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Trams in Melbourne

The Melbourne tramway network is a tramway system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The tramway network is centred around the Melbourne central business district (CBD) and consists of approximately 1,700 tram stops across 24 routes. It is the largest operational urban tram network in the world and one of the most used, with more than 500 trams and 250 km of double tram track. It served a patronage of 206 million over the year 2017-2018. Trams are the second most utilised form of public transport in Melbourne after the city's metropolitan commuter railway network.

Trams have operated continuously in Melbourne since 1885 (the horse tram line in Fairfield opened in 1884, but was at best an irregular service). Since then they have become a distinctive part of Melbourne's character and feature in tourism and travel advertising. Melbourne's cable tram system opened in 1885, and expanded to one of the largest in the world, with 75 km of double track. The first electric tram line opened in 1889, but closed only a few years later in 1896. In 1906 electric tram systems were opened in St Kilda and Essendon, marking the start of continuous operation of Melbourne's electric trams.

Victoria's public transport system was reorganised in 1983 and saw the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board absorbed into the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which was in turn absorbed by the Public Transport Corporation in 1989. The network has been operated under contract since the commencement of franchising, following the privatisation of the Public Transport Corporation in 1999. The current private operator contracted to run Melbourne's tram system is Keolis Downer, trading as Yarra Trams.

Ticketing, public information and patronage promotion are undertaken by Victoria's public transport body, Public Transport Victoria. The multi-modal integrated ticketing system, myki, currently operates across the tram network.

At some Melbourne intersections (most within the CBD), motor vehicles turning right are required to perform a hook turn, a manoeuvre designed to give trams priority. To further improve tram speeds on congested Melbourne streets, trams also have priority in road usage, with specially fitted traffic lights and exclusive lanes being provided either at all times or in peak times, as well as other measures.

Horse trams
Melbourne's first tram was a horse tram from Fairfield railway station to a real estate development in Thornbury; it opened on 20 December 1884, and was closed by 1890. Seven horse tramlines operated in Melbourne, three were built by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company (MTOC), while the other four were built by different private companies.

The MTOC's three lines fed their cable tram system: Victoria Bridge cable tram terminus to Kew (Boroondara Cemetery), opened in 1887 and closed in 1915 after its sale to Kew Council for conversion to a Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust electric line; Hawthorn Bridge cable tram terminus to Auburn Road, via Burwood Road, Power Street and Riversdale Road, opened in 1890 and closed on 31 January 1916 after being sold to the Hawthorn Tramways Trust for conversion to electric traction; and the Zoo line, from the Royal Parade cable line to Melbourne Zoological Gardens, opened on 10 March 1890 and closed in November 1923. The Zoo line was Melbourne's last horse tram and the only line still in operation at the formation of the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB), however it was destroyed by fire during the 1923 police strike; the MMTB took the decision not to reopen it, thus ending Melbourne's horse tram era.

Cable trams
Melbourne's cable tram system has its origins in the MTOC, started by Francis Boardman Clapp in 1877, with a view to operate a Melbourne tram system. After some initial resistance, he successfully lobbied the government who passed the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company Act 1883 on 10 October 1883, granting the company the right to operate a cable tram system in Melbourne. Although several lines were originally intended to be horse trams, and the MTOC did operate three horse tram lines on the edges of the system, the core of the system was built as cable trams.

The Act established the Melbourne Tramways Trust (MTT), which was made up of the 12 municipalities that the MTOC system would serve. The MTT was responsible for the construction of tracks and engine house, while the MTOC built the depots, offices and arranged for the delivery or construction of the rolling stock. The MTT granted a lease to operate the system until 1 July 1916 to the MTOC, with the MTOC paying 4.5% interest on the debts incurred by the MTT in building the system.

The first cable tram line opened on 11 November 1885, running from Bourke Street to Hawthorn Bridge, along Spencer Street, Flinders Street, Wellington Parade and Bridge Road, with the last line opening on 27 October 1891. At its height the cable system was one of the largest in the world, with 75 km of double track, 1200 gripcars and trailers and 17 routes covering (103.2 route km or 64.12 route miles).

On 18 February 1890, the Northcote tramway was opened by the Clifton Hill to Northcote & Preston Tramway Company. This was Melbourne's only non-MTOC cable tram, built by local land speculators and was operated as an independent line, feeding the Clifton Hill line.

When the lease expired on 1 July 1916, all the assets of the MTT and MTOC cable network were taken over by the Melbourne Tramways Board (MTB). The MMTB was formed on 1 November 1919, taking over the MTB cable tram network, with the Northcote tramway and the tramway trusts transferred to the MMTB on 20 February 1920.

From 1924 the cable tram lines were progressively converted to electric trams, or abandoned in favour of buses, with the last Melbourne cable tram operating on 26 October 1940.

First electric trams
The first electric tram in Melbourne was built in 1889 by the Box Hill and Doncaster Tramway Company Limited—an enterprise formed by a group of land developers—and ran from Box Hill railway station along what is now Station Street and Tram Road to Doncaster, using equipment left over from the Centennial International Exhibition of 1888 at the Royal Exhibition Building. The venture was marred with disputes and operational problems, and ultimately failed, with the service ceasing in 1896.

After this venture failed, electric trams returned on 5 May 1906, with the opening of the Victorian Railways Electric Street Railway from St Kilda to Brighton, and was followed on 11 October 1906 with the opening of the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company (NMETL) system, which opened two lines from the cable tram terminus at Flemington Bridge to Essendon and Saltwater River (now Maribyrnong River).

Victorian Railways Electric Street Railways
The Victorian Railways line came about when Thomas Bent became Premier. A leading land boomer, he stood to benefit from construction of the line, through the increased value of his large land holdings in the area, and pushed through the legislation to enable to building of the line by the VR in 1904.

The VR tram was called a "Street Railway" and was built using the Victorian Railways broad gauge instead of the cable tramway standard gauge of, and connected it with the St Kilda railway station, which would allow trams to be moved along the St Kilda railway line for servicing at Jolimont Yard. The line was opened in two stages, from St Kilda railway station to Middle Brighton on 5 May 1906 and to Brighton Beach terminus on 22 December 1906.

A fire at the Elwood tram depot on 7 March 1907 destroyed the depot and all the trams. Services resumed on 17 March 1907 using four C-class trams and three D-class trams from Sydney, which were altered to run on VR trucks salvaged from the fire. These trams sufficed until Newport Workshops built 14 new trams. The St Kilda to Brighton Beach Electric Street Railway closed on 28 February 1959 and was replaced by buses.

VR opened a second, standard gauge, electric tramway from Sandringham railway station to Black Rock on 10 March 1919, it was extended to Beaumaris on 2 September 1926. The service was withdrawn on 5 November 1956 and replaced with buses.

North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company
The North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company (NMETL) was an electricity and tramway company that operated from 1906 to 1922. The tramway section was taken over by the MMTB on 1 August 1922 and the electricity section taken over by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1922.

The Victorian Government of Sir Thomas Bent approved an application by Mr Morgan to build a tramway system in the Essendon area on 29 March 1904, with a poll of ratepayers overwhelming supporting the proposition on 29 July 1904 (2874 votes to 146). Mr Morgan transferred the concession to the NMETL, which had been formed to build the system and provide electricity to the area. Under the concession the NMETL was to construct a tramway and provide electricity within the municipalities of Essendon and Flemington for 30 years, it also mandated a service at least every 20 minutes and had provisions for the undertaking to become property of the municipalities involved earlier than the prescribed 30 years.

The NMETL bought land on Mount Alexander Road for its offices, car barn and power house, with the foundation stone laid by the Mayors of Essendon and Flemington on 24 May 1905, and the first rail laid a month later by Premier Bent. The system opened on 11 October 1906 operating two routes from Flemington Bridge—one to Essendon via Mount Alexander Road, Pascoe Vale Road, Fletcher Street and onto Mount Alexander Road again (with a short branch line along Puckle Street), and the second to Saltwater River via Mount Alexander Road, Victoria Street, Racecourse Road, Epsom Road, Union Road and Maribyrnong Road. The system was approximately 7 mi and was operated by 25 motor cars and 10 trailers.

The tramway trusts
Due to demand for better public transport in Melbourne's inner suburbs of Prahran and Malvern the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust Act 1907 was enacted. Councillor Alex Cameron of Malvern, who led the push for a municipal tramway service, was elected chairman of the trust by both Malvern and Prahran councils. Construction began on its first tram line in 1909 with the first passenger service commencing on 30 May 1910. Using overhead wires to feed electricity to the trams, the network continued to expand greatly and profitably. In 1913, the region covered by the PMTT was extended and, thus, representatives of the Hawthorn and Kew councils were also included on the board. In 1916 Camberwell council representatives were also included.

Following the PMTT, the following municipal trusts were formed:
 * Hawthorn Tramways Trust – 1914 (Municipalities of Melbourne, Richmond, Camberwell & Hawthorn)
 * Melbourne, Brunswick & Coburg Tramways Trust – 1916 (Municipalities of Brunswick, Coburg & Melbourne)
 * Fitzroy, Northcote & Preston Tramways Trust – in process of construction when taken over in 1920 (Municipalities of Fitzroy, Northcote & Preston)
 * Footscray Tramway Trust – in process of construction when taken over in 1920 (Municipality of Footscray)

Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board
The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) was formed in July 1919 to take control of Melbourne's cable tram network, six of the seven electric tramway companies, and the last horse tram. By 1940, all cable and horse tram lines had been abandoned or converted to either electric tram or bus operation.

