The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by SandyGeorgia 13:50, 15 August 2010 [1].

Underground Electric Railways Company of London[edit]

Underground Electric Railways Company of London (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): DavidCane (talk) 17:44, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Established in 1902 by a dodgy American and funded through dodgy financial instruments, the UERL built three tube lines in five years. Over-optimistic passenger estimates and large debts very nearly sent the company bankrupt in its first few years, but, through exceptional leadership, it survived. By the 1920s, it had become the dominant transport organisation in London; controlling most of the underground railways, buses and trams. The operations established by the UERL form the core of today's London Underground and Transport for London. This will be the lead article in a planned featured topic on the UERL (one more to do). DavidCane (talk) 17:44, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Source comments: Sources look okay. No problems. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 00:55, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Support: but I believe the opening sentence is too long and, though grammatically correct, difficult to follow. I suggest a sentence break and slight rearrangement. Thus:- "The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"[note 1] underground railway lines opened in London during 1906 and 1907: the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway." Otherwise, no quarrels with a well-constructed article. Brianboulton (talk) 11:17, 8 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OK. Done; and thanks. --DavidCane (talk) 12:19, 8 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comments. Well on the way towards promotion. The prose could be massaged a little. A pity it's been here so long already ...

  1. Is it my screen or eyes? Can anyone else make out the station names on the first map? And the key? I see the hyphen is used in the caption, but not on the map. "Geographic" is opposed to schematic, I guess ... OK. BrEng normally "geographical", but it's acceptable as is.
    Hyphen added in image and I've made most of the station names bigger.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  2. "A policy of expansion by acquisition was followed during the years before World War I,"—same sense if you remove "during the years"?
    Dealt with.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  3. "This eventually led to the establishment of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933"—if you give us the year, please remove the other temporal item.
    Done.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  4. You're a dense comma user, and mostly I can cope with it. But here it's too much, don't you think? "Its early success had resulted in a rush of proposals to Parliament for other deep-level routes under the capital, but, by 1901, only two more lines had opened". Two could go for a smoother read. The pressure for a comma after a temporal phrase is greater when it opens a sentence. Do we need "had"?
    I do love a few commas. I've weeded the sentence as suggested.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  5. "Of the other companies, construction had started on one and then stopped following a financial crisis, and the rest were struggling to raise funding." So "one" means "lines"? This is awkward.
    I've rephrased. --DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Most readers will find this odd: "sub-surface underground railway". Is there a surface type?
    "Sub-surface" is a technical term used to describe the early tube lines (the Metropolitan Railway and Metropolitan District Railway) which were constructed in a shallow cut and cover tunnel (roofed-over trench). I've added a note explaining this.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  7. "To make itself more competitive,"—become?
    OK.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  8. To to to: "strong enough to be able to raise the capital to"—remove three words.
    Done.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  9. "congestion-relieving" ... gotta have a hyphen.
    Done.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Yerkes ... I'd link him above in the prose, not the caption (first encounter). It's the other way around at the moment.
    It looks like earlier editing removed the prose link. Now restored.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  11. Unfortunate rhyme, and far too many Yerkes here: "Perks was also a large shareholder in Yerkes' next target, the MDR. By March 1901, the Yerkes syndicate had acquired a controlling interest in the MDR and Yerkes put forward a proposal for its electrification.[8] Yerkes ...".
    Only a visual rhyme, as Yerkes rhymes with Turkeys. but I've made an edit to remove two Yerkes. --DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  12. Jingle: "including constructing"—nominalise it: "including the construction of".
    Done.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  13. "Work had stopped"—again, why "had"?
    Done.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't read further than "Acquisitions". There are a few patterns here. And longish sentences, but it's usually OK (you could sprinkle a few semicolons around). I have a problem with the left/right squashing of the text between close images, and would prefer right-side only. Why not make the 1908 map "center" and much larger. It's useless that the current size, and those with slow download will have to wait for the full res to download. In fact, because it's ginormous, it's either too big or too small for everyone. Needs 400px. Tony (talk) 05:23, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • I'll have another look for some longish sentences
  • I've made it central and enlarged the 1908 map.
  • I've alternated the images to provide some balance with the Yerkes image which is placed on the left so he looks into the page as recommended.
Thanks for the comments.--DavidCane (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Support.Comments. An nicely done article that gives a straightforward treatment to a complicated topic. Some minor comments:

* “Following a public backlash, he sold-up in Chicago…” I assume this means he sold his Chicago-based interests. Is there a less colloquial way to say this?

* “At South Kensington it was to connect to the deep level line planned by the MDR.” This is slightly unclear. Does this mean it was supposed to or that it eventually did?

* “…and, unlike his other tube railway purchases, construction work had started in 1898 and substantial progress had been made.” What about this was unlike his other purchases? That construction had actually started? That substantial progress had been made?

* “The UERL was set-up with an initial capitalisation of £5 million…” The link to Market capitalization seems not quite right. Would investment be more accurate?

* Why is Inner Circle italicized? Is this MOS for train lines?

* “…although the arbitrator, Alfred Lyttelton, was critical of the MDR's behavior” This is also unclear. Do you mean the MDR’s decision? Or something else?

* Overlinking: lift, lobbied?

* Should Chicago be linked?

--Nasty Housecat (talk) 04:54, 11 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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