The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.Īnd the motto of the story is Specifications and bureaucracies live forever. Thus, we have the answer to the original question. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. The original ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by the wheels of Roman war chariots. The Roman roads have been used ever since. The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions.
Because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.
Okay! Why did their wagons use that odd wheel spacing?īecause, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads. Well, why did they use that gauge in England?īecause the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. I see, but why did the English build them like that?īecause the first railway lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, Why was that gauge used?īecause that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.
Say friend, did you know that the US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches. The Space Shuttle and the Horse's Rear End Space Exploration History: The Space Shuttle and the Horse's Rear End
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