Alex Cameron was its full-time chairman. The tramway network had both cable and electric traction and had been constructed by different bodies without any uniform system. Under Cameron, the MMTB brought these systems under its control, extending the electric lines, and converting the existing cable-system to electric traction. To solve operational and maintenance problem the MMTB introduced in 1923 the iconic W-class tram and phased out the other models. The Preston Workshops were constructed about this time to manufacture and maintain the new tram fleet.

In March 1923 Alex Cameron went overseas to investigate traffic problems. He returned next year, confirmed in his long-held opinions that electric trams were superior to buses and that overhead wires were preferable to the underground conduit (cable) system. Alex Cameron remained chairman there until 1935. He died a few years later in 1940, the same year the last of the cable tram services in Melbourne ended.

The MMTB generated further patronage by developing the enormous Wattle Park in the 1920s and 1930s, it had inherited Wattle Park from the Hawthorn Tramways Trust with the HTTs takeover by the MMTB.

After World War II other Australian cities began to replace their trams with buses. However, in Melbourne, the Bourke Street buses were replaced by trams in 1955, and new lines opened to East Preston and Brunswick East.

Melbourne's tram usage peaked at 260 million trips in 1949, before dropping sharply to 200 million the following year in 1950. However usage defied the trend and bounced back in 1951, but began a gradual decline in usage which would continue until 1970. During the same period bus use also went into decline and buses have never proved as popular with passengers as trams at any time in Melbourne's history.

By the 1970s Melbourne was the only Australian city with a major tram network. Melbourne resisted the trend to shut down the network for three major reasons: partly because the city's wide streets and geometric street pattern made trams more practicable than in many other cities; partly because of resistance from the unions; and partly because the Chairman of the MMTB, Sir Robert Risson, successfully argued that the cost of ripping up the concrete-embedded tram tracks would be prohibitive. Also, the infrastructure and vehicles were relatively new, having replaced Cable Tram equipment in only the 1920s–1940s. This destroyed the argument used by many other cities, which was that renewal of the tram system would cost more than replacing it with buses. There is a 1960s colour film called "Citizen Tram" on YouTube commissioned by Risson too.

By the mid-1970s, as other cities became increasingly choked in traffic and air pollution, Melbourne was convinced that its decision to retain its trams was the correct one, even though patronage had been declining since the 1950s in the face of increasing use of cars and the shift to the outer suburbs, beyond the tram network's limits.

The first tram line extension in over twenty years took place in 1978, along Burwood Highway. The W-class trams were gradually replaced by the new Z-class trams in the 1970s, and by the A-class trams and the larger, articulated B-class trams in the 1980s.

In 1980, the controversial Lonie Report recommended the closure of seven tram lines. Public protests and union action resulted in the closures not being carried out.

Metropolitan Transit Authority and Public Transport Corporation
The MMTB, along with the metropolitan railway assets of VicRail, were absorbed into the newly formed Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) on 1 July 1983, while the regional assets of VicRail were absorbed by the State Transit Authority (STA). The MTA was formed to co-ordinate and operate the Melbourne public transport system, during 1986–87 an integration of rail, tram and bus divisions took place, with the operations, maintenance and administration of these departments fully integrated by 11 April 1988.

The MTA introduced a new green and yellow livery and uniform design, with a new logo, showing the integration of Melbourne's public transport system, replacing the MMTB logo, and introduced a new time-based integrated ticketing system, for all modes of Melbourne's public transport.

An Automatic Vehicle Monitoring system was introduced in 1985, improving communication with drivers and allowing tracking of trams throughout the network. This reduced tram bunching and improved reliability of tram services.

The St Kilda and Port Melbourne railway lines were converted to light rail lines in 1987, with the lines closed on 1 July 1987 and 11 October 1987 respectively. Trams first ran on the St Kilda line on 20 November 1987, with Port Melbourne following on 13 December 1987. The conversion consisted of the track being re-gauged from broad gauge to standard gauge, the overhead wires being converted to tramway voltage and light rail platforms built adjacent to the former stations platforms.

As a result of the Transport (Amendment) Act 1989 the MTA and STA were merged into the Public Transport Corporation (PTC) on 1 July 1989, bringing all rail services in Victoria under one body.

By the late 1980s, the state government was under financial pressures brought on by an economic downturn. In January 1990, the Labor government of Premier John Cain tried to introduce economies into the running of the public transport system, including the removal of tram conductors. This provoked a long and crippling strike by the tramways union in January 1990, resulting in a back-down by the government and the retention of conductors.

In the 1992 state election, the Liberals came to power under Premier Jeff Kennett, who planned to cut the costs of Melbourne's public transport network and remove conductors. OneLink were contracted in 1995 to introduce an automatic ticketing system. The tramway union, which opposed this move, went on strike during the 1997 Grand Prix. One month later the government announced plans for privatisation of the PTC. The tram conductors were replaced with ticketing machines between 1996 and 1998—shortly before the system was privatised.

Privatisation
On 1 July 1997, in preparation for privatisation of the Public Transport Corporation, Melbourne's tram network was split into two businesses: Met Tram 1 (later renamed Swanston Trams) and Met Tram 2 (later renamed Yarra Trams). VicTrack, a new statutory authority within the Victorian Government, was created in 1997 to hold the ownership of land and assets relating to Victoria's tram and rail systems. In addition, a statutory office was established—the Director of Public Transport—to procure rail and tram services and to enter into and manage contracts with transport operators.

After a tendering process the businesses were awarded as 12-year franchises, with Swanston Trams won by National Express, and the Yarra Trams business by TransdevTSL. Following a transitional period, the right to operate the two tram businesses was officially transferred from the government to the private sector under franchise agreements on 29 August 1999.

National Express renamed Swanston Trams as M>Tram, similarly along with its M>Train suburban train business, on 1 October 2001. After several years of failing to make a profit, more than a year of negotiations over revised financing arrangements with the government, and grave concern over its future viability, National Express Group announced on 16 December 2002, its decision to walk away from all of their Victorian contracts and hand control back to the state government, with funding for its operations to stop on 23 December 2002. The government ran M>Tram until negotiations were completed with Yarra Trams for it to take-over responsibility of the whole tram network from 18 April 2004.

On 25 June 2009, it was announced that Keolis Downer, a joint venture between Keolis and Downer EDI, would be the operator of the Melbourne tram network from 30 November 2009. The contract was for eight years, with an option for a further seven years.

System upgrades
As a part of the privatisation process, franchise contracts between the state government and both private operators included obligations to extend and modernise the Melbourne tram network. This included acquiring new tram rolling stock, in addition the existing tram fleet was refurbished. Swanston Trams (M>Tram) introduced 59 new Siemens Combino (D-class) low-floor built trams by Siemens, at a cost of A$175 million, and invested approximately A$8 million in refurbishing their fleet, while Yarra Trams introduced 36 Alstom Citadis (C-class) low-floor trams, at a cost of A$100 million, and invested A$5.3 million refurbishing their fleet.

In 2003 the marketing and umbrella brand Metlink was introduced to co-ordinate the promotion of Melbourne's public transport and the communications from the separate privatised companies. Metlink's role was to provide timetables, passenger information about connecting services provided by several operators, fares and ticketing information and introduce uniform signage across the Melbourne public transport system.

Since privatisation extensions have been made to the tram system, with the $28 million extension of the 109 to Box Hill opening on 2 May 2003, a $7.5 million extension along Docklands Drive in Docklands opened on 4 January 2005, and a $42.6 million extension of the 75 to Vermont South opening on 23 July 2005.

It was announced on 27 September 2010 that Bombardier Transportation had won a $303 million contract to supply and maintain 50 new E-class trams, the contract includes an option for a further 100. They will be built at Bombardier's Dandenong factory, with the propulsion systems and bogies coming from Bombardier's factories in Mannheim and Siegen, Germany, respectively. The trams will be 33 metres long and have a capacity of 210 passengers and are due to be in service in 2013. The first E-class tram arrived at Preston Workshops in late June 2013 for testing, with the first two E-class entering revenue service in November 2013.

In April 2012, Public Transport Victoria (PTV), a new statutory authority was formed after amendments to the Transport Integration Act 2010 and the passing of the Transport Legislation Amendment (Public Transport Development Authority) Act 2011. PTV assumed responsibility from the Director of Public Transport for the provision and administration of Victoria's transport services. It also provides information on fares, transport services and initiatives, and is responsible for overseeing and improving Victoria's public transport services.

The era since privatisation has also brought large patronage increases, an increase in platform stops, and a new ticketing system. In 1999–2000 year—when the tram system was privatised—patronage was 127.3 million per annum, this has increased almost each year since, and in the 2012–2013 year was 182.7 million passenger trips, a 4.2% year-on-year patronage increase; trams are the second most utilised public transport method, between trains and buses. Yarra Trams, the Department of Transport, and later Public Transport Victoria, committed to introduce level boarding stops to improve accessibility and safety, and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act; as of January 2014 360 accessible stops have been constructed, all since 1999.

The Metcard ticketing system which operated from 1996 was switched off on 29 December 2012, leaving myki—which has been in operation on Melbourne trains since 29 December 2009, and valid on Melbourne trams and buses since 25 July 2010—as the sole ticketing system.

Recent
At the start of 2015, the Free Tram Zone was introduced, which provided for free tram travel within the CBD, Docklands and the Queen Victoria Market, and ticketing was simplified to have just two payment zones. Primarily aimed at helping tourists move around the city centre, the Free Tram Zone was criticised by some as contributing to tram overcrowding. Between 2015 and 2019, 50 more E-Class trams were ordered by the Andrews state government, bringing the total order to 100 to be delivered by 2021.

