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Helsinki Central Station

Helsinki Central Station (Helsingin päärautatieasema, Helsingfors centralstation) (HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 people per day, of whom about 200,000 are passengers. It serves as the terminus for all trains in the Helsinki commuter rail network, as well as for all Helsinki-bound long-distance trains in Finland. The Rautatientori (Central Railway Station) metro station is located in the same building.

The railway tracks in Helsinki were built in the 1860s. The station building, clad in granite, was designed by Eliel Saarinen and inaugurated in 1919. The building is known for its clock tower and the Lyhdynkantajat ("The Lantern Bearers") statues by Emil Wikström. Helsinki Central was chosen as one of the world's most beautiful railway stations by BBC in 2013. The Helsinki Central Station has become the symbol of the entire railway network in Finland. For example the VR Group uses the image of the station and the statues next to its main entrance in its advertising.

Overview
The Helsinki Central Station is located in the city centre of Helsinki, in the district of Kluuvi at Kaivokatu 1. The main facade of the station building is towards the Kluuvikatu street. To the east of the station is the Helsinki Railway Square and to the west is the Eliel Square. The Eliel Square also served as the terminus of the Finnair City Bus. The Asematunneli tunnel leads from the station, underneath Kaivokatu, to the underground floor of the City-Center complex. The station also has a connection to the Central Railway Station metro station located underneath it.

The Helsinki Central Station is an important transport hub for commuter train, long-distance train and metro transport in the entire Helsinki capital region. The station is visited by 240 thousand passengers per day, making it the most visited building in the entire country of Finland. About half of the visitors are train passengers. Over a hundred long-distance trains and about 850 commuter trains arrive at and depart from the station every weekday.

The middle part of the station building forms the core of the station, hosting the waiting halls, ticket sales, the kiosk hall and connection to the station tunnel. The eastern wing of the building used to host the offices of the railway administration. It also served as Helsinki's main post office, until it moved to the Postitalo building built in the 1930s. The head office of the VR Group moved to Pasila in 2018. The eastern wing was converted into a Scandic Hotels hotel, opened in 2021. Baggage storage spaces have been located in the underground floor of the western wing since the 1970s. The ground floor has hosted a café since the 2000s, and the top floor hosts offices and business spaces. The station hosts almost twenty kiosks and restaurants, visited by over 20 thousand people per day.

The railway comes to Finland
When visiting Finland in 1856, emperor Alexander II of Russia proposed an improvement program for the Finnish economy. He thought it was important to connect the inland country to the marine harbours through canals and railways. So planning of Finland's first railway from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna was started.

Location of the railway and the station
A 1853 railway project proposed the northern edge of the Hietalahdentori square as the location of the Helsinki railway station. A later proposal in 1857 was at the vicinity of the Turku barracks, and a third option was the environment of the Kluuvi well. Investigation of the new railway line in summer and autumn showed how difficult it would be to build a railway into the city of Helsinki, which was located at the point of a peninsula. The research resulted in four different options of the railway line. These options differed greatly in cost. The original plan included 40,800 Russian roubles for the main station of the railway, but the most expensive option was estimated at 162,000 roubles.

The cheapest option would have had the railway to make a curve after Pasila and go around the Töölönlahti bay. The second option would have had the railway go directly west from Pasila past the Töölö sugar factory. The third option would have passed Pasila entirely and continued around Töölönlahti. All these options would have located the station to the south of the Turku barracks. In the fourth option, the track would go from Pasila straight across Töölönlahti and the Kaisaniemi Park to Kluuvi, with the station located immediately after the Kluuvi well. This option was the most expensive, costing about 107,970 roubles. Of the four options, it required the most of blasting the bedrock and filling the Kluuvinlahti bay.

The three first options required dismantling villas and other buildings from the shore of the Töölönlahti bay and building railway tracks on beautiful and farmed land from the environment of the city. In addition, the costs of the compulsory purchase of the land would have been significantly greater than in the fourth option. Another concern was that a steep curve directly after the railway station would cause more wear on both the tracks and the train wheels. This would result in danger of the train tilting, causing a decrease of the efficiency of the engine. The option for the straight railway line had the benefit of an unobstructed view from the station to the traffic on the tracks. The fourth option received the most support, and it was accepted on 26 November 1857.

The choice was perhaps also influenced by Knut Stjernvall serving as the technical director of the railway company at the time, whose stepfather owned Villa Hakasalmi on the western shore of the Töölönlahti bay. The three other options would have required dismantling the villa.

Because of the decision, citizens of Helsinki started worrying about the fate of the Kaisaniemi Park located next to the Kluuvi well. It was clear that the railway would override part of the park area. Per the request of the citizens, the railway line was moved slightly to the east in 1859, in order to preserve the two large and beautiful hills in the park.

Filling the Kluuvinlahti bay
The area where the station was planned to be built was originally seabed. In the 19th century the area was a muddy and stinky water area used as a dump and a public outhouse. Filling the Kluuvinlahti bay originally started already in the 1830s, but the filling really came into action when the railway was being built.

The bay was confined at Hakasalmi, ditches were dug into the Kluuvi swamp, and a stone-walled assembly pool was built behind the dam, from where the water was pumped into Töölönlahti by wind power. Many horse cart loads of sand were dumped into the area during the decades.

According to the plans in the 1830s, the area to the north of Kaivokatu and to the west of Mikonkatu was to be divided into two blocks, which were named Hyeena ("hyaena") and Hilleri ("polecat"), separated by the street Hakasalmenkatu, now known as Keskuskatu. The decision to build the railway decided the fate of the Hyeena and Hilleri blocks. Knut Stjernvall made the final railway plan in 1859. He proposed that a wide market square should be built on the place of the Hyeena block east to the railway yard. The few buildings left in the Hyeena block were dismantled, and it was changed into what is now the Rautatientori square. Construction of the first railway station in Finland started at the edge of the Hilleri block.

The construction of the railway station had a great impact on the Helsinki cityscape. The railway was piled with large logs, and stones were laid on the edge of the bay. Aspen trees had to be cut down from the Kaisaniemi Park to make way for the railway, but the park was preserved whenever it was possible to do so. Rock blasted off the Linnunlaulu cliff was sunk into the Töölönlahti bay beneath the railway tracks being constructed. The railway terracing over the Töölönlahti bay was completed in March 1861. For water traffic, two underpass bridges were built vaulted from stone. The larger underpass bridge had a size of 7 cubits (10 ft) and the smaller one had a size of 3 cubits (4 ft). The rails for the railway tracks were bought from the United Kingdom, and they arrived by steamship into the South Harbour in November 1857.

Helsinki's first station
Helsinki's first railway station was built in 1862 to accommodate trains on the Helsinki–Hämeenlinna line, päärata. The station's plans were drawn by Swedish architect Carl Albert Edelfelt.

According to the original plans, all station buildings along the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna line should have been built from wood. However, there soon came wishes that the station building in the capital should be built from a more valuable material. Railway construction was new to Finland, and thus there were no existing models for new station buildings. So the provincial architect of Tavastia, Carl Albert Edelfelt, was requested for plans for various alternatives, which were presented in October 1859.

The cost estimate for a smaller one-floor building was about 27 thousand roubles and that for a larger two-floor building was about 40 thousand roubles. A wooden station building would only have cost 18 thousand roubles. These estimates did not include the cost for pile-driving the foundation, which was high at the muddy shore of the Kluuvinlahti bay.

Commercial counsellor Henrik Borgström and chief director von Born supported the construction of the smallest possible wooden building as a temporary station building, as passenger numbers would be fairly small until the railway was continued further north from Hämeenlinna. Also the possible danger of fire at the station was estimated to be fairly low, as the majority of the city's population was not located near the station. Chief director Claes Wilhelm Gyldén and governor Samuel Henrik Antell supported the largest building and proposed that the station should be constructed as large enough and permanent right from the start. Also, the fire safety of a station building built from stone would be much better than that of a wooden building. A small stone building was seen as too small, as the station needed waiting halls and traffic spaces. In addition, the upper floor would have to host offices for the Finnish railway administration and apartments for station officials. In the end, the large stone station building was voted as the best alternative for the new station building.

Construction work on the 108-kilometre railway between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna started in 1858. The first station building in Helsinki was built in 1861, but it was only opened for traffic on 17 March 1862. At first, the station places along the railway were only named in Swedish. The Finnish name for the Helsinki railway station was made official in 1897.

The tracks at the station were located right next to the station building on the edge of Kaivokatu. A large wooden shelter was built over the platforms. Commuter passengers entered the trains directly through an iron gate from Kaivokatu and only long-distance passengers went through the station hall. The station building was located nearer the Kaivokatu street than the current station building. Its end pointed towards Kaivokatu and the main entrance was towards the Rautatientori square. All station buildings designed by Edelfelt were of a simple side station building type, including the Helsinki railway station, even though it was located at the terminus of the railway. A cargo warehouse was built to the north of the station building, at the site of the eastern wing of the current station building. A railway yard about eight hectares in area was built at the station area, with engine stables and machinery yards. This railway yard was located to the west of the railway tracks, approximately at the end of the western wing of the current station building. The engine stables could seat a total of 12 engines at a time.

Exterior
In the first designs the original Helsinki railway station had two floors and an octagonal clock tower at its northern end. However, the station was actually built with three floors and no clock tower. Architecturally, it was a mix of Gothic Revival architecture and Renaissance Revival architecture, which were among the styles commonly used for other railway stations in Europe at the time.

