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[quote user="alloboard"]      I've always thought that the track gauge of 4ft 81/2 inches was the best average size. Why do you think that it's too narrow? Besides the train them selves are wider than the track. One railcar in density are larger that some rooms, yet alone several cars in a train.[/quote] I think it is close to optimum, but the true optimum has never been determined because it is almost beyond calculation due to all the variables. What happened instead was that a simple consensus emerged. Everyone simply agreed on a number because more important that optimum gage is a commonality of gage.  And once the number was chosen, there was no going back. If we were starting over, there is no way in the world that somebody would suggest 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches with everybody agreeing on that odd number. People would want to round it off to 5 feet or 4-1/2 feet. Or maybe they would insist on it being metric, so an even number of millimeters would be chosen. This hint that current standard gage is too small is in the fact that railroad equipment has evolved ever larger over the years, and now it has reached its size limit for standard gage. So there is an ongoing trend for expansion of rolling stock that has reached its limit due to the constraint of gage.  Thus it seems reasonable to conclude that the trend for expansion still has reason to continue.  The only outlet for that trap is to increase train length. However, train length too has practical limits because there is only so much disruption allowed with tying up grade crossings. Recently U.P. ran some super long test trains to explore where the train length limit really is. They were immediately pounced on by authorities challenging their right to run super long trains. Of course, it is too late to change gage because there is so much that would have to change. The cost would be a complete showstopper. Nevertheless, the question of optimum gage is still on the table as an academic matter.
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