In April 2018, the state government announced a new extension of the tram network from Caulfield. The 18 km extension would serve Chadstone, Monash University, Waverley Park and Rowville. The state government allocated $3 million to plan the route, which would be constructed in two stages, with the first running from Caulfield to Monash. In 2019 the government also allocated $4.5 million to plan for two new tram lines to the Fisherman's Bend urban renewal precinct, although it stopped short of committing to the project.

In 2020, six tram stops were rebuilt to be low-floor and accessible on Nicholson Street in Carlton as part of the Route 96 Project started in 2012 to make the entire line level-access and more separated from car traffic. Despite gradual stop upgrades, by 2021 73% of Melbourne's tram stops were still inaccessible for people in wheelchairs with initiatives like the Route 96 Project being criticised as too slow. As part of the project, Acland Street in St Kilda was closed to cars and a plaza built.

In the 2020–21 budget, the state government announced $1.48 billion for 100 next generation trams, G-class trams, to replace older low-floor trams, to be delivered from 2025 following the completed order of 100 E-class trams. In August 2021, the Government announced that a new maintenance and storage depot would be built at Maidstone to accommodate these new trams. , the Maidstone tram depot is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Routes
24 numbered routes operate with a regular schedule on Melbourne's tram network. Route numbers suffixed with the letter 'a' terminate before the usual destination, divert from the usual route, or both (due to major delays, disruptions or special events), while services suffixed with the letter 'd' terminate or divert to their depots (at end of service).

Fleet
The Melbourne tram fleet currently comprises 520 trams as of May 2023. Classification is based on the original system begun by the MMTB in 1921.

The rolling stock is part of leases to Yarra Trams, with the W-, Z-, A- and B-class trams owned by the Victorian Government, and the C1-class and D-classes are subject to lease purchase agreements, while the C2-class trams were leased from Mulhouse, France but are now state assets.

W-class
W-class trams were introduced to Melbourne in 1923 as a new standard design. They have two equal-wheeled bogies, with all four axles powered by a separate motor; carbodies feature a distinctive "drop centre" section, allowing the passenger steps at the central doorways to be closer to the ground. A total of 756 W-class trams of 11 variants were built up until 1956, and they formed the mainstay of Melbourne's tramways system for 60 years.

It was not until the 1980s that the W-class started to be replaced in large numbers, and by 1990 their status as an icon for the city was recognised, leading to a listing by the National Trust of Australia. Public outrage over their sale for tourist use overseas led to an embargo on further export out of the country in 1993, though recently some have been given or loaned to various Museums. Approximately 200 of the W-class trams retired since then remain stored, and the future use of these trams is unknown.

W-class trams have been sent overseas: five went to Seattle between 1978 and 1993, where they operated on Seattle's George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line from 1982, but suspended in 2005. Another nine are now part of the downtown Memphis tourist service, while several other US cities have one or two. The Edmonton Radial Railway Society in Edmonton, Alberta received No. 930 in 1997, and currently operates it on the High Level Bridge Streetcar heritage line.

As of January 2015, there are approximately 230 W-class trams: about 165 are in storage, 27 are stored operational in "ready reserve", 12 run on the City Circle (the oldest W-class tram in service runs on the City Circle) and 26 are used in revenue service. In January 2010, it was announced by the new transport minister that the 26 W-class trams running the two inner city routes, would be phased out by 2012, prompting a new campaign from the National Trust of Australia. In 2010, it was proposed to better utilise the unused W-class trams by refurbishing and leasing them as "roving ambassadors" to other cities, generating revenue which could then be invested back into the public transport system. In 2011 the Victoria government committed $8 million over four years for the restoration of W-class trams, with options for new routes to be considered.

Z-class

The development of new rolling stock to replace the W-class began in the early 1970s, employing a modern design, based on the M28 trams running in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Z-class trams, built by Comeng, were introduced in 1975. One hundred Z1-class trams were built between 1975 and 1979, the first 80 or so entering service as Z-class before being modified. The design proved unpopular with passengers due to the limited number of doors and the seated conductor. Most of the Z1-class trams were withdrawn following the introduction of the C, D and E class trams, with the last Z1-class being withdrawn on 23 April 2016. Many were later sold at auctions, while others were donated to tram museums.

In 1978 and 1979, fifteen Z2-class trams were built, as a bridging order to maintain construction continuity between the Z1 and Z3-class trams. Some slight modifications were incorporated, the main visible ones being a larger anti-climber bumper and larger opening area for the driver's side-window, otherwise they resemble the Z1-class vehicles. The last Z2-class tram was withdrawn from service on 21 April 2016.

One hundred and fifteen Z3-class trams entered service between 1979 and 1984. They were designed with an additional door on each side of the tram, the rear door improving passenger flow. Different motors and control equipment were fitted, resulting in smoother acceleration and braking compared to the Z1-class. As with the preceding Z1 and Z2-class trams, the conductor's console was removed when one-person operation was introduced in the 1990s. 111 remain in service.

A-class

The A-class trams were built between 1984 and 1987 by Comeng. They were built in two batches: 28 A1-class trams entered service between 1984 and 1985, and 42 A2-class trams between 1985 and 1986. They were similar – the major differences being the brakes, door operating mechanisms, and that the A1-class were built with trolley poles, while A2-class were the first trams for Melbourne that were equipped with pantographs only. All but one that were built remain in service at present.

B-class

Two B1-class trams were built as part of the order for 28 A1-class trams in 1984 and 1985. The B-class trams used the same traction equipment as the Z3 and A-class trams, and were designed for operating on the light rail lines. They were originally built with both trolley poles and pantographs, as well as movable steps to allow railway platform and street level boarding, however this concept was later abandoned when low-floor platforms replaced railway-height ones at the converted light rail stations. Both B1-class trams were withdrawn in 2018.

B2-class trams entered service between 1988 and 1994, differing from the B1-class prototypes by not having trolley poles, having dot-matrix destination displays, and non-opening windows. 130 trams were built by Comeng, and later ABB; all of which remain in service today. The B2-class was the first Melbourne tram fitted with air conditioning.

B-class trams were the first articulated trams to serve on the Melbourne network.

C-class (Citadis)
Following the privatisation of Melbourne's tram system in 1999, the private operators acquired new trams to replace the older Z-class trams. In 2001, Yarra Trams introduced the low-floor C1-class trams, a variant of the Citadis manufactured in France by Alstom. They are three-section articulated vehicles, with 36 in service.

Five C2-class trams, a five-section articulated variant of the Alstom Citadis, began running in Melbourne in 2008 after being leased from Mulhouse in France. They were dubbed 'Bumble Bees' due to the distinctive yellow colour scheme they carried when first introduced, and run exclusively on route 96. In November 2010 it was announced that the State Government was in negotiations to purchase the five C2-class trams, with the purchase finalised in 2013. They can hold 54 seated passengers and 150 standing passengers.

The C1-class trams are owned by Allco entity and are subject to a lease purchase agreement, while the C2-class trams were initially leased from Société Générale entity, they were subsequently purchased by the Victorian Government in the 2012–2013 financial year.

D-class (Combino)
The German-made Siemens Combino trams were introduced by the now defunct M>Tram between 2002 and 2004. The Combino is a three-section (D1-class) or five-section (D2-class) low-floor articulated vehicle.

The D-class trams are subject to a lease purchase agreement.

E-class (Flexity)
The E-class are three-section, four-bogie articulated trams, based on the Bombardier Flexity Swift design and built at Bombardier Transportation's Dandenong factory. The propulsion systems and bogies were imported from Bombardier's Mannheim and Siegen factories in Germany. Bombardier was selected on 27 September 2010 following a tendering process for 50 new low-floor trams, which was opened in 2009. The $303 million contract was for supply of 50 trams with maintenance to 2017, and included an option for a further 100 trams. The E-class trams are the first locally built Melbourne trams since the B-class in 1994.

E-class trams are 33 metres long and 2.65 metres wide, have anti-slip flooring, are air-conditioned, have automatic audio-visual announcements and a passenger capacity of 210. A two-thirds mock up, produced for design input, was unveiled on 24 August 2011 and was displayed at the 2011 Royal Melbourne Show. Although originally anticipated to be delivered in 2012, design complexity slowed down construction, delaying delivery of the first tram.

The first two E1-class trams entered service on 4 November 2013, and the last of the fifty on 24 April 2017. In May 2015, the State Government announced it had partially taken up the option, ordering a further 20 to a slightly modified design; the first of these entered service on 13 June 2017. This updated design focused on improved safety, in response to a significant increase in passenger injuries, and implemented measures such as glare reduction to allow improved road visibility for drivers and extra handholds and grab rails for passengers. Further extensions to this order have since been made, and as of 24 February 2020 a total of 35 E2-class trams have entered service, with another five on order. Eventually, a total of 100 E-class trams will be in service.

G-class (Next Generation Trams)
In November 2020, plans were announced for 100 Next Generation Trams in the 2020 Victorian Budget, at a cost of around $1.5 billion. Alstom and a joint venture comprising UGL Rail and CAF were shortlisted to design and build these new trams, with the first of the new models entering service in 2025. The new low floor trams will replace the older classes of trams, which are not accessible due to their high floor designs. They are planned to be shorter than the E-Class at 25-metres long, with an option for a 35-metre long version. They are planned to carry 150 passengers with seating for 48, and will include new technology for Melbourne's fleet including on-board batteries and regenerative braking, resulting in lower power consumption.