The first railway station in Helsinki was a sort of romantic picturesque manor, whose small size and simple appearance was also an act of honouring the emperor and Saint Petersburg. The Tudor-style brick and plaster station building was clad in natural stone. In the original designs the station was to be clad in brick, but in August 1860 plaster was added to the exterior to better withstand the weather. In the station facade, Renaissance Revival architecture showed in the ledges between the floors and in the windows grouping into axles. Gothic Revival architecture shoed in the tower aisles, corner towers on the roof and Tudor-style arches at the windows and doors.

It has been estimated that Edelfelt gained inspiration to the Helsinki railway station from his visit to the United Kingdom, from the architecture of Carl Axel Setterberg in Vaasa and from the Petergof railway station in Russia designed by Nicholas Benois, with many features in common with the Helsinki railway station.

Interior
The entrance to the Helsinki railway station was at the middle of the building, and opposite it were the baggage office, ticket sales and other station facilities.

Unlike today, spaces at stations and in trains were divided by social class, and so stations had separate waiting halls and restaurants for the first, second and third classes. The waiting halls and restaurants were located at both ends of the ground floor of the building.

The southern end of the building hosted the first and second class waiting halls, while the northern end hosted the waiting hall for the third class. Both waiting halls were attached to their own class-specific restaurants. The station had no central hall, instead passengers had to go around through the waiting halls to reach the platforms.

The ground floor also hosted railway station offices, an official room, a lamp room and a women's toilet. The second floor hosted the residences of the railway chief, the station chief and the administrative officers. The third floor hosted the residences of the caretaker and the engineer mechanic. The third floor also hosted storage space. Unlike other railway stations in Finland, the Helsinki railway station had gas lighting, as the city's first gas works had recently been built right next to the station, at the place of the current Postitalo main post office building.

Events
The first train from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna left on 31 January 1862. Regular train traffic started on 17 March 1862. According to schedule, a passenger train left from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 o'clock in the morning. Trains on return trips left for Helsinki every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7 o'clock in the morning. Already in October 1862 the schedule was changed to daily trips in both directions. A total of 27,241 train tickets were sold at the Helsinki railway station in 1863, and a total of 23,977 tickets were sold at other stations for trips to Helsinki.

The Diet of Finland was held for the first time in 1863, with emperor Alexander II of Russia attending. The city of Helsinki did not have a large enough space to host the event, so it was held at the station hall of the railway station. A temporary floor was built over the tracks and the roof was covered with floral vines. The swamp, unfit for public display, had been hidden under a birch bark mat. A couple of thousand invited guests attended the event.

The northern part of the Kluuvinlahti bay, to the west of the railway track, was filled in at the end of the 19th century to make space for the railway yard and the warehouses. The Helsinki harbour rail southward of the Helsinki railway station was built in 1894, and the VR warehouses were built in 1899.

The shore of the Kluuvinlahti bay had always been a cheap and disliked area. The construction of the railway station at the area greatly increased the value of the area and led to an immense construction boom in the entire city of Helsinki, lasting from the 1880s to the 1920s. Businessmen bought lots at the former shores of the Kluuvinlahti bay along the Helsinki Railway Square and the Mikonkatu street.

Design
Helsinki's first railway station had been measured to a small capital city with about 20 thousand inhabitants in the early 1860s. Urbanisation of Helsinki in the late 19th century brought along many changes. Between the 1860s and the 1900s the population of the city grew by almost 70 thousand people. Railway traffic at the Helsinki railway station increased, and the need for space by the railway administration also increased. As the popularity of railways grew, the original station turned out to be too small.

The railway administration started designing a new station building in Helsinki in 1895. Terminus stations such as the Helsinki station at the time were usually U-shaped buildings at the end of the tracks. Bruno Granholm, the architect of the railway administration, designed the administrative building, and the railway administration made the design of the new railway station. In Granholm's plan, the station building was already at the location and shape it ended up being built.

The railway administration had already ordered a design for the new station building from the German architect C. O. Gleim, who had won the design contests for the Stockholm Central Station and the Gothenburg Central Station in 1898. The railway administration originally intended to design the new Helsinki railway station unnoticed, without holding an open design contest.

A contest was organised in 1902 with the intention of producing plans for a new station. The contest sought to attract the attention of the railway workers to the difficult design task and to the architects capable of such a task. It also encouraged the railway administration to hold an open design contest for the new railway station in Helsinki.

The contest did not lead to practical actions, but because of the discussion it caused and the activity of the Finnish Architecture Club, the railway administration decided to hold a new design contest for the facades of the new Helsinki railway station and the administrative building of the railway administration.

The railway administration had designed the floor plan of the new railway station as a U-shaped building surrounding the railway tracks. The contestants received a floor plan designed by architect Bruno Granholm about the station building as well as the office and administrative wing attached to it. The floor plan bore a close resemblance to that of the 1888 Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, which the contents were already familiar with. The facade of the station building was defined to be built of natural stone, and that of the administrative building of plastering with a conservative amount of natural stone. There would be a large central hall at the centre of the station, in connection to the main entrance. The main entrance had to face the Kaivokatu street. The other entrances were at the end of the perpendicular platform at the end of the tracks at the Rautatientori square and at the western end of the station. The tracks were required to be covered with a roof made of steel, with a cut of it provided as an attachment to the contest.

The design contest was judged by architects Sebastian Gripenberg, Hugo Lindberg and Gustaf Nyström, as well as the main director of the railway administration, August Granfelt. The contest was held a couple of years after the design contest of the National Museum of Finland, and it attracted a great deal of attention and interest. The new construction art of the National Museum was seen as romantic, picturesque and as nationally Finnish as possible. This very Finnish design style caused a lot of discussion, and there was desire to try it on the railway station too, without thinking whether the museum and the station would have required different symbolic forms.

The contest received 21 entries. All entries except that by Sigurd Frosterus were of a national romantic style. They had heavy roofs and low walls, the doors and windows were small, and there were lots of towers. All of the entries had an arched window on the main facade at the central hall. All entries featured a tall tower, which the floor plan did not require, but did allow. Sigurd Frosterus's facade design Eureka was an Art Nouveau building very different from the other entries, and the judges disliked his entry.

The contest was won by Eliel Saarinen's entry Bevingadt hjul på en jordglob – Maapallolla seisova siipipyörä ("A winged wheel standing on a globe"), with a pure national romanticist design, with sturdy walls, eight bears, one tall sharp-pointed tower and numerous smaller towers, as well as a beautifully drawn stone portal to the main platform. Its appearance bore a close resemblance to the facade of the National Museum, which did not please all of the architects.

Architects Sigurd Frosterus and Gustaf Strengell thought Saarinen's entry was old-fashioned and demanded sense and rationality to the architecture of the railway station. According to them, the station symbolised modern times, which had nothing to do with the medieval design fashion. The design sparked off a vigorous debate about the architecture of major public buildings, with demands for a modern, rational style. The debate went so far that even cartoons mocking the new railway station appeared in magazines. These cartoons showed the entire station having changed to look more like a medieval stone church than a popular railway station. The bear sculptures had grown, and one of them had jumped down onto the street to chase people. As was typical for Saarinen, he did not participate in the public debate at any point.

Saarinen later made a complete change to the architecture of the railway station. He moved his attention from American or British examples towards German ones and travelled by train all over Europe with his recently wed wife. After coming back home to Finland in 1904 he abandoned romanticism altogether and re-designed the station completely, with a more rational design. The former saddle roof was replaced with a gambrel roof, the semicircular window on the main facade had grown and the entrance hall with the bear statues was removed. The new design was finished in 1909 and the new station building was opened in 1919.

Later the floor plan of the station building was freed from the model specified by the railway administration and was made more clear for the purpose of use by large masses of people. This allowed the central hall of the station to be widened.

Saarinen developed his design for many years and made numerous drawings of the facade of the railway station building. The final solutions for making the station building more rational were born gradually. The station's facade bears a close resemblance to that of the 1913 Vyborg railway station, designed by the architecture bureau of Saarinen and Herman Gesellius. The structures and material strength calculations of the building were handled by graduate engineer Jalmari Castrén. The central heating and air conditioning in the building were designed by the Danish engineer A. C. Karsten. The electrical plans were made in the electricity technical office of the machine department of the railway administration, with machine engineers Karl Strömberg and Karl Karsten serving as their designers.

Construction
The administrative building of the railway administration was accepted in June 1905, and construction started in December 1905. A total of 20 thousand cubic metres of floors for the building were cast from iron-reinforced concrete, which is thought to have been a new record in Finland at the time. The four-floor administrative building was completed in June 1909, and after this the officials of the railway administration moved to this building, the largest office building in the country at the time, decorated according to Eliel Saarinen's plans.

The final plans for the station building were accepted in 1911. In the next year, the two-floor northern end of the old station building was dismantled and pile-driving of the new station building was started.

The new station building, built at the site of the former Kluuvinlahti bay, had to be driven deep into the ground onto wooden piles. The bedrock at the site is at a depth of 20 to 30 metres. The wooden piles were mostly driven into the ground with the strength of 30 men, but steam-powered pile drivers were also used in the construction, as well as electric pile drivers, probably for the first time in Finland. The pile-driving work employed about 300 people. About ten thousand wooden piles were driven into the structure of the station building. Only the supportive walls of the clock tower were driven into the bedrock, at a depth of eleven metres.

The plans for the western express cargo wing were accepted in summer 1912, and masonry and iron concrete work was started in the next summer. At the end of the year, the walls were almost fully masoned, and the granite lining and concrete vaults were also completed.

The halls received monumental concrete vaults, clearly reflecting into the shape of the building. These vaults, utilising the Hennebique iron-reinforced concrete structure patented in France in 1892, were the largest iron-reinforced concrete structure commissioned by the state at the time. The main facade and the stone statues at the main entrance were made of red granite brought from Hanko.

