From Grammarist.com :
"Gantlet was the original spelling of the word referring to a form of punishment in which people armed with sticks or other weapons arrange themselves in two lines and beat a person forced to run between them. It came from the earlier English word gantlope, which in turn comes from the Swedish gatlopp.1 Gauntlet is an alternative spelling of gantlet, but it also has several definitions of its own, mostly related to gloves."
Technically the parallel tracks should be a "gantlet" because that refers to to parallel lines (as in "running the gantlet"), however every citation lists "gauntlet" as an alternative spelling.
So the spelling is a grey area, or is that gray area?
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
In medieval times, a gauntlet was a leather glove with chainmail on the back. Hence the term throwing down the gauntlet as a form of challenge.
Mr Armstrong was correct,
I recently came across a Wikipedia article about "gauntlet" tracks.
Gauntlet track - Wikipedia
I was a bit surprised by the term because I remember John Armstrong wrote about these in Track Planning for Realistic Operation and I remembered him using the term "gantlet". I just came across my copy of the book and it confirmed that my memory is correct.
Knowing that Wikipedia doesn't always vet their information, I tend to give more credibility to John Armstrong. My question is which is correct or are both acceptable?