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The vast majority of North American railroads are standard gauge (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in / 1,435 mm). Exceptions include some streetcar, subway and rapid transit systems, mining and tunneling operations, and some narrow-gauge lines particularly in the west, e.g. the isolated White Pass and Yukon Route system, and the former Newfoundland Railway .
Sep 25, 2023 · Standard gauge is 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches. This is the gauge used when steam railroading began. It became the common gauge of Britain, North America, and Western Europe — except for Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. But how did this seemingly odd width become standard?
Apr 1, 2023 · The standard track gauge, or in other words, the width between the interior edges of the rails, in North America is 4’-8½”. In model railroading, scale rail “Codes”, which refers to the height of the rail as measured in thousandths of an inch, correspond with a prototype-equivalent rail type.
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The track gauge used at the beginning by George Stephenson: 4 feet 8 inches (English). He discovered that everything ran better after he made the gauge half an inch wider. 1435 mm: The whole world - with exceptions: The standard gauge (equal to 4 feet 8 1/2-inches, English). 1440 mm: Belgium, France: Converted to Standard gauge. 1445 mm: Italy
Originally, various gauges were used in the United States. Some railways, primarily in the northeast, used standard gauge; others used gauges ranging from 2 ft ( 610 mm) to 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ). As a general rule, southern railroads were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), while northern railroads that were not standard ...
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 81⁄2 in ). The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson ), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] and SGR in East Africa.
Track gauge in North America explained. The vast majority of North American railroads are standard gauge. Exceptions include some streetcar, subway and rapid transit systems, mining and tunneling operations, and some narrow-gauge lines particularly in the west, e.g. the isolated White Pass and Yukon Route system, and the former Newfoundland ...