World War I
The construction of the station was delayed by dramatic times. World War I broke out in summer 1914, and Finland was declared in a state of war. The facade of the railway station was already almost complete at the time, but the war caused the construction to be paused for a period of five years. By orders of emperor Nicholas II of Russia, the station was converted into a military hospital for the Russian forces from 1915 to 1916. The halls could fit about a thousand patients. At the same time, a temporary departure platform was built at the Töölö railway yard, with trains for fortification employees leaving on the coastal track to Leppävaara and on the main track to Malmi.

The Finnish Civil War broke out after the Russian Revolution and Finland declared its full independence, with the Reds conquering the station in January 1918. The railway administration had to move to Vaasa, which was the capital of White Finland at the time. In April the Reds retreated from Helsinki to Vyborg, and with the senate's approval German troops conquered Helsinki. This allowed the railway administration to return to the Helsinki railway station and the train traffic to gradually resume operation.

Completion
After the Civil War had ended, the situation in the country was seen as so serious that the railway engineer Orrman was ordered to oversee the completion of the Helsinki railway station. The old station building remained in use until the new station building was completed after spending 12 years under construction. The badly deteriorated old station building, the scaffolding that had been around the clock tower for five years and the fence around the construction site were all dismantled in December 1918.

The new railway station was inaugurated on Wednesday 5 March 1919, still at an incomplete stage. The station, which was originally intended to serve as the western terminus station of the Empire of Russia, became the main railway station of independent Finland. A total of 15 years had passed since the design contest of the station, and the interior of the station building was still incomplete. The patriotic inauguration was opened by the city orchestra playing Finlandia conducted by Robert Kajanus. Guests at the inauguration included architect Eliel Saarinen and regent Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.

The main platform at the end of the railway tracks was only covered according to the original plans made by the railway administration in 1925. In 1938, the administrative building in the western wing was expanded with a wing parallel to the Teatterikuja street according to the plans made by the railway administration.

World War II and bombing of Helsinki
During the Continuation War the station was damaged in several bombings, as it was always among the main bombing targets for the enemy. The station was first damaged already in the first large night bombing in August 1942.

The worst damage that the railway station suffered was at the end of the Continuation War in February 1944, when the Soviet Union engaged in the bombing of Helsinki. A total of 16,490 bombs were dropped on three nights. The first bombs to hit the city centre were dropped onto the railway station on 6 February 1944 at 19:22. More bombs fell later, when the railway administration building and the railway museum caught fire. Two of the bombs weighed at least a thousand kilograms. The area was also hit by tens of mine bombs and several incendiary bombs. The bombing started at the busiest time of departure of the night trains. Tens of people were injured and one person was killed by shrapnel caused by the bombs. In addition, the material damage to the station was immense.

Fire
A large fire broke out at the Helsinki railway station on 14 June 1950. Because of the fire, a general alarm was given in Helsinki, and the entire force of the Helsinki fire brigade as well as auxiliary forces from nearby municipalities were sent to the site. Nineteen fire extinguishing units and about a hundred firemen took part in extinguishing the fire. Police patrols were also sent to the site as the tens of thousands of people present at the site ventured too close to the burning station building.

The fire had started from the elevator outside the second class restaurant. As the fire brigade arrived at the site, the attic between the restaurant and the main entrance was completely aflame. The fire spread through the attic from the station tower all the way to the railway museum in the western wing. The wooden roof at the end of the station platforms also caught fire and collapsed. The attic of the station, about 3,000 square metres in area, was destroyed in the fire.

The smoke cloud caused by the fire was so immense that according to Helsingin Sanomat it could be seen from as far away as Turku. During the entire fire, train traffic functioned normally or was only slightly late. Train departure points were moved about a hundred metres north from the normal departure points. Passengers were directed on and off the trains through the eastern wing of the station building.

No one was killed in the fire, but five firemen suffered slight smoke poisoning, and one fireman broke his hip after he fell through the roof onto the attic. 40 enlisted men participated in clearing out the damages of the fire. The heat caused by the fire melted the wires of the chandeliers, causing them to fall to the floor. After the extinguishing work, the underground floors of the station were flooded up to the ankles. The costs caused by the fire were estimated at about 30 million Finnish markka. The station building was not insured, so the state of Finland had to pay the costs caused by the fire in their entirety.

The cause for the rapid spread of the fire was the open attic of the station building, which had practically not been partitioned at all. The attic was entirely made of wood and was insulated by flammable straw. In addition, the roof structure was made out of the old copper roof, dismantling which was considerably slower than that of a steel roof.

The fire inspector of the Helsinki fire brigade had already addressed the construction style of the attic of the railway station endangering the fire safety of the building in 1939. The attic spaces of the station building were ordered to be divided with fire walls into separate sections. The attic, 600 square metres in area, was divided into sections after the fire to increase fire safety. During the repairs, the current closed and warm kiosk hall was built in place of the roof that had been destroyed in the fire.

A humorous mention of "Finland's fastest fire brigade" remains as an urban legend from the fire. During the fire, the fire brigade of the municipality of Joutseno, currently part of the rescue department of Southern Karelia, was at the Helsinki capital region to fetch a new fire engine. The firemen fetching the new fire engine decided to stop at the railway station for coffee and thus were the first fire brigade present when the fire broke out.

1950s
In the Olympic year 1952 a temporary passenger platform was constructed at the cargo station in Töölö. This temporary train stop was named Helsinki-Töölö. During the Olympics, it also served as the departure for express trains to Turku via the Porkkala Naval Base, with the train windows covered when passing the naval base. From 1955 to 1957 the exit hall towards the Rautatientori square was divided into two with an intermediary floor and a so-called Olympic Hall was built into the top floor, which had been supposed to be built already in the Olympic year according to the original plans. At the same time, seven new floors were built into the clock tower for the use of the kitchen department, and storage and social spaces were built in the underground floors that had been almost completely unused. Ticket sales were opened in the former third class restaurant and waiting hall.

1960s to 1990s
A station tunnel was built underneath Kaivokatu in 1967, with stairs leading to the tunnel from the central hall of the station. Electric train traffic started at the Helsinki railway station on 26 January 1969.

From 1978 to 1979, spaces for arriving baggage were built into the underground floor of the western wings, freeing the space in the central hall for a public thoroughfare. The last scheduled train with a steam locomotive left Helsinki on 31 December 1970. Regular passenger train traffic with Diesel-powered locomotives ended on 11 August 1996. Today all trains at the Helsinki railway station use electric power.

The kiosks at the kiosk hall were renovated in the early 1980s according to plans by interior decoration architect Antti Nurmesniemi.

2000s
The perpendicular underpass from the corner of the Kaisaniemi park to the corner of the Eliel Square at the end of the western wing of the station was built from 1999 to 2000. It was designed by architect Jarmo Maunula. The tunnel is 185 metres long and over seven metres wide. It connects to all tracks at the station with stairs and elevators. The walls are panelled, which helps in cleaning away graffiti and other defacements.

An underground parking garage with 480 places was built to the west of the station, in place of the former cargo railway yard, with the Eliel Square bus terminal on top of it. It was opened for use in October 2000. The new platform tracks 17 to 19 were taken into use in August 2000, when the tracks at the passenger station reached their current form.

For a long time, the Helsinki railway station was one of the few large railway stations in Europe where passengers boarded the trains under the open sky. The main tracks were supposed to be covered right from the start, but the glass roof was only built in 2001. A design contest was held for it, which was won by Esa Piironen's design in 1994. The glass roof cost about 56 million Finnish markka. The roof is about 165 metres long. It is made of painted steel topped with reinforced glass. There are gaps covered with 70 cm grids between the tracks to allow for rainwater to fall down onto the rubble below and to soak into the soil so that the wooden piles originally driven into the former Kluuvi swamp will not decompose. The covered space is partly heated. Its front end is heated by the exhaust pipes of the district heating in front of the main door.

The western wing was renovated into a commercial business centre in autumn 2003. The corridor surrounded by restaurants and business spaces leads from the main station hall to the end of the western wing, to the western platforms for commuter trains. At the same time, the retirement foundation of the VR Group commissioned a hotel and an office building to the northern edge of the Eliel Square, reaching over the platforms of the commuter trains. The building was designed by the architectural bureau Artto, Palo, Rossi & Tikka. It was built in 2003. The facade is made of glass, patinated copper and green granite.

On 5 June 2005 the station was divided into eleven separate traffic spots, named Helsinki asema, Helsinki Länsisatama, Pasila alapiha, Pasila asema, Pasila tavara, Helsinki Sörnäinen, Käpylä, Oulunkylä, Ilmala asema, Ilmala ratapiha and Helsinki Kivihaka.

The station was named Helsinki Central Station on 7 June 2010. The previous name was Helsinki Station.

The timetable displays at the station were completely renovated in November 2015. The old LCD displays were replaced with fully modifiable TFT displays.

A new perpendicular underpass tunnel named Kaisantunneli, 220 metres long and four metres wide, leading from the Kaisaniemi park to Töölönlahdenkatu, is under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2023. This pedestrian tunnel will decrease bicycle traffic at the Eliel Square and on the Kaivokatu street and will make access to the station platforms easier.

Modern times
In the 1960s, the underground Asematunneli pedestrian underpass and underground shopping centre complex was built south of the station. The first surveillance cameras in the station hall were installed in the spring of 1968.

The first electric train arrived at the station on 13 January 1969. After testing, regular electric train traffic was started between Helsinki and Kirkkonummi on 26 January 1969.

The Rautatientori metro station, connected to the railway station via Asematunneli, was built part of the Helsinki Metro construction work. It was one of the original metro stations, as it was opened in 1982.

In 2000, a glass roof, which had already been in the original drawings by Eliel Saarinen, was built over the railway station's central platforms, although to a new design. In 2003, the shopping wing Kauppakuja was opened along with a hotel.

