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During the Second World War Adolph Hitler became obsessed with grandiose engineering projects and planning his vision for a rebuilt Europe after what he felt was the inevitable German Victory. One of his obsessions was the design of broad gauge super railroad(he proposed a 4 meter track gauge, but the requirement was ultimately set at 3 Meters(over 9 feet)) connecting occupied France with the German Heartland and running east into conquered Soviet territory, ultimately crossing the entire continent of Europe. He ordered surveying and design work on the line,including blueprints for mammoth motive power and rolling stock to run on it(including designs for 18,000HP three unit Diesel Electrics and Compound Articulated Steam engines that would have been the equivalent of two C&O Alleghenies linked by a Santa Fe 2-10-4!). Although most railway engineering experts in Germany at the time thought the idea was impractical and wasteful, they did as the Fuhrer ordered, diverting time and resources from wartime efforts, and quite possibly helping the Allies win the war faster. I have an old(1981 or so) issue of TRAINS with an article about the scheme. <br /> I also have a copy of TRAINS from the mid Seventies in which there is an article about the concept of a double track train, that is , extra wide rolling stock that runs on two parallel sets of track, giving an effective gauge of twelve feet! The author of the article even built some HO scale models of different types of equipment, including gondolas, intermodal(TOC and COFFEE) flats, and two level passenger/auto carriers(parking on the lower level and passenger accommodations above. The article mentioned previous broadgauge proposals, including a TTX patent from the mid 1960's for a dual level Auto train running on an 8 foot gauge. <br /> Although fascinating none of these schemes ultimately proved economical or practical..............
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