In April 2022 the Victorian Government announced that Alstom would build 100 new trams and provide 15 years of maintenance. As part of the $1.85 billion project, a new stabling and maintenance facility will be constructed at Maidstone in Melbourne's west to house the new trams. The trams are to be based on the Bombardier Flexity 2 design, customised to Melbourne's network, and will include 65% locally made content. The tram order is the largest in Australian history and the fleet is designed to use less power than the E-class so as not to require new power or traction infrastructure. The trams are to be known as the G-class.

Patronage
The following table lists patronage figures for the network during the corresponding financial year. Australia's financial years start on 1 July and end on 30 June. Major events that affected the number of journeys made or how patronage is measured are included as notes.

Depots
Melbourne's trams run out of eight depots.

Power supply
Melbourne's tram system operates on 600 volt DC electricity, provided to the over head lines by a network of 60 (as of March 2021) substations spread across the network. Electricity is supplied to these substations in either 6.6, 11, or 22 kilovolt 50 hertz AC and is then stepped down, and rectified to 600 volt DC. The overhead system is further separated into 100 sections, this is done both to maintain voltage and current across the network, and to isolate disruptions when issues relating to the electrical transmission system occur. The most common disturbances to the supply system are over height vehicles, falling tree limbs, damaged poles, and fires nearby to overhead wires.

Since 2013 Yarra Trams have been provisioning for the upgrade of substations across the network. This is due to the increased amount of current required by newer trams such as the E-class and other low-floor trams scheduled for wider deployment across the system. Additionally, they are concurrently planning for the further segmentation of the supply network; further isolating disruptions caused by disturbance to the supply system.

In January 2017, the state government announced tenders to power Melbourne's tram network with solar power, to be supplied at Mildura with a new 75 MW solar power plant by the end of 2018.

Tram–train level crossings
There are currently two level crossings where trams and trains cross each other: Glenferrie Road, Kooyong; and Riversdale Road, Camberwell. Two more recently existed, One at Glen Huntly Road, Glen Huntly, operated until 2023, when it was closed along with the Glen Huntly station as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project. and one at Burke Road, Glen Iris, operated until 2015, when it was also removed with Gardiner station under the same project

To accommodate the differing voltages of the 600-volt tram and 1500-volt train systems each of these level crossings is fitted with an overhead square, which can isolate the section of overhead wiring above the crossing and apply the appropriate voltage. When the signal box adjacent to the crossing interlocks the gates for trains to pass through, 1500 volts is applied, while when the gates are up 600 volts is applied.

Historically many tram–train level crossings have operated in Melbourne, all but the aforementioned two have been grade-separated, or the tramway or railway has been abandoned. The first were built during the cable tram systems operation, with much reluctance on behalf of the Victorian Railways. Many more were built after the emergence of electric trams in 1906, often causing disputes between tramway operators and the Victorian Railways.

Media and sporting events
Melbourne's trams—especially the W-class—are an icon of Melbourne and an important part of its history and character. Trams have been featured across several media, and in tourism advertising since World War II.

The character of Nora in the novel Monkey Grip (1977) by Helen Garner occasionally uses trams to run errands and make daily trips around the city. Trams are heavily featured in the movie Malcolm, one scene of the controversial film Alvin Purple, and feature in the music video clips for the Beastie Boys' The Rat Cage and AC/DC's It's a Long Way to the Top. Among songs written about Melbourne's trams are Toorak Tram by Bernard Bolan, and Taking the tram to Carnegie by the band Oscar.

The Eastern Suburbs Professional Community Theatre Company, known as Theatre Works staged a performance on a route 42 (now route 109) tram entitled Storming Mont Albert by Tram, between 26 February and 14 March 1982 as part of the Melbourne Moomba Festival. It was written by Paul Davies and directed by Mark Shirrefs and was revived in 1992 and 1998.

For the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games a Z1-class tram was decorated as a Karachi bus by a team of Pakistani decorators. Dubbed the Karachi tram, it operated on the City Circle tourist route during the Commonwealth Games. The tram was withdrawn from service in 2007 and is now preserved in the Melbourne Tram Museum at Hawthorn tram depot, being delivered on 19 June 2015. The centrepiece of the Opening Ceremony was a flying W-class tram, specially built for the event, from original W-class plans and photos.

Royal occasions
In 2006 a W-class tram 965 was gifted from the City of Melbourne to Australian Mary Donaldson and her fiancé, Danish Crown Prince Frederik, on the occasion of their marriage. The tram now runs at the Danish tram museum of Sporvejsmuseet.

On 26 October 2011, a Z3-class tram, specially liveried as a Royal Tram was used to convey Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, from Federation Square to Government House, along St Kilda Road during their visit to Melbourne. The Royal Tram was in regular service for a little over one year following the event.

Melbourne Art Trams
From 1978 to 1993 36 W-class trams were painted with artwork as part of the Transporting Art project. The idea was conceived in early 1978 by Melbourne Lord Mayor Irvin Rockman and artist Clifton Pugh, with the idea backed by then Premier Rupert Hamer. Over the lifetime of the project many notable local artists participated, including Mirka Mora, Michael Leunig, Howard Arkley and Reg Mombassa.

The idea was reprised as part of a collaboration between Arts Victoria, Yarra Trams and the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2013. A competition launched in May 2013 to select eight designs, with one art tram to operate out of each Melbourne tram depot. The first of the new Melbourne Art Trams, W-class 925, was launched on 30 September 2013 by then Premier Denis Napthine and Yarra Trams CEO Clément Michel, with the remaining seven trams to be introduced in the following two weeks. The last was introduced into service on 11 October 2013.

Melbourne Art Trams have continued to be refreshed and introduced annually since 2013, with over 48 artists featured. In 2018 the program was extended for a further 3 years through to 2021, and featured the first interactive art tram (using augmented reality) designed by Dr Troy Innocent for Melbourne International Games Week. The trams can be found on the network throughout the year by entering the corresponding tram number in the myTRAM feature of the tramTRACKER app.

Transport Integration Act
The prime rail related statute in Victoria is the Transport Integration Act, the Act was enacted to provide an overarching legislation for Victoria's transport system. It requires state agencies charged with providing transport services to work together towards an integrated transport system, and requires state planning bodies to consult the Act when making decisions that will affect the transport system.

The Act establishes Transport Safety Victoria (TSV) as Victoria's safety regulator for bus, maritime and rail transport. The Act also establishes the independent office of the Director, Transport Safety, though who the regulatory function is carried out with the support of TSV.

Another important piece of legislation is the Rail Management Act 1996, whose purpose is to establish a management regime for Victoria's rail infrastructure.

Safety
The safety of tram operations in Melbourne is regulated by the Rail Safety Act 2006 which applies to all rail operations in Victoria.

The Act establishes a framework containing safety duties for all rail industry participants and requires operators who manage infrastructure and rolling stock to obtain accreditation prior to commencing operations. Accredited operators are also required to have a safety management system to guide their operations. Sanctions applying to the safety scheme established under the Rail Safety Act are contained in the Part 7 of the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983.

The safety regulator for the rail system in Victoria including trams is the Director, Transport Safety, whose office is established under the Transport Integration Act 2010.

Rail operators in Victoria can also be the subject of no blame investigations conducted by the Chief Investigator, Transport Safety. The Chief Investigator is charged by the Transport Integration Act with conducting investigations into rail safety matters including incidents and trends.

Ticketing and conduct
Ticketing requirements for trams in Melbourne are mainly contained in the Transport (Ticketing) Regulations 2006 and the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual.

Rules about safe and fair conduct on trams in Melbourne are generally contained in the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983, and the Transport (Conduct) Regulations 2005.

title: Trams in Melbourne


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Polka

Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.

Polkas—as they often are referred to—are typically dance tunes in 2/4 time, and form a large part of the traditional dance culture and music repertoire of Ireland, most notably in the country's southernmost province of Munster, in the Counties of Cork, Kerry and parts of Limerick.

Etymology

The term polka referring to the dance is believed to derive from the Czech words "pulka", meaning "half-step" and "Polka" meaning "Polish woman" (feminine form corresponding to Polak, a Pole). Czech cultural historian Čeněk Zíbrt attributes the term to the Czech word půlka (half), referring to both the half-tempo and the half-jump step of the dance. The word was widely introduced into the major European languages in the early 1840s.

Origin and popularity
The polka's origin story first appears in the periodical Bohemia in 1844, in which it was attributed to a young Bohemian woman named Anna Slezáková (born Anna Chadimová). As told by Čeněk Zíbrt, the music teacher Josef Neruda noticed her dancing in an unusual way to accompany a local folk song called "Strýček Nimra koupil šimla", or "Uncle Nimra Bought a White Horse" in 1830. The dance was further propagated by Neruda, who put the tune to paper and taught other young men to dance it. Some versions of this origin story placed the first polka as being danced in Hradec Kralove, while others claimed it occurred in the village of Labska Tynica. Historians believe the polka evolved as a quicker version of the waltz, and associate the rapid bourgeoning in popularity of the polka across Europe in the mid-1800s with the spread of the Romantic movement, which emphasized an idealized version of peasant culture.

By 1835, this dance had spread to the ballrooms of Prague. From there, it spread to classical music hub Vienna by 1839, and in 1840 was introduced in Paris by Johaan Raab, a Prague dance instructor. It was so well received in Paris that its popularity was referred to as "polkamania." The dance soon spread to London in 1844, where it was considered highly fashionable, and was also introduced to America. It remained a popular ballroom dance in America, especially with growing Central, Northern, and Eastern European immigrant groups until the late 19th century.

