no current operational or infrastructure 
significance on mainline UK railways. The tag 'railway=halt' should not 
therefore be used on mainline UK railways.

2. Some railway stations retain the word "Halt" in their name. This 
should correctly be incorporated into the 'name' tag, but nowhere else. 
(A correctly tagged example is Coombe Junction Halt).

3. A "Request Stop" (which is a different concept to a Halt, at least in 
the UK, although they are frequently confused) cannot be mapped, as this 
is a function of the service and operator and not the infrastructure. A 
station can be a request stop for one operator but not another, or on 
some days of the week (typically weekends) but not others, or at some 
times of the day but not others.

It might, possibly, be acceptable to tag a station as a request stop if, 
and only if, it is always a request stop for every service on every day. 
But this is difficult to verify, and can easily change, leaving the data 
at risk of becoming obsolete. I'd be inclined to avoid it, other than 
maybe for certain lines (such as the Heart of Wales Line) where there is 
a canonical and readily accessible list of which stations are request 
stops and which aren't.

Mark