Being a Wikimedian and a Railfan, Two Hobbies at Once

Here is my story as a Wikimedian and a railfan.

I have been a railfan since childhood. I love trains, stations, and anything related to the railway. Unconciously, the hobby led me contribute to Wikipedia!

I became Wikimedian in 2015 when I wanted to improve a railway station article on Wikipedia. The first article I saw was Stasiun Cicalengka, the one and only railway station in my hometown. At that time, I confidently created a Wiki account in order to edit the article. However, this made me even more curious about Wikipedia and other Wiki projects. Afterwards, I often contributed to Wikipedia, particularly in Sundanese Wikipedia, since it had fewer contributors.

Joining the competition

In December 2015, while browsing Sundanese Wikipedia website, I saw a competition poster. The competition was called “Wiki Sabanda”,a writing competition for Sundanese Wikipedia, After reading the details, I joined it without hesitation.

After 4 months, in March 2016, I won third place and receive a laptop as the prize. I had completed 118 articles and all of them were about railway topics, such as train and station articles. Fun fact, I was the youngest partisipant, only 13 years old at that time!.

Continuing as a Wikimedian

Since winning the competition. I have contrinued writing article in Sundanese Wikipedia, particularly about railways. I created most of railway-related articles in Sundanese Wikipedia. Moreover, I contribute to Indonesian Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons on the same topic. On Commons, I upload photos of stations and trains and attached them to Wikipedia articles.

However, since joining Wikimedia Bandung Community in 2018, my contributions have expanded beyond railways to more general topics, such as history, science, language, and culture. I also began contributing to additional Wiki projects, including Wiktionary, Wikidata, and Wikisource.

Still a Railfan!

Today I’m still a railfan, or precisely a transport enthusiast. I take photos of trains, buses, and metros and upload them to Commons. I also continue to edit Wikipedia as another hobby. I think having two hobbies at once is not a bad thing, and I’m happy to do both!