It may also be remarked an increase in domestic popularity since the end of the 19th century, starting with the birth of recorded music, at first thanks to the many recordings provided by Emile Berliner's Gramophone company, which provided several examples of popular music. Some of the more desired American recordings include Berliner 230 ("Commodore Polka", played by W. Paris Chambers) and the Berliner 3300s series (which include recordings like "The Signal polka" (BeA 3307) and "Exposition echoes polka" (BeA 3301), played by Arthur Pryor), though most early records are extremelly scarce or nonexistent anymore due to their fragile nature.

Styles and variants
There are various styles of contemporary polka besides the original Czech dance, which is still the chief dance at any formal or countryside ball in the Czech Republic.

Belarus
In the 1850s, polka was expanded among Belarusians, and was transformed by the national culture. In different regions, local variants arose, which assimilated with local choreographic folklore and gained popularity. The ease of penetration of the polka into Belarusian choreography was due to its degree of proximity to Belarusian national choreographic traditions.

The 2/4 meter polka merged well with Belarusian traditional dance, which had a similar meter. For example, "Trasucha" (Belarusian: "Трасуха", "Trasucha" or "Пацяруха", "Paciaruchais") a symbol of a typical folk dance, from which it received its name, and polka. Most often in Belarus, the polka is performed in pairs, moving half a step with turns in a circle. The dance is decorated with a variety of small pas, often accompanied by chastushkae.

Belarusian polkas are extremely rich in their choreographic and musical patterns, and are distinguished by great modal and intonation diversity. Polka demands both skill and physical endurance from the dancers.

Like the square dance, the polka also has many local variants: "Віцебчанка, Viciebčanka", "Барысаўская, Barysaŭskaja", "Ганкоўская, Hankoŭskaja", and the names were also given according to the peculiarities of the choreography: "Through the leg", "With a podkindes", "With squats", "On the heel", "Screw" and others.

United States
In the United States, polka is promoted by the International Polka Association based in Chicago, which works to preserve the cultural heritage of polka music and to honor its musicians through the Polka Hall of Fame. Chicago is associated with "Polish-style polka," and its sub-styles including "The Chicago Honky" (using clarinet and one trumpet) and "Chicago Push" featuring the accordion, Chemnitzer and Star concertinas, upright bass or bass guitar, drums, and (almost always) two trumpets.

Polka is popular in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the "Beer Barrel Polka" is played during the seventh-inning stretch and halftime of Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks games. Polka is also the official state dance of Wisconsin.

The United States Polka Association is a non-profit organization based in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is associated with North American "Slovenian-style polka", which is fast and features piano accordion, chromatic accordion, and/or diatonic button box accordion. North American "Dutchmen-style" features an oom-pah sound often with a tuba and banjo, and has roots in the American Midwest.

"Conjunto-style" polkas have roots in northern Mexico and Texas, and are also called "Norteño". Traditional dances from this region reflect the influence of polka-dancing European immigrants from 1800s. In the 1980s and 1990s, several American bands began to combine polka with various rock styles (sometimes referred to as "punk polka"), "alternative polka".

Comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic is a fan of polka, and on every album since 1984 (with the exception of Even Worse), Al has taken bits of famous songs and modified them to fit polka style.

The Grammy Awards were first presented for polka in 1985. The first award went to Frankie Yankovic, known as "America's Polka King", for his 70 Years of Hits album on Cleveland International Records. Cleveland International Records had another polka Grammy winner with Brave Combo's Polkasonic in 1999. Other polka Grammy nominees included Frankie Yankovic's America's Favorites (1986), Songs of the Polka King Vol. I, Songs of the Polka King Vol. II (1997), and Brave Combo's Kick Ass Polkas (2000). Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra is one of the most popular polka bands in America, having won 18 of the 24 awards for Grammy Award for Best Polka Album.

Polka Varieties was an hour-long television program of polka music originating from Cleveland, Ohio. The show, which aired in several U.S. cities, ran from 1956 until 1983. At that time, it was the only television program for this type of music in the United States. A number of polka shows originated from the Buffalo Niagara Region in the 1960s, including WKBW-TV's Polka Time, which was hosted for its first half-year on air by Frankie Yankovic, and cross-border station CHCH-TV's Polka Party, hosted by Walter Ostanek. In 2015, when Buffalo station WBBZ-TV launched the weekly Polka Buzz hosted by Ron Dombrowski, who also hosts the Drive Time Polkas radio show on WXRL Mondays-Saturdays from 5pm-7pm and on WECK Sundays from 8am-11am. )

Beginning with its inception in 2001, the RFD-TV Network aired The Big Joe Show, a television program that included polka music and dancing. It was filmed on location in various venues throughout the United States from 1973 through 2009. RFD-TV replaced The Big Joe Show with Mollie Busta's Polka Fest in January 2011; after Big Joe's death, reruns of The Big Joe Show returned to RFD-TV in 2015.

In 2009, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Grammy Awards, announced that it was eliminating the polka category "to ensure the awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape". A declining number of polka albums were considered for the award in previous years.

South America
Peruvian polkas (becoming very popular in Lima). In the pampas of Argentina, the "polca" has a very fast beat with a time signature. Instruments used are: acoustic guitar (usually six strings, but sometimes seven strings), electric or acoustic bass (sometimes fretless), accordion (sometimes piano accordion, sometimes button accordion), and sometimes some percussion is used. The lyrics always praise the gaucho warriors from the past or tell about the life of the gaucho campeiros (provincial gauchos who keep the common way). The polka was very popular in South and Southwest of Brazil, where it was mixed with other European and African styles to create the Choro. There also exist Curaçaoan polkas.

Ireland
The polka (polca in the Irish language) is also one of the most popular traditional folk dances in Ireland, particularly in Sliabh Luachra, a district that spans the borders of counties Kerry, Cork and Limerick. Many of the figures of Irish set dances, which developed from Continental quadrilles, are danced to polkas. Introduced to Ireland in the late 19th century, there are today hundreds of Irish polka tunes, which are most frequently played on the fiddle or button accordion. The Irish polka is dance music form in, typically 32 bars in length and subdivided into four parts, each 8 bars in length and played AABB. Irish polkas are typically played fast, at over 130 bpm, and are typically played with an off-beat accent.

Nordic countries
The polka also migrated to the Nordic countries where it is known by a variety of names in Denmark (polka, reinlænderpolka, galop, hopsa, hamborger), Finland (polkka), Iceland, Norway (galopp, hamborgar, hopsa/hopsar, parisarpolka, polka, polkett, skotsk) and Sweden (polka). The beats are not as heavy as those from Central Europe and the dance steps and holds also have variations not found further south. The polka is considered a part of the gammeldans tradition of music and dance. While it is nowhere near as old as the older Nordic dance and music traditions, there are still hundreds of polka tunes in each of the Nordic countries. They are played by solo instrumentalists or by bands/ensembles, most frequently with lead instruments such as accordion, fiddle, diatonic accordion, hardingfele and nyckelharpa.

Polka in the classical repertoire

Bedřich Smetana incorporated the polka in his opera The Bartered Bride and in particular, Act 1.

While the polka is Bohemian in origin, most dance music composers in Vienna (the capital of the vast Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was the cultural centre for music from all over the empire) composed polkas and included the dance in their repertoire at some point in their careers. The Strauss family in Vienna, for example, while better-known for their waltzes, also composed polkas that have survived. Joseph Lanner and other Viennese composers in the 19th century also wrote polkas to satisfy the demands of the dance-music-loving Viennese. In France, another dance-music composer, Émile Waldteufel, wrote polkas.

The polka evolved during the same period into different styles and tempos. In principle, the polka written in the 19th century has a four-theme structure; themes 1A and 1B as well as a 'Trio' section of a further two themes. The 'Trio' usually has an 'Intrada' to form a break between the two sections. The feminine and graceful 'French polka' (polka française) is slower in tempo and is more measured in its gaiety. Johann Strauss II's Annen-Polka, Op. 114, "Demolirer-Polka, Op. 269, the "Im Krapfenwald'l", Op. 336, and the "Bitte schön!" polka, Op. 372, are examples of this type of polka. The polka-mazurka is also another variation of the polka, being in the tempo of a mazurka but danced in a similar manner as the polka. The final category of the polka form around that time is the Polka schnell, which is a fast polka or galop. Eduard Strauss is better known for this last category, as he penned the "Bahn Frei" polka, Op. 45, and other examples. Earlier, Johann Strauss I and Josef Lanner wrote polkas designated as a galop (quick tempo) or as a regular polka that may not fall into any of the categories above.

The polka was a further source of inspiration for the Strauss family in Vienna when Johann II and Josef Strauss wrote one for plucked string instruments (pizzicato) only, the Pizzicato Polka. Johann II later wrote the "Neue Pizzicato Polka" (New pizzicato-polka), Op. 449, culled from music of his operetta Fürstin Ninetta. Much earlier, he also wrote a "joke-polka" (German scherz-polka) entitled "Champagner-Polka", Op. 211, which evokes the uncorking of champagne bottles.

Other composers who wrote music in the style of the polka were Jaromír Weinberger, Dmitri Shostakovich and Igor Stravinsky.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Polka


text:
Talk:Keratin

"European skin lacks keratin"
On the Mongoloid page, we say currently

The stratum corneum of Mongoloid skin contains lots of keratin, African and Melanesian skin has low amounts of keratin, and European skin lacks keratin.

