How many different commercial gauges were there in the world and why? What is the standard gauge now?

redieddy@earthlink.net

> How many different commercial gauges were
> there in the world and why? What is the
> standard gauge now?

I'll take the first shot. The general feeling is the smaller the gage, the cheaper the constuction will be. Then the discussion covers efficency of moving a given tonage per car which is very much a matter of opinion. George W. Hilton covers the development and demise of the narrow gage philosophy very well in his book, "American Narrow Gauge Railroads." My list is the more common gages, there are a lot of "inbetween" gages that didn't have a lot of milage built.

18" -- Sometimes considered minuture gage, agricultrue use.

60cm (23 5/8 inches) -- European version of the 24" gage, saw extensive use in WWI for logistic railroads to the front.

24" -- Smallest common carrier gage and also used by many construction companies for temporary building rail roads.

30" -- Agricultrue use.

75cm -- About the same as 30".

3' -- Common narrow gage common carrier gage world wide.

Meter -- (About 3'2") Metric equivalant of the 3' gage.

3'3" -- Narrow gage common carrier.

3'6" -- Common throughout the English Empire.

4'8 1/2" -- Standard gage, thought to developed based on a Roman wagon size.

5' -- Early broad gage, common in the U.S South prior to the Civil War.

6' -- Early broad gage and lost out to standard gage due to lack of milage.

Ed

ff1044@aol.com

Errata:

1 meter = 3 foot 3 3/8 inches.

5'6" -- Common in Spain and India and used elsewhere.

And "agracultrue" is correctly spelled "agraculture."

Ed

ff1044@aol.com

> And "agracultrue" is correctly
> spelled "agraculture."

And I know I can't spell, it's too early Sunday morning.

***AGRICULTURE***

Ed

ff1044@aol.com

Here are some additions, also incorporating
previous corrections and additions:

> 18" -- Sometimes considered minuture
> gage, agricultrue use.

> 60cm (23 5/8 inches) -- European version of
> the 24" gage, saw extensive use in WWI
> for logistic railroads to the front.

> 24" -- Smallest common carrier gage and
> also used by many construction companies for
> temporary building rail roads.

> 30" -- Agriculture use.

> 75cm -- About the same as 30".

> 3' -- Common narrow gage common carrier gage
> world wide.

> 3'3" -- Narrow gage common carrier.

> Meter -- (About 3 foot 3 3/8 inches) Metric equivalant
> of the 3' gage.

> 3'6" -- Common throughout the English
> Empire.

4' Popular with Welsh mining engineers

> 4'8 1/2" -- Standard gage, thought to
> developed based on a Roman wagon size.

4'8-3/4" and 4'9" Early variations of standard gage
in the American NorthEast

4'10" Popular generaly between Buffalo and Chicago

> 5' -- Early broad gage, common in the U.S
> South prior to the Civil War.
Also the Russian and Finnish standard gage.

5'3" Irish standard gage, the result of a British bureaucrat's
average af all the competing proposals.
Also used in parts of South America

>5'6" -- Common in Spain and India and used elsewhere.

> 6' -- Early broad gage and lost out to
> standard gage due to lack of milage.

7' -- Early English broad gage and lost out to
standard gage.
Lasted long enough to be part of early London subways!


104577.651@compuserve.com

> And I know I can't spell, it's too early
> Sunday morning.

I can't resist... and gauge is spelled g-a-u-g-e, not g-a-g-e, just like it is in the subject line.

brianf425@yahoo.com

> I can't resist... and gauge is spelled
> g-a-u-g-e, not g-a-g-e, just like it is in
> the subject line.

Well just remember, you were still in high school when I learned to calibrate a steam "gage", signed for eight million dollars of work on a Navy war ship's steam plant including the final post overhaul boiler hydros (which I flunked the No. 1 boiler four times and the No. 2 boiler twice), operated the throttle on a 12,000 hp marine steam turbine, and at a different time, ordered 212,000 hp into the Pacific Ocean to move 68,000 tons (long tons) at over 30 knots over ground.

Ed


ff1044@aol.com

Fixed the link.


ff1044@aol.com

> I can't resist... and gauge is spelled
> g-a-u-g-e, not g-a-g-e, just like it is in
> the subject line.

The FRA CFR 49 rule book Part 213 covering track safety standards spells the word g-a-g-e. Since I have to answer to them so do I.

John

jhbohon@yahoo.com

...for the "Big Boys" of the Ocean Blue !!!!
And a great Veterans day to ya!


