Dear idkwhatname2use,

once again you have added abandoned railways to OSM that would be suitable for OpenHistoricalMap, but not for OpenStreetMap.

Just to make this clear - OSM is not, and does not intend to be, a historic railway atlas. Visible remnants of a railway can be added but these don’t make a railway line. The tag “railway=disused” is for situations when tracks still clearly exist and could be used (just aren’t); “railway=abandoned” is a very rare tag that already says “this should probably not be mapped at all”. There will have to be very clear indications on the ground that tell you exactly where a line was - like a continuous bed of sleepers - to allow a “railway=abandoned” mapping. A few indications every couple hundred yards don’t make a “railway=abandoned”. You are trying to stretch the envelope here and you’re beyond breaking point. Use OpenHistoricalMap if you want to build a historic railway atlas.

The fact that a Wikipedia article exists for a former railway does not constitute a reason for adding it to OSM.

In osm.org/user_blocks/16403 this was discussed with you, and you confirmed that you will not over-step the line again. At the time, we asked that if in doubt, you take the matter to the US forum to discuss.

You have replied to valid criticism by other users with “Please stick to ur local area on issues like this and get a job dude.”, in osm.org/changeset/183274216, and “Get a job man stop wasting your life editing all day for ur own sake.” in osm.org/changeset/183279106.

This is unacceptable. Firstly, that you continue to map abandoned railways that have no place in OSM; secondly, that you do not discuss these cases on the forum as agreed two years ago; and thirdly, that you try to intimidate others with comments like those quoted above.

Please take a break (this is a two-day block), take a deep breath, and map something that actually exists.

Best regards
Frederik Ramm
OSMF Data Working Group
Ticket#2026052810000032