This is referenced to Pre-History of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago., a 1985 book by Peter Bellwood. But on this page we say

Keratin filaments and other intermediate filaments function as part of the cytoskeleton to mechanically stabilize the cell against physical stress. Cells in the epidermis contain a structural matrix of keratin, which makes this outermost layer of the skin almost waterproof, and along with collagen and elastin, gives skin its strength.

Am I correct to believe that this sentence does not apply to white people because white people do not have keratin in their skin? This would seem to imply that unlike all other people, and indeed unlike all other mammals, humans of European ancestry such as myself have skin that is extremely delicate and permeable, comparable to that of a frog, through which water and pathogens pass unimpeded.

Am I reading this right?

Am I missing something very important?

Although this claim is on the Mongoloid page, I bring this up here because it's the claim about white people that I find puzzling, not what it says about Asians. Further down the same page, we say

Mongoloid skin has thick skin cuticle and an abundance of carotene (yellow pigment).

Given the similarity of the two words, is it possible that Bellwood also meant  carotene  instead of keratin? This would make more sense to me. I assume Bellwood's text is top-notch, but he was writing about cave paintings and flint tools ... he may have simply made a silly mistake that escaped both his own eyes and those of his publishers. Are authoritative texts authoritative even for claims that are out of their field?

On the other hand, yet another quote from the Mongoloid page states

Mongoloids have "yellowish skin", because the stratum corneum of Mongoloid skin contains lots of "disks of keratin". and the full paper is available online  here (Loomis 1967). Loomis' description makes it clear that he really is talking about keratin and not carotene. Apparently both are yellowish pigments. He cites Carleton Coon's studies in the 1930s. However, Loomis never states that European skin lacks keratin; only that Asians have more of it than others. Does this mean that Bellwood was close but not quite right? There's a lot of difference between low amounts of keratin and none at all. I think that once we can figure out what's really going on, it should be corrected in the Mongoloid article and also repeated here.

Thanks, — Soap — 18:30, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

Its complicated because there are apparently >40 genes for keratin of all the different types. could be that white people lack one particular kind and that Bellwood just used "keratin" for that one kind. for readers' sake, though,. i think we should fix it.— Soap — 20:38, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Stratified squamous epithelial tissue
Could this be explained in simpler terms: "Cornification is the process of forming an epidermal barrier in stratified squamous epithelial tissue". Thanks in advance, --70.36.51.60 (talk) 09:45, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Keratin


text:
Country Dance

A country dance is a social dance form in which two or more couples dance together in a set.

Country Dance may also refer to:
 * Country–western dance, dances performed to country music in the United States
 * Country Dance (film), a 1970 British drama film
 * The Country Dance, a painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau
 * "Country Dance", a 2023 song by Aaron Goodvin

title: Country Dance


text:
User:JaymeK

I am a Market Researcher, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

title: User:JaymeK


text:
Actuary

An actuary is a professional with advanced mathematical skills who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. The name of the corresponding field is actuarial science which covers rigorous mathematical calculations in areas of life expectancy and life insurance. These risks can affect both sides of the balance sheet and require asset management, liability management, and valuation skills. Actuaries provide assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms.

While the concept of insurance dates to antiquity, the concepts needed to scientifically measure and mitigate risks have their origins in the 17th century studies of probability and annuities. Actuaries of the 21st century require analytical skills, business knowledge, and an understanding of human behavior and information systems to design and manage programs that control risk. The actual steps needed to become an actuary are usually country-specific; however, almost all processes share a rigorous schooling or examination structure and take many years to complete.

The profession has consistently been ranked as one of the most desirable. In various studies in the United States, being an actuary was ranked first or second multiple times since 2010, and in the top 20 for most of the past decade.

Responsibilities
Actuaries use skills primarily in mathematics, particularly calculus-based probability and mathematical statistics, but also economics, computer science, finance, and business. For this reason, actuaries are essential to the insurance and reinsurance industries, either as staff employees or as consultants; to other businesses, including sponsors of pension plans; and to government agencies such as the Government Actuary's Department in the United Kingdom or the Social Security Administration in the United States of America. Actuaries assemble and analyze data to estimate the probability and likely cost of the occurrence of an event such as death, sickness, injury, disability, or loss of property. Actuaries also address financial questions, including those involving the level of pension contributions required to produce a certain retirement income and the way in which a company should invest resources to maximize its return on investments in light of potential risk. Using their broad knowledge, actuaries help design and price insurance policies, pension plans, and other financial strategies in a manner that will help ensure that the plans are maintained on a sound financial basis.

Disciplines
Most traditional actuarial disciplines fall into two main categories: life and non-life.

Life actuaries, which includes health and pension actuaries, primarily deal with mortality risk, morbidity risk, and investment risk. Products prominent in their work include life insurance, annuities, pensions, short and long term disability insurance, health insurance, health savings accounts, and long-term care insurance. In addition to these risks, social insurance programs are influenced by public opinion, politics, budget constraints, changing demographics, and other factors such as medical technology, inflation, and cost of living considerations.

Non-life actuaries, also known as "property and casualty" (mainly US) or "general insurance" (mainly UK) actuaries, deal with both physical and legal risks that affect people or their property. Products prominent in their work include auto insurance, homeowners insurance, commercial property insurance, workers' compensation, malpractice insurance, product liability insurance, marine insurance, terrorism insurance, and other types of liability insurance.

Actuaries are also called upon for their expertise in enterprise risk management. This can involve dynamic financial analysis, stress testing, the formulation of corporate risk policy, and the setting up and running of corporate risk departments. Actuaries are also involved in other areas of the financial services industry, such as analyzing securities offerings or market research.

Traditional employment
On both the life and casualty sides, the classical function of actuaries is to calculate premiums and reserves for insurance policies covering various risks. On the casualty side, this analysis often involves quantifying the probability of a loss event, called the frequency, and the size of that loss event, called the severity. The amount of time that occurs before the loss event is important, as the insurer will not have to pay anything until after the event has occurred. On the life side, the analysis often involves quantifying how much a potential sum of money or a financial liability will be worth at different points in the future. Since neither of these kinds of analysis are purely deterministic processes, stochastic models are often used to determine frequency and severity distributions and the parameters of these distributions. Forecasting interest yields and currency movements also plays a role in determining future costs, especially on the life side.

Actuaries do not always attempt to predict aggregate future events. Often, their work may relate to determining the cost of financial liabilities that have already occurred, called retrospective reinsurance, or the development or re-pricing of new products.

Actuaries also design and maintain products and systems. They are involved in financial reporting of companies' assets and liabilities. They must communicate complex concepts to clients who may not share their language or depth of knowledge. Actuaries work under a code of ethics that covers their communications and work products.

Non-traditional employment
As an outgrowth of their more traditional roles, actuaries also work in the fields of risk management and enterprise risk management for both financial and non-financial corporations. Actuaries in traditional roles study and use the tools and data previously in the domain of finance. The Basel II accord for financial institutions (2004), and its analogue, the Solvency II accord for insurance companies (in force since 2016), require institutions to account for operational risk separately, and in addition to, credit, reserve, asset, and insolvency risk. Actuarial skills are well suited to this environment because of their training in analyzing various forms of risk, and judging the potential for upside gain, as well as downside loss associated with these forms of risk.

Actuaries are also involved in investment advice and asset management, and can be general business managers and chief financial officers. They analyze business prospects with their financial skills in valuing or discounting risky future cash flows, and apply their pricing expertise from insurance to other lines of business. For example, insurance securitization requires both actuarial and finance skills. Actuaries also act as expert witnesses by applying their analysis in court trials to estimate the economic value of losses such as lost profits or lost wages.

Need for insurance
The basic requirements of communal interests gave rise to risk sharing since the dawn of civilization. For example, people who lived their entire lives in a camp had the risk of fire, which would leave their band or family without shelter. After barter came into existence, more complex risks emerged and new forms of risk manifested. Merchants embarking on trade journeys bore the risk of losing goods entrusted to them, their own possessions, or even their lives. Intermediaries developed to warehouse and trade goods, which exposed them to financial risk. The primary providers in extended families or households ran the risk of premature death, disability or infirmity, which could leave their dependents to starve. Credit procurement was difficult if the creditor worried about repayment in the event of the borrower's death or infirmity. Alternatively, people sometimes lived too long from a financial perspective, exhausting their savings, if any, or becoming a burden on others in the extended family or society.

Early attempts
In the ancient world there was not always room for the sick, suffering, disabled, aged, or the poor—these were often not part of the cultural consciousness of societies. Early methods of protection, aside from the normal support of the extended family, involved charity; religious organizations or neighbors would collect for the destitute and needy. By the middle of the 3rd century, charitable operations in Rome supported 1,500 suffering people. Charitable protection remains an active form of support in the modern era, but receiving charity is uncertain and often accompanied by social stigma.

Elementary mutual aid agreements and pensions did arise in antiquity. Early in the Roman empire, associations were formed to meet the expenses of burial, cremation, and monuments—precursors to burial insurance and friendly societies. A small sum was paid into a communal fund on a weekly basis, and upon the death of a member, the fund would cover the expenses of rites and burial. These societies sometimes sold shares in the building of columbāria, or burial vaults, owned by the fund. Other early examples of mutual surety and assurance pacts can be traced back to various forms of fellowship within the Saxon clans of England and their Germanic forebears, and to Celtic society.

