I got this bit of info by a friend's email....it worth reading it
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly
odd number. So why was that gauge used?
Because ..... that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.
So ..... why did the English build them like that?
Because ...... the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways - and
that's the gauge THEY used.
So ...... why did THEY use that gauge?
Because ..... the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for
building wagons, which had that same wheel-spacing.
So, okay, ...... why did the WAGONS use that particular wheel-spacing?
Because ..... if the wagon wrights tried to use any other spacing, the wagon-wheels would break
on some of the old, long-distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So ..... who BUILT those old rutted roads?
The first long-distance roads in England and Europe were built by Imperial Rome for their legions.
These roads have been used ever since. And the ruts?
Well ...... it was the Roman war-chariots that MADE the ruts on the Roman roads - ruts which
everyone else had to match for fear of destroying THEIR wagon wheels and wagons. Since
the chariots were all made for, or by, the Imperial Roman government, they all had the same
wheel-spacing.
Thus ...... the United States' standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original
specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot - which goes to show you that ..... specifications,
policies, and bureaucracies live forever.
So .. the next time you are handed a specification or official policy and wonder what bunch of
horses' rear ends ever came up with it in the first place ...... you MAY be exactly right.
Because ...... the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate
the rear ends of two war-horses.
And now, the *REAL* twist to the story:
When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets
attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are Solid Rocket Boosters, or SRBs.
They are made by a company called Thiokol, at their factory in Utah. The engineers who
designed the SRBs actually wanted to make them a bit fatter, BUT .... the SRBs have to be
shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory has to
run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs have to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel
is just slightly wider than the railroad track, and......
you've got it: the railroad track is just about as wide as the rear ends of two Imperial Roman war-horses.
So ...... the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced system of
transportation was determined over two millennia ago ... by two horses' BUTTS.
Cheers
Interesting.
Linear Mode