The area between the Parliament House and the station contained the VR warehouses, a rail-freight complex. Its original use had long been discontinued in 2006, when it was torn down to make space for the Helsinki Music Centre.

One of the tracks branching to the west just before the central station bypassed the warehouses. It was a freight route, the Helsinki harbour rail, which passed through the inner west side of the city, all the way around the Helsinki peninsula to Katajanokka. Later most of it was closed, and the track only led to the West Harbour. This last section was discontinued in 2009, when sea freight operations were moved to the new Vuosaari Harbour from old harbours near the city centre. Its right-of-way was converted into a pedestrian and bicycle route.

On 7 June 2010, the station was officially renamed Helsingin päärautatieasema-Helsingfors centralstation (Helsinki main, or central, railway station, in Finnish and Swedish), replacing the previous official name Helsingin rautatieasema-Helsingfors järnvägsstation (Helsinki railway station). The Finnish transport bureau uses "Helsinki C" as a shorthand, and there were erroneous news reports that this shorthand would also be taken into official use. Turku Central Station was renamed in a similar manner.

Architecture
The Helsinki Central Station is the most internationally famous of Eliel Saarinen's works in his home country. It is architecturally and technically innovative and one of the most important monuments and landmarks of the Helsinki city centre. The building is one of the best known works of Finnish architecture.

As soon as the station was completed in 1914 it became internationally known, and it has become an icon for international railway station architecture and a pilgrimage target for architects. The German architecture press declared it to be the most beautiful railway station in the world. The station building even served as an inspiration for the Singapore railway station.

The station building has stood the test of time well, and its architecture still attracts attention in the 21st century. The building was chosen as one of the ten most beautiful railway stations in the world in 2012 by the American website Flavorwire.com and the tourist guide publisher Lonely Planet, as well as by the BBC in 2014.

In addition to the National Museum of Finland, the Helsinki Central Station was one of the largest construction projects by the Finnish state in the early 20th century. Both buildings have been involved in disputes among the architectural community. The final design of the station has been said to bear a close resemblance to Sigurd Frosterus's entry "Eureka". Both designs have similar vaults, but Saarinen's design does not include any of the features typical for Frosterus's concrete architecture. Saarinen was inspired by German architecture. The station has drawn inspiration from the German Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof and from the Swiss Basel Badischer Bahnhof.

Facade
At the time of its construction, the station building was very modern: it was made of concrete and iron, with a red granite facade. The dexterously curving vaults of the station halls are among the oldest examples of monumental concrete construction in Finland. The heavy stone building represents the late Art Nouveau style.

The concrete-roofed halls of the station building are also visible in its exterior architecture. The facade of the building became a combination of heavy granite surfaces and airy decorative elements and graceful window frames in a playful balance with them. The facade of the station is divided by pilasters with no feet or capitals. The smooth attic floors have windows, and they are topped with a slightly backwards swept mansard roof which was popular in the 1920s. This solution is familiar among German business building architecture, where Alfred Messel and Hermann Billing were among its first implementers.

Building
The station is mostly clad in Finnish granite, and its distinguishing features are its clock tower and the two pairs of statues holding the spherical lamps, lit at night-time, on either side of the main entrance. Animated characters based on the statues have recently been featured in some major advertising campaigns by Finland's government-owned railway operator VR, to the extent of releasing rap singles allegedly sung by Kivimiehet ("The stone men").

The structure of the station building is made of brick. The lower, middle and upper bases of the walls contain steel-reinforced concrete, which is also used in the support structures of the vaults. The facade is made of red granite from Hanko and partly of plaster. The facade facing the railway yard is made of plaster and burnt brick. The roof of the building is made of iron sheet metal. Part of the window frames, the drainpipes and the linings of the eaves on the roof are made of copper sheet metal.

The central hall of the station building reaches to the top of the building and is a barrel vaulted space with an area of about 780 square metres. The former waiting halls of the station building are both shield arc vaulted spaces of about 450 square metres in area. The exit halls to the Rautatientori square and to the Eliel Square are 200 and 350 square metres, respectively. The covered inner yard surrounded by the "U" shape of the building has an area of about 1100 square metres.

Clock tower
The clock tower of the station is among the best known landmarks in Helsinki. At the time of its completion it was the tallest tower in Helsinki, and it soon became a popular vantage point, with entrance tickets sold at its first times. As the station served as a military hospital during World War I, the clock tower was used as a temporary morgue. During World War II, the Lotta Svärd used the tower for air surveillance. The clock tower has vantage terraces in all four cardinal directions. The stairs at the bottom of the tower are made from concrete. The stairs at the top are made from wood. Nowadays the tower is no longer open for the public for security reasons, with the exception of invited guests, such as descendants of Eliel Saarinen.

The height of the clock tower measured from the street level is 48.5 metres. At the top of the tower is a globe supported by four winged wheels, symbolising the internationality of the station and the Finnish railways. The tower is built of walled brick and its facade consists of about 3600 pieces of Hanko granite. The roof is made of wood and is covered in copper. The copper roof of the tower weighs about five thousand kilograms and has a total area of about 150 square metres. The diameter of the bottom of the dome at the tower is about 4.5 metres. The area of the granite facade is about 1030 square metres. Each granite stone is about 250 millimetres thick and weighs about 240 kilograms.

The clock tower was completed in 1919 but was only fitted with German-made weighted clocks in 1922. At first, the clocks were set to show the time in Saint Petersburg. At first, the clocks were operated manually and the weights were moved by brawn. The clock tower has clocks in all four cardinal directions. The diameter of each clock face is exactly 3 metres measured from the outer edge of gilded minute markings. The hour hand of each clock is 119 centimetres long and weighs 60 kilograms. The minute hand is 150 centimetres long and weighs 56 kilograms together with its hidden counterweight (28 kilograms each). Before the corrective measurements in 2010, and in some sources even after this, there have been erroneous measurements differing from this for the clock face and the hands. Each clock face has its own machinery, and they were all digitally connected to the central clock of the Finnish Transport Administration in 1980.

The clock tower has been serviced and repaired many times. The latest repairs were made in March 2010. The repairs originally cost 1.5 million euro. As well as the red granite stones from Hanko, all the stone sews were replaced. The copper roof and the terraces of the tower were also repaired. At this time the cost of the repairs tripled and because of moisture damage, it came close to five million euro. In 2011 it was discovered that the clock can not stay on time because of impulse disturbance in the machinery. The impulses telling the clock to move its hands were accidentally set as too sensitive during the latest repairs.

Lyhdynkantajat statues
The stone statues on either side of the main entrance to the station building, built in 1914, are named Lyhdynkantajat ("The Lantern Bearers"). These granite statues were designed by the sculptor Emil Wikström. The sculpture group consists of four granite male figures holding spherical lanterns. The model for the sturdy faces of the statues is said to have been the tenant farmer Jalmari Lehtinen from Sääksmäki.

The Lyhdynkantajat statues have entered public knowledge through the "Kivimiehet" ("The Stone Men") advertisement campaign by the VR Group. The statues have been featured in print advertisements by image manipulation and in animation in television since 2002. Through the advertisements, the statues have become the mascots of the VR Group.

The head of each of the statue weighs about 1500 kilograms, the chest weighs about 6000 kilograms, and each arm weighs about 2000 kilograms. The Lyhdynkantajat statues spent the summer 2013 in temporary storage in Pasila because of wall renovations at the Helsinki Central Station. At the same time the statues were washed and renovated.

Presidential lounge
Helsinki Central houses a private 50 m2 waiting lounge exclusively for the use of the President of Finland and their official guests.

The First World War delayed its official inauguration to 1919, at which point it had been converted into a temporary military hospital, and was afterwards given to the use of the Finnish President.

The lounge, featuring furniture designed by Eliel Saarinen, has two entrances, a bigger one leading in from Rautatientori Square and a smaller one leading in from the main station hall. The lounge was completed in 1911 and was originally intended for the private use of the Emperor of Russia and other high-ranking guests. The exterior entrance to the lounge features two sculptures by the Norwegian sculptor Hans Uthuslien, resembling smaller versions of the Lyhdynkantajat sculptures. Emperor Nicholas II of Russia entered the Rautatientori Square on the last ever imperial visit to the Grand Duchy of Finland through the lounge. After Finland became independent the lounge was reserved for the Presisdent of Finland.

Counsellor of state Juho Kusti Paasikivi held discussions in the lounge with his staff on negotiation trips to Moscow before the Winter War in autumn 1939. In 1940 President Kyösti Kallio, grown weary from the state of war and having recently resigned from his duties as president was travelling from Helsinki to his home in Nivala. Only moments afterwards he had a sudden heart attack and died on the arms of his entourage on the main platform of the station. Among his entourage were Marshal of Finland Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and Risto Ryti, elected to succeed Kallio as president. According to legend Kallio died in the arms of Marshal Mannerheim, but this is most likely part of the construction of Mannerheim's personal cult. In reality he died in the arms of his adjutant, Colonel Aladár Paasonen and Colonel Aksel Airo.

The presidential lounge has later been used by various presidents to travel by train or to accept visitors arriving by train.

Transport
There are 19 platforms at the station. Platforms 1–3 are on the east side and serve local trains on the Tikkurila route, their tracks stop short of the main station roof. Platforms 4–11, which accommodate long-distance trains, are physically within the station building. Platforms 5–10 serve trains running via Tikkurila to Tampere, St Petersburg and other points north and east, platforms 11 and 12 serve express trains via the Espoo line to Turku. Platforms 12–19, which do not stretch to the building itself, are on the west side and serve local trains on the Leppävaara and Kehärata routes. The tracks funnel into separate express and local tracks for both the Espoo and the Tikkurila routes with the express tracks in the middle and the local tracks on the outside, aligning with their respective platforms. This gives eight principal tracks but there is an additional ninth express track for the Tikkurila route out through the Pasila station, the first stop out, about five minutes or 3 km north of Central.

