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Narrow Gauge/Standard Gauge Switchovers
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<br />What you describe - standardizing narrow gauge by adding a rail and keeping all three - could be done, but was very rare. It was somewhat more common for narrow gauge to convert by adding the third rail and, when the whole operation was ready, taking up the narrow gauge inside rail. <br /> And no, with a only very few exceptions in the U.S., you could not run one gauge cars on the other. But there were a few examples of shoving narrow gauge trucks under standard cars (they tended to tip over). <br /> Even for people who aren't particularly interested in narrow gauge, I recommend American Narrow Gauge Railroads by George Hilton, 1990. It's the most complete and interesting book on any rail topic I've ever seen. <br /> In the 1870s, there was a whole movement to build narrow, which was way less expensive to construct. That's how you got narrow gauge in Illinois. The curves could be sharper, the track went up hill and down instead of being heavily graded, and the bridges were made out of popsicle sticks. It was an attempt to get around the effective monopoly that standard roads had. But within a decade or so, the liabilities became plain - for starters, the operating costs weren't as cheap as the construction costs, and the thing collapsed. Most roads standardized or disappeared. <br /> Check out the book. It's great. Includes the history of little railroads in each state I never would have guessed existed. <br /> <br />Larry
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