Non-life insurance started as a hedge against loss of cargo during sea travel. Anecdotal reports of such guarantees occur in the writings of Demosthenes, who lived in the 4th century BCE. The earliest records of an official non-life insurance policy come from Sicily, where there is record of a 14th-century contract to insure a shipment of wheat. In 1350, Lenardo Cattaneo assumed "all risks from act of God, or of man, and from perils of the sea" that may occur to a shipment of wheat from Sicily to Tunis up to a maximum of 300 florins. For this he was paid a premium of 18%.

Development of theory
During the 17th century, a more scientific basis for risk management was being developed. In 1662, a London draper named John Graunt showed that there were predictable patterns of longevity and death in a defined group, or cohort, of people, despite the uncertainty about the future longevity or mortality of any one individual. This study became the basis for the original life table. Combining this idea with that of compound interest and annuity valuation, it became possible to set up an insurance scheme to provide life insurance or pensions for a group of people, and to calculate with some degree of accuracy each member's necessary contributions to a common fund, assuming a fixed rate of interest. The first person to correctly calculate these values was Edmond Halley. In his work, Halley demonstrated a method of using his life table to calculate the premium someone of a given age should pay to purchase a life-annuity.

Early actuaries
James Dodson's pioneering work on the level premium system led to the formation of the Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorship (now commonly known as Equitable Life) in London in 1762. This was the first life insurance company to use premium rates that were calculated scientifically for long-term life policies, using Dodson's work. After Dodson's death in 1757, Edward Rowe Mores took over the leadership of the group that eventually became the Society for Equitable Assurances. It was he who specified that the chief official should be called an actuary. Previously, the use of the term had been restricted to an official who recorded the decisions, or acts, of ecclesiastical courts, in ancient times originally the secretary of the Roman senate, responsible for compiling the Acta Senatus. Other companies that did not originally use such mathematical and scientific methods most often failed or were forced to adopt the methods pioneered by Equitable.

Development of the modern profession
In the 18th and 19th centuries, computational complexity was limited to manual calculations. The calculations required to compute fair insurance premiums can be burdensome. The actuaries of that time developed methods to construct easily used tables, using arithmetical short-cuts called commutation functions, to facilitate timely, accurate, manual calculations of premiums. In the mid-19th century, professional bodies were founded to support and further both actuaries and actuarial science, and to protect the public interest by ensuring competency and ethical standards. Since calculations were cumbersome, actuarial shortcuts were commonplace.

Non-life actuaries followed in the footsteps of their life compatriots in the early 20th century. In the United States, the 1920 revision to workers' compensation rates took over two months of around-the-clock work by day and night teams of actuaries. In the 1930s and 1940s, rigorous mathematical foundations for stochastic processes were developed. Actuaries began to forecast losses using models of random events instead of deterministic methods. Computers further revolutionized the actuarial profession. From pencil-and-paper to punchcards to microcomputers, the modeling and forecasting ability of the actuary has grown vastly.

Another modern development is the convergence of modern finance theory with actuarial science. In the early 20th century, some economists and actuaries were developing techniques that can be found in modern financial theory, but for various historical reasons, these developments did not achieve much recognition. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a distinct effort for actuaries to combine financial theory and stochastic methods into their established models. In the 21st century, the profession, both in practice and in the educational syllabi of many actuarial organizations, combines tables, loss models, stochastic methods, and financial theory, but is still not completely aligned with modern financial economics.

Remuneration and ranking
As there are relatively few actuaries in the world compared to other professions, actuaries are in high demand, and are highly paid for the services they render.

The actuarial profession has been consistently ranked for decades as one of the most desirable. Actuaries work comparatively reasonable hours, in comfortable conditions, without the need for physical exertion that may lead to injury, are well paid, and the profession consistently has a good hiring outlook. Not only has the overall profession ranked highly, but it also is considered one of the best professions for women, and one of the best recession-proof professions. In the United States, the profession was rated as the best profession by CareerCast, which uses five key criteria to rank jobs—environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands, and stress, in 2010, 2013, and 2015. In other years, it remained in the top 20.

Credentialing and exams
Becoming a fully credentialed actuary requires passing a rigorous series of professional examinations, usually taking several years. In some countries, such as Denmark, most study takes place in a university setting. In others, such as the US, most study takes place during employment through a series of examinations. In the UK, and countries based on its process, there is a hybrid university-exam structure.

Exam support
As these qualifying exams are extremely rigorous, support is usually available to people progressing through the exams. Often, employers provide paid on-the-job study time and paid attendance at seminars designed for the exams. Also, many companies that employ actuaries have automatic pay raises or promotions when exams are passed. As a result, actuarial students have strong incentives for devoting adequate study time during off-work hours. A common rule of thumb for exam students is that, for the Society of Actuaries examinations, roughly 400 hours of study time are necessary for each four-hour exam. Thus, thousands of hours of study time should be anticipated over several years, assuming no failures.

Pass marks and pass rates
Historically, the actuarial profession has been reluctant to specify the pass marks for its examinations. To address concerns that there are pre-existing pass/fail quotas, a former Chairman of the Board of Examiners of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries stated: "Although students find it hard to believe, the Board of Examiners does not have fail quotas to achieve. Accordingly pass rates are free to vary (and do). They are determined by the quality of the candidates sitting the examination and in particular how well prepared they are. Fitness to pass is the criterion, not whether you can achieve a mark in the top 40% of candidates sitting." In 2000, the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) decided to start releasing pass marks for the exams it offers. The CAS's policy is also not to grade to specific pass ratios; the CAS board affirmed in 2001 that "the CAS shall use no predetermined pass ratio as a guideline for setting the pass mark for any examination. If the CAS determines that 70% of all candidates have demonstrated sufficient grasp of the syllabus material, then those 70% should pass. Similarly, if the CAS determines that only 30% of all candidates have demonstrated sufficient grasp of the syllabus material, then only those 30% should pass."

Notable actuaries

 * Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838)
 * Early American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. In 1804, Bowditch became what was probably the United States of America's second insurance actuary as president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company in Salem, Massachusetts

 * Harald Cramér (1893–1985)
 * Swedish actuary and probabilist notable for his contributions in mathematical statistics, such as the Cramér–Rao inequality. Cramér was an Honorary President of the Swedish Actuarial Society

 * James Dodson (c. 1705 – 1757)
 * Head of the Royal Mathematical School, and Stone's School, Dodson built on the statistical mortality tables developed by Edmund Halley in 1693

 * Edmond Halley (1656–1742)
 * While Halley actually predated much of what is now considered the start of the actuarial profession, he was the first to rigorously calculate premiums for a life insurance policy mathematically and statistically

 * James C. Hickman (1927–2006)
 * American actuarial educator, researcher, and author

 * Oswald Jacoby (1902–1984)
 * American actuary best known as a contract bridge player, he was the youngest person ever to pass four examinations of the Society of Actuaries

 * David X. Li
 * Canadian qualified actuary who in the first decade of the 21st century pioneered the use of Gaussian copula models for the pricing of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)

 * Edward Rowe Mores (1731–1778)
 * First person to use the title 'actuary' with respect to a business position

 * William Morgan (1750–1833)
 * Morgan was the appointed Actuary of the Society for Equitable Assurances in 1775. He expanded on Mores's and Dodson's work, and may be considered the father of the actuarial profession in that his title became applied to the field as a whole.

 * Robert J. Myers (1912–2010)
 * American actuary who was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Social Security program

 * Frank Redington (1906–1984)
 * British actuary who developed the Redington Immunization Theory.

 * Isaac M. Rubinow (1875–1936)
 * Founder and first president of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

 * Elizur Wright (1804–1885)
 * American actuary and abolitionist, professor of mathematics at Western Reserve College (Ohio). He campaigned for laws that required life insurance companies to hold sufficient reserves to guarantee that policies would be paid.

Fictional actuaries
Actuaries have appeared in works of fiction including literature, theater, television, and film. At times, they have been portrayed as "math-obsessed, socially disconnected individuals with shockingly bad comb-overs", which has resulted in a mixed response amongst actuaries themselves.

title: Actuary


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Thomas à Kempis

Thomas à Kempis, CRV (c. 1380 – 25 July 1471; Thomas von Kempen; Thomas van Kempen ) was a German-Dutch Catholic canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of The Imitation of Christ, published anonymously in Latin in the Netherlands c. 1418–1427, one of the most popular and best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", Kempen being his home town.

He was a member of the Modern Devotion, a spiritual movement during the late medieval period, and a follower of Geert Groote and Florens Radewyns, the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life.

Life
Thomas was born in Kempen in the Rhineland. His surname at birth was Hemerken (or Hammerlein), meaning the family's profession, "little hammer", Latinized into "Malleolus". His father, Johann, was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrud, was a schoolmistress. Although almost universally known in English as Thomas à Kempis, the "a" represents the Latin "from" and is erroneously accented. In his writings he signed himself "Thomas Kempensis" or "Thomas Kempis".

In 1392, Thomas followed his brother, Johann, to Deventer in the Netherlands in order to attend the noted Latin school there. While attending this school, Thomas encountered the Brethren of the Common Life, followers of Gerard Groote's Modern Devotion. He attended school in Deventer from 1392 to 1399.

After leaving school, Thomas went to the nearby city of Zwolle to visit his brother again, after Johann had become the prior of the Monastery of Mount St. Agnes there. This community was one of the Canons Regular of the Congregation of Windesheim, founded by disciples of Groote in order to provide a way of life more in keeping with the norms of monastic life of the period. Thomas himself entered Mount St. Agnes in 1406. He was not ordained a priest, however, until almost a decade later. He became a prolific copyist and writer. Thomas received Holy Orders in 1413 and was made sub-prior of the monastery in 1429.