Helsinki Central serves as a hub for Finnish transport. There are many platforms for local buses on both the west and the east sides of the main station building. The Helsinki Metro Central Railway Station metro station is located under the main station building, linked through Asematunneli, which has entrances in the main hall of the station and at various points in the surrounding streets. The majority of Helsinki's tram routes pass in front of or to the west of the station. The Helsinki central bus station is located at Kamppi Center, about 400 m, or one metro stop, to the west of the railway station. There are two squares near the railway station: the Railway Square and the Eliel Square.

Although the Helsinki Airport is reachable from the station by the I/P commuter rail service, there are also regular bus connections between the station and the airport: two regional buses operated by HSL, and a private express coach operated for Finnair.

Tracks
The first railway connection from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna only had a single track. However, the cliff cut at Linnunlaulu was fitted for two parallel tracks right from the start. As traffic increased, a second track was built next to the first one in 1892. The Linnunlaulu cliff has since been further cut and the track lining has been widened several times.

The Helsinki railway station was originally built outside the city centre. This left enough space to build a railway machinery yard and a locomotive hangar next to the station. However, they later became encompassed by the growing city and so the locomotive hangar was gradually moved to the Pasila machinery yard since 1899. In 1923 the number of platforms was increased from six to eight by narrowing the platforms and removing the separate baggage platforms. In 1925 two new tracks were built between Helsinki Central and Pasila stations for service traffic. In the 1890s the Helsinki harbour rail was built from the Helsinki railway station through southern Helsinki to Katajanokka. Its use later decreased so much that it started to be gradually dismantled since the 1970s. It was finally completely dismantled in 2009 after the Vuosaari Harbour was completed.

From 1969 to 1970 new tracks were built on the Rantarata railway between Helsinki Central and Pasila. In the 1900s, the Linnunlaulu cliff cut was subject to intense discussion for two times: first because of the construction of the Tikkurila city track and later because of the Leppävaara city track. The cultural value of the cliffs and villas at Linnunlaulu threatened to completely cancel the construction of the Leppävaara city track.

Today the Helsinki Central Station has 19 platform tracks. Long-distance traffic and "proper" commuter traffic has been concentrated to the middle of the station. Traffic on the Kerava city track, as well as traffic on the eastern side of the Ring Rail Line mainly uses tracks 1 to 4, while traffic to Espoo and on the western side of the Ring Rail Line uses tracks 12 to 19. There are 10 tracks in total parallel with each other between the Helsinki Central and Pasila stations. Of these, the four eastern tracks belong to the Finnish Main Line, the two middle ones are service tracks used by the Ilmala depot, and the four western ones belong to the Rantarata line.

The railway yard of the Helsinki Central Station has a total of 83 concentrated switches, of which 40 are simple switches and 43 are double-sided crossing switches. All of them are short 1:9 switches with a maximum allowed speed of 35 km/h.

At peak traffic time, the Helsinki railway yard operates at the extent of its transport capacity. Thus even the smallest disturbances at the Helsinki railway yard can easily mess up the entire train traffic. The terminus form of the station building and its cramped location prevent the expansion of the current railway yard. The Helsinki City Rail Loop has been proposed as a solution for this problem, allowing commuter trains to be placed underground. On the other hand, another solution has been investigated, based on individual changes to switches and geometry and renewal of the commuter trains, as well as improving access control. This solution is dependent on the Lentorata line, the new bypass line from Riihimäki to Tampere and the Helsinki–Turku high-speed railway.

Incidents and accidents
Over the years, there have been a few incidents at Helsinki Central. However, no lives have been lost as a result :
 * 28 August 1926: a passenger train (pulled by Hv2 674) crashed into the passenger hall. 18 were injured.
 * 19 December 1940: President Kyösti Kallio suffered a fatal heart attack at this railway station, where he had arrived for boarding a train to Nivala, which resulted in his death.
 * 23 October 1944: a passenger train from Turku crashed through a buffer stop. The locomotive ended in the outer hall of the station.
 * 5 October 1990: a runaway freight train crashed into the building. Two wagons ended in the passenger hall and many others ended on the platforms.
 * 4 January 2010: four empty passenger cars overran the buffers of platform 13, crashing into the building behind it.

title: Helsinki Central Station


text:
Wangen im Allgäu

Wangen im Allgäu (Low Alemannic: Wãnge) is a historic city in southeast Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies north-east of Lake Constance in the Westallgäu. It is the second-largest city (population: 26,927 in 2020) in the Ravensburg district and is a nexus for the surrounding communities. From 1938 to 1972, Wangen was the county seat of the Wangen rural district.

Geography
Wangen in Allgäu lies on the north bank of the Obere Argen. The Untere Argen flows past northwest Wangen and unites southwest of the city with the Obere Argen. The city today is shaped by its historical town center as well as by numerous nearby districts.

Neighboring municipalities
Several settlements border Wangen. Their names are as follows: Amtzell, Vogt, Kißlegg, Argenbühl, and Achberg (Ravensburg district), Hergatz and Hergensweiler (Lindau district), and Neukirch (Bodensee district).

History
The city was first mentioned in 815 under the name "Wangun" in a monastery document.

In 1217, Emperor Fredrick II declared in a document that Wangen should remain in royal hands. In 1286, King Rudolph I granted Wangen the status of free imperial city.

During the late Middle Ages, the city's growth was amplified by its central location at the crossroads between Ravensburg, Lindau, Leutkirch, and Isny and the growing trade through the Alps.

Wangen's production and export of manufactured goods, particularly scythes and canvas, gave the city a tremendous positive trade balance. This surplus money was used to acquire lands outside of the city walls, thus giving Wangen a safeguard against economic fluctuations.

During the German Mediatisation, in 1802, Wangen lost its status as a Free City and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria; it later changed hands in 1810 to the Kingdom of Württemberg.

In 1936, the city was officially named "Wangen in Allgäu".

From 1938 up unto its dissolution and integration into the Ravensburg district in 1972, Wangen was the capital of the Wangen rural district. In 1973, Wangen was officially designated by the Baden-Württemberg state government to Großen Kreisstadt (large district town) due to its population having reached 20,000.

In 1999, the largest flood in the most recent 50 years of Wangen's history completely flooded the lower city. The city was again flooded in 2006 by the Obere Argen.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the national team of Togo stayed in Wangen.

Main sights
Despite major fires in 1539, 1793, and 1858, the old part of the town remains a juxtaposition of architectural elements ranging from those of the Early Middle Ages to those of the late Baroque era.

The Oberstadtkirche St. Martin ("St Martin's Upper City Church") is one of Wangen's oldest buildings. The church was already present in the 9th century; it was renovated numerous times in the following years. It contains both Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

The Ravensburg Gate is the city's prime landmark. It was first mentioned in 1472, but was probably changed to its current appearance in 1608. The building is decorated with Renaissance-era artwork. Similarly aged relics of the old city include the Lindau Gate and the Pfaffenturm tower.

The local history museum, Heimatmuseum in der Eselmühle, was opened in 1974 in a former mill acquired by the city in 1969. The museum displays the original mechanisms of the mill in addition to a collections from various spans of the city's history.

Population growth
¹ Census

Local council
The elections in May 2014 showed the following results:
 * SPD = 5 seats
 * CDU = 15 seats
 * FW (Free voters) = 8 seats
 * GOL (Green open list) = 8 seats
 * Total: 36 seats

Mayors since 1804

 * 1804–1810: Franz Josef von Bentele
 * 1811–1819: Mathias Tschugg
 * 1819–1826: Rudolf Salis
 * 1826–1829: Martin Schnitzer
 * 1829–1847: Christian Nepomuk Weber
 * 1847–1859: Leopold Wocher
 * 1860–1894: Jacob Trenkle
 * 1894–1922: Rudolf Trenkle
 * 1922–1933: Fritz Geray
 * 1933: Gottlob Pfeiffer (provisional)
 * 1933–1939: Dr Friedrich Wilhelm Erbacher
 * 1939: Heinrich Fischer (provisional)
 * 1939–1942: Carl Speidel (on behalf of Heinrich Fischer)
 * 1942–1945: Max Steinegger (provisional)
 * 1945: Karl Geiger (provisional)
 * 1945: Franz Büchele (provisional)
 * 1945–1946: Josef Max Kraus (provisional)
 * 1945–1968: Wilhelm Uhl
 * 1968–2001: Dr Jörg Leist (born 1935)
 * since 2001: Michael Lang (born 1965)

Twin towns – sister cities
Wangen im Allgäu is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 La Garenne-Colombes, France
 * 🇮🇹 Prato, Italy

Economics and infrastructure
Wangen was once a center of the German textile industry before the decline of German textile manufacturing.

Inter-city transport
Wangen lies on the A96 Autobahn between Lindau and Memmingen, in addition to federal highways 18 and 32. The town is part of the Aulendorf – Kißlegg – Wangen - Hergatz – Lindau and Ulm – Memmingen – Kißlegg – Wangen – Hergatz – Lindau train lines. It lies on the bus route between Ravensburg and Isny. The city also belongs to the Bodensee–Oberschwaben public transportation association.

Education
Wangen has a Gymnasium (Rupert-Neß-Gymnasium), a Realschule (Johann-Andreas-Rauch-Realschule), a Hauptschule (Hauptschule Karsee), a Werkrealschule (Anton-von-Gegenbaur-Schule) and a special school (Martinstorschule), three combined secondary and elementary schools (GHS Niederwangen, Praßberg-Schule and Freie Waldorfschule Wangen) (http://www.fws-wangen.de/start.html), and six elementary schools (Berger-Höhe-Schule, Deuchelried, Grundschule im Ebnet, Leupolz, Neuravensburg, and Schomburg).

