any railroad history buffs around?

[unclej]

i've got about an hour and a half to reasearch and find the answer to the question of what event or events lead to the standardization of railroad gauges during the development of america's railroad lines? i understand why on a practical level but evidently standardization wasn't always the case and some tragic accident or government intervention or something must have been the catalyst for standardization.

small bet involved here, no money but a beer and some braggin' rights if i can find out. thanks for the help. i'm gonna go search now and i'll be back in a bit.

unclej

 

[unclej]

ok, you can all relax now. i found an answer that satisfies the bet. "the standard gauge (width) of railroad tracks was established in england and was thought to be patterned after the width of the chariot tracks on roman roads". man, now there's a scientific reason if i ever heard one.

you may now let this thread die a quiet death.

 

[plasticman33]

Rumor had it that our standard railroad gauge of 4' 8.5" was from the measurement of ancient roman chariot ruts. It came from England and was adopted here in the states. There were of course variations across the country, 'narrow gauge' railroads were popular, especially in the west.

Try this site for info, www.sdrm/faqs/gauge/

 

[patient1]

OK, I didn't know if that was satisfactory because that's about how the unusual standard was reached, rather than something to do with desire for it in the Civil War , much like the need for the Panama Canal during the Spanish-American War. Or because that was the size of the transcontinental railroad.

 

[unclej]

i got the information about the roman chariots from the national railroad museum's webb site so i guess that must be pretty accurate. it does raise the question though, if the gauge was standardized so long ago why did they develop the narrow gauge. in a mine i can see it but for overland transportation, unless it was in mountainous terrain where switchbacks were a problem then i don't see the advantage.

interesting stuff that railroad history.

 

[plasticman33]

It was the mines and mountains that caused the development of the narrow gauge precisely to reduce the curve radius. It must have been hard to switch the freight from one to the other once they reached the main lines!