His first tenure of office as subprior was interrupted by the exile of the community from Agnetenberg in 1429. A dispute had arisen in connection with an appointment to the vacant See of Utrecht. Pope Martin V rejected the nomination of Bishop-elect Rudolf van Diepholt, and imposed an interdict. The Canons remained in exile in observance of the interdict until the question was settled in 1432. During this time, Thomas was sent to Arnhem to care for his ailing brother, where he remained until his brother died in November 1432.

Otherwise, Thomas spent his time between devotional exercises in writing and in copying manuscripts. He copied the Bible no fewer than four times, one of the copies being preserved at Darmstadt, Germany, in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound with biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament.

As subprior he was charged with instructing novices, and in that capacity wrote four booklets between 1418 and 1427, later collected and named after the title of the first chapter of the first booklet: The Imitation of Christ. Thomas More said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own. Thirteen translations of The Imitation of Christ and three paraphrases in English seem to have been published between 1500 and 1700. Thomas died near Zwolle in 1471. There is a legend that he was denied canonization some 200 years after his death by the Catholic Church due to the presence of scratch marks on the interior of his coffin lid, which supposedly disqualifies him from sainthood as it would mean he did not peacefully embrace death. However, there is scant evidence to support that he was buried alive or the idea that the Church would have denied him sainthood if they did discover he died in this manner.

Works
Kempis's 1441 autograph manuscript of The Imitation of Christ is available in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels (shelfmark: MS 5455-61).

He also wrote the biographies of New Devotion members—Gerard Groote, Floris Radewijns, Jan van de Gronde, and Jan Brinckerinck. His important works include a series of sermons to the novices of St. Augustine Monastery, including Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ, Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ, Of True Compunction of Heart, Soliloquy of the Soul, Garden of Roses, Valley of Lilies, and a Life of St. Lidwina of Schiedam.

Quotations
The following quotes are attributed to him:

"If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned.

At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done."

"For man proposes, but God disposes"

"If, however, you seek Jesus in all things, you will surely find Him."

"O quam cito transit gloria mundi,

Oh how quickly the glory of the world passes away!"

"In angello cum libello [with slight variations]

In a little corner with a little book"

Veneration
A monument was dedicated to his memory in the presence of the archbishop of Utrecht in St. Michael's Church, Zwolle, on 11 November 1897. In 1964, this church closed, causing his shrine to be moved to a new St. Michael's Church outside the centre of Zwolle. In 2005, this church also closed and his shrine was moved to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ten-Hemelopneming kerk (Assumption of Mary church) in the centre of Zwolle.

title: Thomas à Kempis


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Agrippina

Agrippina is an ancient Roman cognomen and a feminine given name. People with either the cognomen or the given name include:

Cognomen
Relatives of the Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa:
 * Vipsania Agrippina (36 BC–20 AD), first wife of the emperor Tiberius, daughter of Pomponia Caecilia Attica and Agrippa
 * Vipsania Marcella Agrippina (likely born 28-22 BC), daughter of Claudia Marcella Major and Agrippa, married to general Publius Quinctilius Varus
 * Vipsania Marcellina Agrippina (likely born between 27-21 BC), daughter of Claudia Marcella Major and Agrippa, married to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
 * Vipsania Julia Agrippina or Julia the Younger (19 BC–c. 29 AD), daughter of Julia the Elder and Agrippa
 * Agrippina the Elder or Vipsania Agrippina (c. 14 BC–AD 33), daughter of Julia the Elder and Agrippa, wife of Germanicus and mother of emperor Caligula
 * Agrippina the Younger or Julia Agrippina (15–59 AD), daughter of Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus, wife of emperor Claudius, mother of emperor Nero

Given name

 * Agrippina of Mineo (died 262), Christian saint and martyr
 * Agrippina or Gryfina of Halych (c. 1248–between 1305 and 1309), Princess of Kraków by marriage, later a nun and abbess
 * Agrippina Fedorovna Chelyadnina (fl. 1538), royal governess of Tsar Ivan the Terrible
 * Agrippina de la Cruz (born 1960), Filipino hurdler
 * Agrippina Shin (born 1958), Uzbek politician, Minister of Preschool Education since 2017
 * Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951), Russian ballerina and ballet teacher
 * Agrippina Volkonskaia (died 1732), Russian courtier, senior lady-in-waiting of Catherine I of Russia

title: Agrippina


text:
Talk:Winchester/Archive 1

I just searched google and found close to a half million webpages that have "Winchester" in them without the words England or United Kingdom. We all must be careful when naming articles - this is an encyclopedia with an international focus. Therefore I am changing this page into an index page. --maveric149

 * There are now "about 756,000". That's less than half of the total number of matches for "Winchester" ("about 1,770,000"), though. The one in England is easily the biggest place out of the ones we've got articles for, and since it used to be the capital of England, I think it counts as the most historically significant, too. So can we have it at Winchester, and have a separate Winchester (disambiguation) page to list the others on? At the moment, Winchester redirects to Winchester, England, which doesn't help anyone. -- Oliver P. 09:35 13 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Winchester? Whats that?
Winchester has little meaning outside of England. As said above, this is an international page, and it should lead to the disambiguation page.

 * The article quite clearly states that Winchester is in England in the first sentence. Please don't go moving things about without consulting and gaining consensus. You also seem to have botched the move and duplicated the disambiguation page which will probably need to be sorted out by an administrator. Winchester might have little meaning to you, but then that's why people look things up in encyclopaedias isn't it? As a well-known English city and the former capital, Winchester is sufficiently well known in comparison to the places named after it to get the primary page, with a note at the top to avoid confusion. Please do not go moving articles around without gaining consensus to do so, and please remember to sign your posts (type four tildes: ~ ). — Trilobite (Talk) 00:31, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Bah, I really messed that one up :-)
 * Anyway, things are back to how they were beforehand.
 * By standards, either the article on the 'real' Winchester should be at Winchester and the disambig at Winchester (disambiguation) linked therefrom, or at Winchester, England with the disambig at Winchester with no link from the 'real' place's page. The current setup is... non-optimal. Reminiscent of the Georgia farce^Wfuss.
 * James F. (talk) 00:42, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have moved from "Winchester, England" to "Winchester, Hampshire" as per wikipedia standard. I changed the "Winchester" page to redirect to "Winchester (disambiguation)" after a discussion on IRC, though if it were put to the vote I'd be for having it redirect to "Winchester, Hampshire". Joe D (t) 21:31, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure I agree here - Oxford, Manchester, Birmingham and other cities in a similar situation set a different precedent. Can you point to these Wikipedia standards? Andrewferrier 14:24, 2004 Nov 13 (UTC)

 * The wikipedia standard I'm talking about it that pages that can't go on "City" go on "City, County" rather than "City, England" - like Christchurch, Dorset, Reading, Berkshire, Canterbury, Kent, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Salisbury, Wiltshire etc etc - this page was named "Winchester, England", I just moved it "Winchester, Hampshire" - that has nothing to do with whether "Winchester" should point to this page or the disambiguation page though.
 * On that matter, as I say above, I agree that this city is almost certainly considerably more notable than the others in the list, and that "Winchester" should point to this page, rather than the dab page. Joe D (t) 14:49, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I agree with you about this being the 'primary' Winchester. I find it surprising that is the Wikipedia convention for UK cities though - it sounds like quite a US-centric way of speaking (I'd certainly never describe Winchester that way, and I live there!). That's why I say; can you point to a Wikipedia standards page? I'd like to see the reasoning... thanks Andrewferrier 21:53, 2004 Nov 14 (UTC)

The Great Hall
I was wandering around the Wiki and there are quite a few references to Winchester Castle, what is it commonly called - Winchester Castle or The Great Hall - it ought to have a page for having 'King Arthur's table' alone. Alf 02:17, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * emailed and received info from the Premises Management Officer, Property Business and Regulatory Services (responisble for the great hall's webiste with some extra info - included at end of Great Hall para.Alf 29 June 2005 10:51 (UTC)

City infobox
As far as I can see, the infobox that has just been removed is the same box as Manchester uses, is that wrong? This article is about the City of Winchester not the district, despite some duplication, it removes information that was not otherwise there. Alf 23:38, 30 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The infobox is about the district, not this article. Settlements do not use the same infoboxes as districts.  This article should have an infobox, but it should have a settlement infobox, not a district/borough infobox.  Manchester has a metropolitan borough infobox.  (I'm trying to find a link to the settlement infobox page now... Update: Template talk:Infobox England place)  Joe D (t) 23:53, 30 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The England place infobox is for towns, hamlets and small places, the US city box would be plain wrong. Is the box used for Cambridge the right one? If so I'd base it on that one tomorrow. 82.25.74.215 00:21, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Bishop of Winchester's Educational Establishments
William of Waynflete may have founded New College, Oxford but he also founded Magdalen College, Oxford so please do not delete it again! This is not the place for Magdalen/New rivalry.... :-) 129.67.43.32 19:59, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Forgot to sign in when I made that comment Miles underwood 10:44, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

I think you're mixing up your Williams. New College was founded by William of Wykeham in 1379. Wiliam of Waynflete attended New College and subseqently founded Magdalen in 1448Rubbershoes 12:54, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

I attend Winchester College and William of Wykeham definitely did not found Magdalene Oxford, that was indeed founded by William Waynflete.--86.134.24.90 19:04, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Winchester/Archive 1