The Wangen district has two vocational schools (Friedrich-Schiedel-Schule and Kaufmännischen Schule Wangen), in addition to the Heinrich-Brügger-Schule medical school.

Media
Wangen is serviced by the Schwäbische Zeitung newspaper as well as the local Regio TV television station.

Governmental
Wangen is the seat of a local tax office. It has a district court, which belongs to the Ravensburg regional court district, which in turn belongs to the Stuttgart court district.

Other

 * From 1943 to 1945, Wangen served as the backdrop for the propaganda movie Quax in Fahrt
 * From April 14 to May 13, 2004, the city and its surrounding areas served as a setting for the Tatort television series.
 * The Wangen Juze Tonne e. V is the oldest autonomously run youth center in Germany.
 * The Jugendmusikschule in Wangen is the largest school of music in Baden-Württemberg.

Notable people

 * Joannes Susenbrotus (1484/1485 – 1542/1543), a German humanist, teacher of Latin and author of textbooks.
 * Franz Joseph Spiegler (1691–1757), a German Baroque painter of frescoes
 * Roland Bader (born 1938), conductor, the principal guest conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra
 * Frank Natterer (born 1941), mathematician, deals with computed tomography
 * Matthias Ostermann (1951-2009), a Canadian potter, artist and author; emigrated 1953

Sport

 * Ernst Jakob Henne (1904–2005), motor cycle racer and world land speed record holder
 * Patricia Watson-Miller (born 1965), motorcycle rally raid driver, won the ladies cup of the Dakar rally three times.
 * Sigrid Wille (born 1969), cross-country skier
 * Ivana Rudelic (born 1992), footballer, played over 200 games and 34 for Croatia women
 * Janik Haberer (born 1994), footballer, has played over 300 games
 * Melanie Leupolz (born 1994), soccer player, has played over 200 games and 79 for Germany women

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

title: Wangen im Allgäu


text:
William Ruto

William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who is the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the first elected deputy president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Previously, holders of the position were referred to as Vice President and the officeholder was unelected and appointed by the President. He previously served in three cabinet portfolios as the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister of Agriculture and as Minister for Higher Education.

Ruto was elected Member of Parliament for Eldoret North constituency from 1997 to 2007 under the KANU, and from 2007 to 2013 through the ODM party. He was the Minister for Home Affairs in the Daniel arap Moi administration from August to December 2002. Under the Mwai Kibaki administration, he was the Minister for Agriculture from 2008 to 2010 and Minister for Higher Education from April to October 2010. Ruto first contested for the presidency during the 2007 election, but lost to Raila Odinga on the ODM party primaries; together with Musalia Mudavadi, who finished second, he then supported the candidature of Odinga. He again ran for the presidency on the 2013 election, but withdrew his candidature in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta. He was later nominated to run for the deputy presidency in the 2013 election under the United Republican Party, becoming the running mate of Uhuru Kenyatta from The National Alliance (TNA). He was re-elected to the deputy presidency under the Jubilee Party in the 2017 Kenyan general election. Ruto successfully ran for the presidency in the 2022 election, this time under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). Amidst a fall-out, Kenyatta supported his opponent Raila Odinga. The election was marred by allegations of electoral fraud by allies of Odinga, although international observers have not corroborated such claims.

Early life and education
A member of the Kalenjin people of the Rift Valley Province, William Ruto was born on 21 December 1966 in Sambut village, Kamagut, Uasin Gishu County, to Daniel Cheruiyot and Sarah Cheruiyot.

Education
Ruto started his education at Kamagut Primary School, then transferred to Kerotet Primary School—both situated within the Uasin Gishu County; and he sat for his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at the latter. He then proceeded to Wareng Secondary School, still in Uasin Gishu County, and later Kapsabet High School in Nandi County, where he obtained his Ordinary Level and Advanced Level education respectively.

He then enrolled at the University of Nairobi to pursue Botany and Zoology, graduating in 1990 with a BSc. He went on to complete an MSc in Plant Ecology, also from the University of Nairobi. The year after his graduation, he enrolled for a Ph.D. at the same university, and after several setbacks, he completed and graduated on 21 December 2018.

Ruto authored several papers, including one titled Plant Species Diversity and Composition of Two Wetlands in the Nairobi National Park, Kenya.

During his time in the campus for his undergraduate education, Ruto was an active member of the Christian Union. He also served as the Chairman of the University of Nairobi's choir. Through his church activities at the University of Nairobi, he met President Daniel arap Moi, who would later introduce him to politics during the 1992 general elections.

Political career
After graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1990, Ruto was employed as a temporary teacher in the North Rift region of Kenya from 1990 to 1992, where he was also a leader of the local church choir, the Africa Inland Church (AIC).

YK'92
Ruto began his political career when he became the treasurer of the YK'92 campaign group that was lobbying for the re-election of President Moi in 1992, from which he learned the basics of Kenyan politics. He is also believed to have accumulated some wealth in this period. After the 1992 elections, President Moi disbanded YK'92 and Ruto unsuccessfully vied for various branch-level positions in KANU, which was at that time Kenya's ruling party.

Member of Parliament
Ruto ran for a parliamentary seat in the 1997 general election. He surprisingly beat the incumbent, Reuben Chesire, Moi's preferred candidate, as well as the Uasin Gishu KANU branch chairman and assistant minister. He later gained favour with Moi and was appointed KANU Director of Elections. His strong support in 2002 for Moi's preferred successor, Uhuru Kenyatta, saw him get a place as assistant minister in the Home Affairs (Interior) ministry. Later in that election, when some government ministers resigned to join the opposition, he was promoted to full Cabinet Minister. KANU lost the election but he retained his parliamentary seat. Ruto was elected KANU Secretary General in 2005, with Uhuru Kenyatta elected as chairman.

In 2005, Kenya held a referendum on a new constitution, which KANU opposed. Some members of the ruling NARC coalition government, mainly former KANU ministers who had joined the opposition coalition in 2002 under the LDP banner and who were disgruntled as President Kibaki had not honored a pre-election MoU on power-sharing and creation of a Prime Minister post, joined KANU to oppose the proposed constitution. Since the symbol of the "No" vote was an Orange, this new grouping named their movement the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Ruto was part of its top brass, dubbed the Pentagon. He solidified his voter base in the Rift Valley Province. ODM was victorious in the referendum.

In January 2006, Ruto declared publicly that he would vie for the presidency in the next general election (2007). His statement was condemned by some of his KANU colleagues, including former president Moi. By this time, ODM had morphed into a political party. Ruto sought the nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) as its presidential candidate, but on 1 September 2007, he placed third with 368 votes. The winner was Raila Odinga with 2,656 votes and the runner-up was Musalia Mudavadi with 391. Ruto expressed his support for Odinga after the vote. As KANU under Uhuru Kenyatta moved to support Kibaki, he resigned from his post as KANU secretary general on 6 October 2007.

The presidential election of December 2007 ended in an impasse. Kenya's electoral commission declared Kibaki the winner, but Raila and ODM claimed the victory. Mwai Kibaki was hurriedly sworn in as the president of the December 2007 presidential election. Following the election and the dispute over the result, Kenya was engulfed by a violent political crisis. Kibaki and Odinga agreed to form a power-sharing government. In the grand coalition Cabinet named on 13 April 2008 and sworn in on 17 April, Ruto was appointed as Minister for Agriculture. Ruto also became the Eldoret North's Member of Parliament from 2008 to 4 March 2013.

Ruto was among the list of people who were indicted to stand trial at the ICC for their involvement in Kenya's 2007/2008 political violence. However, the ICC case was faced with challenges, especially concerning the withdrawal of key prosecution witnesses. In April 2016, the Court dropped the charges against Ruto.

On 21 April 2010, Ruto was transferred from the Agriculture Ministry and posted to the Higher Education Ministry, swapping posts with Sally Kosgei. On 24 August 2011, Ruto was relieved of his ministerial duties but remained a member of parliament. He joined with Uhuru Kenyatta to form the Jubilee alliance for the 2013 presidential election.

Acting president
On 6 October 2014, Ruto was appointed acting president of Kenya by the then President Uhuru Kenyatta following his summons to appear before the ICC. He served in the role between 6 and 9 October 2014 while President Kenyatta was away at The Hague. When he officially handed over power to Ruto at the Parliament on October 6, Uhuru explained, "To protect the sovereignty of the Republic of Kenya, I will sign a legal notice appointing Hon William Ruto as acting president while I attend the status conference."

In the August 2017 General Elections, Uhuru and Ruto were declared victors after garnering 54% of the total votes cast. However, the Supreme Court of Kenya nullified the election, and a fresh election was held in October 2017. The opposition boycotted the fresh election and Uhuru and Ruto were re-elected with 98% of the total votes cast. The Supreme Court upheld the results of this second election.

Presidential campaign
In December 2020 Ruto announced his alliance with the newly formed United Democratic Alliance party. He was the only presidential candidate to attend the second part of the 2022 presidential debate.

On 15 August 2022, six days after the general election held on 9 August, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chair Wafula Chebukati announced that Ruto had won the presidential election, defeating candidate Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja party. Ruto received 50.49% of the valid votes cast, while Odinga received 48.85%.

Odinga disputed the presidential election results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, and he challenged the results with the Supreme Court. On 5 September, the Supreme Court judges unanimously found that Odinga's alliance had presented inconclusive evidence of its claims that the election was rigged, and it upheld the election of Ruto as the president-elect. In response to the ruling, Odinga said he respected the Supreme Court's decision even though he strongly disagreed with it.

