Why are track rails spaced the way they are? 

The story of the rail gauge being 4ft 8.5in because of the Roman's is just that a story. The Stockton and Darlington Railway was originally built to 4ft 8in to allow the passage of colliery wagons which were often of this gauge. This gauge was originally called Stephenson Gauge, it was later increased to 4ft 8.5in. It didn't get called Standard Gauge until the passage of the Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act of 1846 when the standard gauge for railways in Britain was set at 4ft 8.5in (in Ireland it was set at 5ft 3in or Irish Standard Gauge). This Act didn't prevent the building of lines to the Brunel Gauge of 7ft 0.25in, but these lines had to physically connect to lines already built to the Brunel gauge.

The actual reason Russia adopted the five foot gauge (according to my information) was that the Russian government hired an American railroad engineer, George Whistler (father of the painter, James McNeill Whistler) to construct the first railroads in the country. Whistler was most familiar with the five foot gauge, which was common in the United States in the 19th century.

Another great video. My kudos to all who made this video. Thank you very much. Be safe and healthy please.

The 'Toronto gauge' came about because, as the more popular story goes, city fathers did not want heavy train cars running down the middle of Toronto streets. Thus, all of Toronto's streetcar network and three of the four subway lines use this gauge. (The Scarborough RT and the soon-to-open Egglinton LRT use standard gauge.)

Most recent example of using a track gauge different from all other lines: the Gautrain in South Africa. One reason for its use of standard gauge may be to prevent encroachment by any other rail system in South Africa, which all run on 1065mm Cape Gauge. More practically, the Gautrain uses Bombardier Electrostar EMUs designed for regional rail in the UK but modified for the Gautrain.

The actual width was decided in Northern England when colleiry horses pulled wagons first of all on wooden beams ,then changed to iron rails for durabilty ,the width was so a horse could walk between , the first tracks were not fixed on sleepers but on little supports , a section of original track still exists in northern England.

The list of wide gauge included the "Toronto" or "TTC" gauge. This is used for the streetcars and subways, though not the new LRT lines, which are standard gauge. There are two reasons given for the wide gauge. One is so that wheeled wagons could fit the rails and the other was to keep steam powered railway locomotives off those tracks. Also, the Canadian province of Newfoundland had a narrow gauge line, but it was pulled up several years ago, leaving no railway at all in the province. Prior to that, the trucks on the rail cars were swapped, out when the cars were moved to/from the ferry boats that connected Newfoundland with Nova Scotia. One interesting bit of trivia is there was one stretch of track where the trains had to be tied down during storms, to keep them from being blown over. This railway was also the longest narrow gauge line on the continent. BTW, you have "gauge" spelled incorrectly in the title.

Just so folks know, you have 3 rails in much of the UK, but it isn't to enable different gauges. The 3rd rail lies outside the normal 2 and is a power line. You DO NOT want to touch this, it is seriously high voltage and will fry you. Just thought I'd put this comment for people who aren't used to electrified rails. Really good vids by the way.

Fun fact, the smallest public railway in the world is the British Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, with 15 inch track

Another broad gauge was Brunel's Great Western Railway in the UK, gauge of 7 feet and 1/4 inch (2,140mm)

I was wondering why that track on the right has 3 rails & now I know. I learn something new everyday.

The story about standard gauge being based on Roman chariot wheels being exactly 4’ 8.5” is a fallacy- many mine railroads in Great Britain used whatever gauge their engineers chose and seemed appropriate for their particular conditions. George Stephenson worked for a mining company that used 4’ 8”, but he found the equipment was binding on the curves so he added an extra half inch. He carried that over to other projects, it became Great Britain’s standard gauge, it migrated to the United States with imported steam locomotives, and there you have it. Stephenson remarked in later years that he should have used a broader gauge.

I did the narrow gauge trip up pikes peak in Colorado. What a trip!

Thanks Ken, for mentioning the Caledonia Mississippi Western RR and look forward to more on the historic CM&W boxcar

Hey Ken I've ben watching this videos and love them, I'm from North Central PA but you for got a narrow gauge that was closed but is open again and that is The East Broad Top in Central PA.

Love those SOO LINE engines!

As a historian, I spent years researching this topic. I have yet to find a single reputable source that can definitively link the width the Roman chariot wheels to the 4 feet, 8 1/2 inch gauge established by George Stephenson, an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution, renowned as the "Father of Railways.”

