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Mar 1, 2024 · It all begins and ends with the railroad track. Its strength determines how much tonnage a single train can move. Learn about the history of this most important piece of equipment.
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 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, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with ...
In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge differences often present a barrier to wider operation on railway networks.
May 22, 2020 · Rail section dimensions mainly contain the rail height, the width of the base, the width of the head, the web thickness, the depth of head, the depth of the base, nominal weight per yard or meter. Railroad rail dimensions provide a method of identifying types of most rails.
The vast majority of North American railroads are standard gauge ( 4 ft 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 .
The wider track width provides more stability and allows trains to maintain higher velocities without compromising safety. This makes broad gauge tracks ideal for long-distance and high-speed rail systems.
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?