Presidency
On 13 September 2022 he was inaugurated at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice Martha Koome, and attended by over 20 heads of state and government. The inauguration day was declared a public holiday. Attendance was very high, with groups of the general public clashing with security officials when trying to enter the stadium; however, the event continued peacefully. Following his inauguration he officially began his term as President of Kenya.

After taking office Ruto pledged to address climate change and end the use of fossil fuels in Kenya's electricity production by 2030.

On 18 September 2022 President Ruto made his first foreign trip as head of state to the United Kingdom, during which he attended the state funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II  on 19 September 2022 at Westminster Abbey in London.

Two days later, on 21 September 2022, President Ruto made his debut address as head of state to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. He nodded to President Biden's "Build Back Better" domestic plan, proposing a global effort toward "building back better from the bottom upward." The goal, he said, should be "including the marginalized, working majority in the economic mainstream." Other themes he addressed were the expansion of the representation of Africa on the U.N. Security Council, increased investment in the African continent, "moving Africa from aid to investment", tapping "the ever-bustling" human capital for economic prosperity and a concerted effort towards tackling climate change in the world.

In September 2022, he said that the Horn of Africa was experiencing its worst drought in 40 years, adding that "3.1 million people are facing severe drought" in Kenya alone.

Asked about the ongoing Tigray War in northern Ethiopia between government forces and Tigray rebels, Ruto said that "whatever happens in Ethiopia gets to Kenya".

Speaking about the Somali Civil War, he said that "Kenyan troops will come back home as soon as we're done with the assignment that we have in Somalia."

In November 2022 Ruto's government launched the Hustler Fund, a loan program to grant immediate loans to Kenyan citizens.

In 2023 Ruto proposed a large-scale privatisation of public enterprises, noting that it is not economically viable to keep pumping government resources into sustaining those corporations.

On 25 June 2024 at least five people were killed when public order broke down over tax protests. Ruto proposed several tax rises because more than half of its annual tax revenues are spent to service debt. The increased taxes are proposed "on everything from car ownership and financial transactions to sanitary pads."

On 11 July Ruto sacked most of his cabinet save for the deputy president and prime cabinet secretary, and the next day the police chief Japhet Koome resigned after 40 people died over the past month in the tax protests. Koome was held responsible because the police shot protestors. It was noted that "About 60% of Kenya’s collected revenues goes to servicing debt."

Weston Hotel land
Ruto has been involved in a land grabbing saga involving his mysterious acquisition of Weston Hotel land, pitted against public counteraccusations with several state corporations in Kenya, all surrounding the original owner of the land. According to The Standard, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), a state agency, was duped into surrendering the land on which the Weston Hotel was built. In 2001, KCAA, which originally occupied the land, was given alternative pieces of land belonging to another state agency, the meteorological department. KCAA did not occupy the alternative piece of land upon which Ruto's Weston Hotel was built. According to KCAA, a powerful cartel, working in the lands ministry was involved in a conspiracy to relinquish the same piece of land with several land ministry officers also involved in the conspiracy. In January 2019, it emerged that according to another state agency, the National Lands Commission, Ruto owed and needed to pay the people of Kenya for the land 0.773 acres opposite Wilson Airport upon which the Weston Hotel was built. In February 2019, Ruto publicly admitted the Weston Hotel land had been acquired illegally by the original owners who sold him the land, and that he had no knowledge of the matter. In August 2020, Ruto offered to pay the state agency for the land. Later in 2020, KCAA was refused to be compensated for the land and so, demanded demolition of the hotel because of acquisition through illegality, fraud and corruption. According to the KCAA, the public land was designated for the construction of headquarters and flight paths, and it had been disposed of the land by collusion with private entities, Priority Ltd and Monene Investments both reported to be associated with Ruto. Later in the same month, another legislator, Ngunjiri Wambugu, demanded all other cases in Kenya involving stolen property be thrown out as long as suspects were willing to compensate for it, in an effort to complain about the preferential treatment Ruto was receiving for his involvement in the state's stolen property. In December 2020, the KCB Bank backed Ruto in the court battle to repossess the land, fearing the loss of security against the advancement of 1.2 billion shillings in Weston hotel associated with Ruto.

KPC Ngong Forest land scandal

In 2004, Ruto was charged with defrauding another state corporation, Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), of huge amounts of money through dubious land deals. He was acquitted in 2011 but in 2020, as his relationship with President Uhuru Kenyatta seemed to falter amid the President's push for an anti-corruption war, the police re-opened investigations in the case.

Muteshi land
In June 2013, a court ordered Ruto to pay a victim of 2007/08 post-election violence 5 million shillings for illegally taking away his land during the post-election violence. In the same judgement, Ruto was evicted from the grabbed land in Uasin Gishu. Adrian Muteshi had accused Ruto of grabbing and trespassing on his 100-acre piece of land in Uasin Gishu after he, Adrian, had fled his land for safety during the post-election violence of 2007/08. In February 2014, Ruto appealed the court order to pay the 5 million shilling fine. In 2017, Ruto withdrew the appeal against the judgment. In October 2020, Adrian Muteshi died of an unspecified cause at the age of 86.

Joseph Murumbi's 900 acres
In October 2019, the Daily Nation reported that Ruto's acquisition of a 900-acre piece of land of another former vice president, Joseph Murumbi, haunted Ruto because he had been involved in the irregular acquisition of the land. In the same month, Ruto claimed that the articles were persistent, and obviously sponsored fake news. Later that month, a human rights lobby activist, Trusted Society of Human Rights Alliance, called for an investigation into the mysterious acquisition of a 900-acre piece of land that formerly belonged to former vice-president Murumbi. According to the allegations, Murumbi had been involved in a dispute over loan defaults with a state corporation, AFC, against the land that was pledged as a security for the loan. It is alleged that Murumbi defaulted the loan and AFC took over ownership of the land that was eventually sold to Ruto after he paid off the loan owed to the state corporation.

International Criminal Court summons
In December 2010, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he was seeking the summons of six people, including Ruto, over their involvement in the 2007–8 electoral violence. The ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber subsequently issued a summons for Ruto at the prosecutor's request. Ruto was accused of planning and organizing crimes against supporters of President Kibaki's Party of National Unity. He was charged with three counts of crimes against humanity, one for murder, one for the forcible transfer of population, and one for persecution. On 23 January 2012, the ICC confirmed the charges against Ruto and Joshua Sang, in a case that also involved Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura, Henry Kosgey and Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali. Ruto told the US government that the Kiambaa church fire on 1 January 2008 after the 2007 general election was accidental. In 2009 the Waki Commission report stated that "the incident which captured the attention of both Kenyans and the world was a deliberate burning of live people, mostly Kikuyu women, and children huddled together in a church" in Kiambaa on 1 January 2008. In April 2016, the International Criminal Court abandoned the prosecution of Ruto.

Home attack
On 28 July 2017, Ruto's home was targeted by at least one attacker armed with a machete, and the police officer on duty guarding the residence was injured. During the time of the attack, he and his family were not at the compound as he had left hours earlier for a campaign rally in Kitale. There were reports of gunfire and several security sources said the attack was staged by multiple people. Police initially thought there were a few attackers because the attacker used different firearms. Around 48 hours later, Kenya Police chief Joseph Boinnet announced that the attacker had been shot dead and the situation was under control.

Personal life
Ruto is married to Rachel Chebet. The young couple first lived in Dagoretti, where they had their first child. They were married in 1991 at the Africa Inland Church. They currently have six children.

He is an evangelical Christian and a member of the Africa Inland Church.

He owns a considerable chicken farm in his home village of Sugoi, which was originally inspired by his stint as a chicken seller/hawker on the Nairobi-Eldoret-Malaba highway. Ruto and his wife built a chapel in their compound at their residence in the Karen suburb of Nairobi.

National honours

 * 🇰🇪 Kenya:
 * Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya.svg Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya

title: William Ruto


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nobis Records

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was Delete --Allen3 talk 13:19, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

Nobis_Records
Looks just like Spam Machtzu 20:50, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Tastes like spam, too. -Splash 23:19, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete nn/spam. -- Etacar11   02:37, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge into List of independent record labels. Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 06:50, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User talk:Menelaos

Welcome to Wikipedia!
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia!

I noticed your excellent edits on Fire eater and Cryptozoology and noticed that the welcoming party hadn't called. Here's some links you might find useful, and if I'm teaching grandma to suck eggs, please forgive.

 * Simplified Ruleset.
 * Manual of Style.
 * Find out how to revert, move and merge pages.
 * Sign your posts on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~).
 * Add yourself to the New user log and a regional notice board
 * Ask questions at the Village pump or Help desk.
 * Add the correct image copyright tag to any images you upload
 * Take a look at Consensus of standards
 * Create a User page
 * Be bold
 * Ignore all rules

If, for some reason, you are unable to fix a problem yourself, feel free to ask someone else to do it. Wikipedia has a vibrant community of contributors who have a wide range of skills and specialties, and many of them would be glad to help. As well as the wiki community pages there are IRC Channels, where you are more than welcome to ask for assistance.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me on my talk page. Thanks and happy editing, Alf 20:50, 30 August 2005 (UTC).

Allegory quote on Narnia
Hey, I think the quote you found on the accuracy of the "allegory" in The Chronicles of Narnia is quite specifically about the allegorical nature of Alsan and Jesus. As such, I think it would be a better fit on the Aslan page. What are your thoughts? Lsommerer 19:39, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

"minor edit"
You marked a comment in the Tattoo article as a "minor edit". I think the user settings may have an option to make that the default, so perhaps you want to unselect that. In any case, minor edits, from a WP persepctive, are only things like isolated fixes of typo, correction of errant formatting codes (e.g. a missing '['), or other things that essentially add no new content. Any time you write a new sentence (whether in talk pages or articles), it should not be a minor edit, since some people look at histories with minor edits subtracted. Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters 19:02, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Menelaos


text:
Troy Denning

Troy Denning is an American fantasy and science fiction author and game designer who has written more than two dozen novels.