As someone already pointed out: the roman story is just a myth: there are ten common used gauges for railroads. If there would have been a standard already set in roman times we should see only one: the roman chariot gauge. In addition the claim, that they used the same tools for the roman wagons and the railroad is clearly false: the roman chariots were mainly made of wood. The railroad is made of iron. You cant use the same tool on iron and on wood. Also: the tool you use to cut the axis of a roman chariot, of lets say randomly: 1 meter, is a saw. If locomotives were made out of wood. And you wanted their axis to be 2 meter wide. You would use the same saw. There is no saw for one meter of wood. And another for wood of 2 meter length. So the argument: they used the same tools. Thats why the ended up with the same width, makes no sense. (And they indeed used wooden wheels for the first carts in mines: but this carts all had smaller width than 1435 mm.) Also: you cant randomly chose the width of a chariot: there are reasons for the width: for example you want two horses to fit between the wheels. You cant randomly chose the width of a train track: there are advantages and disadvantages for small/wide gauges. For example radius of the curve: The one you chose depends of the landscape and the amount of money you can spent on tunnels to avoid curves and so on and so on. So the people in the past were not that stupid to ignore this arguments and stick to outdated arguments form the horse era.

Hey Ken, how about a video about what it takes to repair the track(s) along the Scenic Railroad spur. I am sure you have some information that you can sure. I've watch a lot of unique rail and tie repairs and replacement here on youtube from Europe. Great series as usual! Look forward to watching all the new ones. :-)

What about the Durango and silverton railroad it used to be part of the same railroad that the c&t was part of same locomotives same cars and great views

Oh man, that misspelling in the thumbnail though...

Interesting video, but a RR museum really ought to know how to spell ‘gauge’.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority ( SEPTA ) Market Frankford Line is 5' 2 1/4". SEPTA's Broad Street Subway is standard gauge, but has it's own system so it doesn't interchange or share with SEPTA REGIONAL RAIL

No mention of George Stephenson adopting 4ft 81/2in for the first railways (roads) in north east England which then spread?

Good video. Keep 'em coming!

Great Video! I was wondering how combined gauges go through switches? Pehaps a future video!

You really have a contageous way about you of positivity and friendliness, I love it :)

The originally the tracks were narrow gauge track then someone in the 1800s the track was changed to standard size of 4fr 8.5 inches wide

Also the Silverton Railroad in Colorado is narrow gadge, Pikes Peek has narrow gadge incline

I should have known it was some horses back end that came up with the gauge. I think I recall Hitler having one of his design engineers conceptualizing a “Super Train” that had a gauge of three meters. It never got off the drawing board. There was also a TV show named “Super Train”. Let’s not go there.

Serious doubts about the Roman chariot wheel theory. The most convincing explanation I have had is that the original wagon ways ran with the wheels between outside flanges on the rails set at the sensible distance of 5 feet. When they moved to flanged wheels 4 foot 8 1/2 allow them to keep the same track bed/supports.

Finland according to legend measured the russian gauge wrong and that is why they are off by a few milimeters. You also need four rails if you wand to combine standard gauge with russian gauge. A good example is the Swedish Finnish border in Haparanda where the bridge over the border river has four rails. P.S. in Sweden its still a Wagon

What do you recommend for an area with rolling hills. Standers gauge or narrow gauge

The 4' 8-1/2. I guess we're stuck with it.

Can you guys do a video on DMIR 193

You mention five and a half foot gauge but here in the UK we had a 7 foot gauge too.

Cool video

What about Brunell’s Broad Gauge GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY? Come to the country which is the true home of steam railways, GREAT BRITAN, and learn real history. We welcome all visitors who are keen railway buffs. See you soon. John S.

Don’t forget Brunel’s 7 foot broad gauge.

If you could spell gauge correctly on the thumbnail, it would give us more confidence in the video!

Gauges?

This is not accurate. The standard gauge started at 4’8”. After some experience at that width, half an inch was added to make it work better. It was more practical to increase the rail separation than to modify equipment which had been built.

Consistent at least, about these odd rail gwages.

GUAGE?????????

I had to laugh at the misspelling of gauges.

Railway history the way the Americans want you to believe. No mention of the founders of the railways, the British

you forgot a few

It is spelt gauge not guage.

I am sorry this is absolute nonsense. Romans did not use war chariots except in racing. The first commercial passenger railways originated in northern England and related to the gauge of mining wagons. On longer runs as the technology developed the original 4'8" gauge was slightly widened to allow better movement of the inside flanges. Other ountires including the northern US began using imported rolling stock adn or locos before developing their own.

If I ever again hear someone tout that old canard about Romans inventing standard rail gauge, I'll scream. Ditto horses' arses.

I expect this kind of nonsense from small-time youtubers, but somebody representing a railroad museum should know better. This urban legend has been thoroughly debunked but it just won't die.