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> The FRA CFR 49 rule book Part 213 covering
> track safety standards spells the word
> g-a-g-e. Since I have to answer to them so
> do I.

> John

By Jove, you're right. I just looked at my copy of the track compliance manual and the FRA does spell it "gage" throughout. See, I was smarter than I thought. Always nice when the elder brother can tell the younger one, "See, I told you so!"

Ed


ff1044@aol.com

> The FRA CFR 49 rule book Part 213 covering
> track safety standards spells the word
> g-a-g-e. Since I have to answer to them so
> do I.

In the data processing world, we refer to these sorts of incidents as "garbage in, gospel out".

brianf425@yahoo.com

Wow! That was close. Must have been a Harpoon or a Tomahawk. Good thing I'm out of range of his big guns! ;-)

brianf425@yahoo.com

Actually 7' 0 1/4" gauge was used by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway in England and Wales. GWR converted to the "coal waggon gauge" of 4' 8 1/2" in 1892.

Cutiously, shortly thereafter the Philadelphia and Reading had some notable 4-4-2's with 84 1/4" drivers. Reading (Eng.) was a major junction on the GWR and Reading (Pa.) was the operating center of the P&R.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

> I'll take the first shot. The general
> feeling is the smaller the gage, the cheaper
> the constuction will be. Then the discussion
> covers efficency of moving a given tonage
> per car which is very much a matter of
> opinion. George W. Hilton covers the
> development and demise of the narrow gage
> philosophy very well in his book,
> "American Narrow Gauge Railroads."
> My list is the more common gages, there are
> a lot of "inbetween" gages that
> didn't have a lot of milage built.

> 18" -- Sometimes considered minuture
> gage, agricultrue use.

> 60cm (23 5/8 inches) -- European version of
> the 24" gage, saw extensive use in WWI
> for logistic railroads to the front.

> 24" -- Smallest common carrier gage and
> also used by many construction companies for
> temporary building rail roads.

> 30" -- Agricultrue use.

> 75cm -- About the same as 30".

> 3' -- Common narrow gage common carrier gage
> world wide.

> Meter -- (About 3'2") Metric equivalant
> of the 3' gage.

> 3'3" -- Narrow gage common carrier.

> 3'6" -- Common throughout the English
> Empire.

> 4'8 1/2" -- Standard gage, thought to
> developed based on a Roman wagon size.

> 5' -- Early broad gage, common in the U.S
> South prior to the Civil War.

> 6' -- Early broad gage and lost out to
> standard gage due to lack of milage.

> Ed

If we include electric railways, we have quite an assortment:

36"/3 foot: Mining railways, such as Pacific Cement in Davenport. Common carrier, Pacific Coast RR, Santa Maria to Guadalupe CA. Manx Electric on Isle of Man, still running.

42"/3'6", sometimes called "Bastard Gauge", several streetcar companies: Los Angeles Ry, Portland OR, and Denver CO. The San Francisco cable cars run on this gauge, and Orange Empire has 42" and dual gauge track for its LA collection (and also a tram from Kyoto and a cable car that's lost its grip).

48"/4' at least one trolley company and one steam RR that ran on a pier with the supports at 4 foot spacing.

4'10" to 4'11" St. Louis (until 1966) and Toronto (still running)

5'2" to 5'2.5" Sometimes called Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge. Still used by SEPTA (Philly), PAT (Pittsburgh) and New Orleans. Arden Trolley Museum uses it for their mostly-Pittburgh collection.

5'4" Baltimore Streetcar Museum preserves the unique gauge of that city's trams.

5'6" Bay Area Rapid Transit, supposedly went to wider gauge for stability, or just to be different. (consider the fact that TGV's and Bullet Trains run on 4'8.5" tracks)

Going "Down Under": In Melbourne the legendary trams run on standard (4'8.5") track. The electric suburbans and diesel intrastate trains run on 5'3" (originally designed by an Irish engineer?) gauge. At the end of the Bellegrave electric line is the terminal for the Puffing Billy 30" gauge steam railway, which uses narrow gauge diesel hydraulic power during bush fire season. Assuming one rides the tram to Flinders St. Station, takes the EMU to Bellegrave and boards the Puffing Billy, you can do three gauges in less than two hours.
Up north in Queensland, the British Colonial 42" gauge prevails, except for the interstate lines, which have been adapted to Standard. Melbourne's Spencer St. Station has some dual gauge track to accomodate the overnight train from Sydney and other long-distance service.



brunettedavis@aol.com