Background
Denning grew up in the mountain town of Idaho Springs, Colorado. An avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, he began writing himself at the age of fourteen in 80-page spiral-bound notebooks, and began to collect the usual quantity of rejection slips. Around his eighteenth birthday, he received a rejection slip from editor Ben Bova, but one with a signature and a handwritten note thanking him for the submission. Heartened, Denning continued to write as he attended Beloit College, where he also played on their Division I football team.

Career
Denning joined TSR as a game designer in 1981, and was promoted a year later to Manager of Designers, before he moved to the book department. Denning then worked for two years managing the Pacesetter game company. Denning designed the adventure board game Chill: Black Morn Manor (1985) for Pacesetter. When Mayfair Games acquired ownership of the horror game Chill from Pacesetter, Denning also moved to Mayfair at that time; Denning worked on the line with Mayfair staffers David Ladyman, Jeff Leason and Louis Prosperi, to create a second edition of Chill (1990). After his stint at Mayfair Games, Denning went freelance.

Denning wrote the third novel in TSRs "Avatar Trilogy", Waterdeep (1989), which he wrote under the house pseudonym Richard Awlinson; the book became a New York Times bestselling novel. He wrote the novel with Scott Ciencin, and the choice of the surname Awlinson was an inside joke which sounds like "all in one".

In October 1989 he rejoined TSR as a senior designer, co-creating the Dark Sun setting with Tim Brown and Mary Kirchoff. Denning and Brown led the Dark Sun project, with fiction editor Kirchoff, and artist Brom joined them soon with illustrations that helped make Dark Sun the first of TSR's world designs with a more artistic sensibility. According to Denning, the three designers envisioned "a world for experienced DMs that would push the AD&D game to its limits and let people do things like play half-giants and thri-kreen and superstrong characters—in short, all the really neat stuff we wanted to do ourselves, but that everybody kept saying would ruin game balance." Denning felt in 1998 that Dark Sun "did what we wanted it to, and it has attracted a devoted following. When I go to conventions, it's still what people want to talk about. Talking Brom into being the lead artist early was very fortunate for us; he would sketch weird creatures and settings and equipment, and we'd work them into the game." Brown and Denning also designed the 1991 D&D "black box" set, which became a top-seller for TSR, with half a million copies sold over the following six years.

Denning returned to freelance writing again in 1991, writing the bestselling "Prism Pentad" for the Dark Sun setting (1991–93), and the Forgotten Realms "Twilight Giants" trilogy (1994–95). Denning also wrote the Planescape hardcover Pages of Pain (1996): "It had to be from the Lady of Pain’s viewpoint—which is something of a problem, since (as every Planescape player knows) she never speaks—and (this was the really good part) the reader must know less about her at the end of the book than he does at the beginning, and nobody knows anything about her at the beginning." Denning recalled that Pages of Pain "really made me rethink the way I approach stories, and for that reason alone it was worth writing. It also ended up being a much deeper book than I had ever written before, which I think was a result of the extreme approach I was forced to take. Those who have [read it] seem to think it's my best work. It was certainly the most challenging and—forgive the pun—'painful' to write." Denning continued the story told in Waterdeep's sequel, Prince of Lies (1993) by James Lowder, with the novel Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad. Denning then authored another Forgotten Realms novel called Faces of Deception. Denning's other notable works are Dragonwall and The Parched Sea. Denning wrote the novel The Sentinel for The Sundering, a fictional event set in the expanded D&D universe.

He is also the author of a number of Star Wars expanded universe novels. Including Invincible, the ninth and final book in the Legacy of the Force series, was released in May 2008. He also authored the third and sixth books in the series. He has also been the author for three books in the Fate of the Jedi series. And the 9th book in The New Jedi Order: Star by Star and the Dark Nest Trilogy.

Troy was one of the founders of Pacesetter Ltd, a game company formed by a group of former TSR, Inc. executives.

Personal life
Denning lives in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with his wife Andria. He enjoys many hobbies, including skiing, hiking, mountain-climbing, and Kyuki-do -- a form of tae-kwan-do incorporating judo, boxing, and hapki-do.

Combat Command

 * The Omega Rebellion (December 1987)
 * Dorsai's Command (with Gordan R. Dixon and Corey Glaberson, March 1989)

Dark Sun
(listed in order of publication)
 * The Verdant Passage (October 1991)
 * The Crimson Legion (April 1992)
 * The Amber Enchantress (October 1992)
 * The Obsidian Oracle (June 1993)
 * The Cerulean Storm (September 1993)

Forgotten Realms
(listed in order of publication)
 * Waterdeep (as Richard Awlinson, October 1989)
 * Dragonwall (July 1990)
 * The Parched Sea (July 1991)
 * The Ogre's Pact (September 1994)
 * The Giant Among Us (February 1995)
 * The Titan of Twilight (September 1995)
 * The Veiled Dragon (June 1996)
 * Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad (February 1998)
 * Faces of Deception (November 1998)
 * Beyond the High Road (December 1999)
 * Death of the Dragon (written with Ed Greenwood, August 2000)
 * The Summoning (March 2001)
 * The Siege (December 2001)
 * The Sorcerer (November 2002)
 * The Sentinel (April, 2014)

Halo

 * Halo: Last Light (September 2015)
 * Halo: Retribution (August 2017)
 * Halo: Silent Storm (September 2018)
 * Halo: Oblivion (September 2019)
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach (October 2020)
 * Halo: Divine Wind (October 2021)
 * Halo: Outcasts (March 2023)

Kim Possible
(listed in order of publication)
 * Disney's Kim Possible: Tweeb Trouble - Book 9 (2004)
 * Disney's Kim Possible: Pick a Villain - Game On (2005)
 * Disney's Kim Possible: Pick a Villain - Masters of Mayhem (2005)

Planescape

 * Pages of Pain (December 1997)

Stonekeep

 * The Oath of Stonekeep (October 1999)

Star Wars
(listed in order of publication)
 * Star By Star (October 2001)
 * A Forest Apart (February 2003)
 * Tatooine Ghost (March 2003)
 * The Joiner King (July 2005)
 * The Unseen Queen (September 2005)
 * The Swarm War (December 2005)
 * Tempest (November 2006)
 * Inferno (August 2007)
 * Invincible (May 2008)
 * Abyss (August 2009)
 * Vortex (November 2010)
 * Apocalypse (March 2012)
 * Crucible (July 2013)

title: Troy Denning


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nitro Mega Prayer

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was No Consensus Jtkiefer  T - 22:20, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Nitro Mega Prayer
I believe this to be yet another minor band vanity page. Go ahead and prove that this band is notable and worth keeping. Google has several hits, but it looks like enough traffic for a small to moderate independant band. They have their own site (which isn't hard to do), they've done some gigs, and they have a CD put out by an independant label. If they get more notable later, I wouldn't mind seeing this article ressurected. Syrae Faileas 20:51, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Ahh... I found it. This band does not seem to meet the requirements of WP:MUSIC.  If you think I'm wrong, go ahead and keep it.  I don't know enough about independant music to really judge (hence the vote for deletion. *wink*). Syrae Faileas 21:05, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete. Not persuaded they meet any of WP:MUSIC they appear to have a single non-charting albu, (WP:MUSIC wants two), and the stuff about touring Japan on their website seems to have been with a whole bunch of other bands, so I'm dubious about its status as a 'tour'. There's nothing in that webpage I just linked that suggests they are notable. -Splash 23:19, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Weak Keep. I'm seeing three albums, and at least two VA compilations. Almost 1000 google hits. Tim Rhymeless  (Er...let's shimmy) 06:54, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Needs more discussion. Relisting on 10 Sep --Tony Sidaway Talk  10:32, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep. Looks notable enough for an article, even though it doesn't meet the WP:MUSIC guideline (which, to my mind, is too narrow, but that's another story). --Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 11:04, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Weak delete. No All Music Guide entry, but they're from Japan, so that doesn't weigh very heavily. My chief concerns are the relatively small number of Google hits and the lack of good references. I'll revisit this one throughout the week as I think about it. Definitely sign me up for any actual religion that incorporates Nitro Mega Praying, though. Fernando Rizo T/C 19:31, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Warcraft3.com

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was Delete --Allen3 talk 16:53, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

Warcraft3.com
Advertising? vanity? whatever it is, it certainly isn't encyclopedia material. Merge anything useful into Warcraft III and delete the rest Outlander 20:52, August 30, 2005 (UTC)
 * delete nonsense. Brighterorange 23:03, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, pn. - choster 01:54, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete If there's anything notable about this site, it isnt presented here. PredatorX 21:36, 31 August 2005 (GMT+12)
 * Delete. Nonsense. *drew 12:07, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Performance acceleration technology

The Intel Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) is technology built onto Intel i875 Canterwood mainboards and other Pentium 4 based motherboards that based on the Intel D875PBZ reference board. Performance Acceleration Technology delivers additional system-level performance by optimizing memory access between CPU and system memory, allowing increased performance to be exhibited at standard operating specification.

There are three types of Performance Mode: Disabled, Partially enabled, and fully Enabled. There may be BIOS settings that affect this parameter. The PAT status is reported by some versions of Memtest86 and CPU-Z, and at boot time by Dell motherboards.

Asus managed to turn this same feature on, on their 865PE chipset based boards but called it "Memory Acceleration Mode" (MAM) to avoid infringement issues.

title: Performance acceleration technology