Rail Tracks

[poneykeg]

RAILROAD TRACKS …
 
 

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used ? Because that's the way they built them in Scotland, and Scottish expatriates designed the US railroads. Why did the Scottish build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did 'they' use that gauge then ? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing ? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the long distance roads in Scotland, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads ? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe(including Scotland) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads ? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.... So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this ?' , you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bitfatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens  to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of two horses' asses. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horses' asses control almost everything.. and current Horses' Asses in government are controlling everything else!           AND HERE ENDETH THE LESSON!

 
 
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2904 / Virus Database: 3162/6289 - Release Date: 05/01/13
Internal Virus Database is out of date.
 
 
 
 

[Firelock76]

Viva Roma!  Roma aeterna est!

[samfp1943]

Just a thought here....Admittedly the Roman's are still making our lives 'a merry hello' .

But the fact remains that  railroads still control some air travel....Just stop to think that EVERY Boeing 737 (and its variants) must take the train before they take to the air. 

  Ergo, the bit about two Rear Ends controlling track width......  It could be expanded to note that seats in airliners are controlled by the clearance structures (Those old Roman Horses behinds ) on the BNSF. 

     So next time you climb into one of those aluminum cigar tubes, and proceed to shoehorn your posterior into an airline's Economy Class seat  of slightly larger than 17" (avg 17.14")  or   into a Premium Class seat width of about 20" (avg is 20.46)   . You will appreciate the roominess of those AMTRAK Seats.     

REF @ Link : http://www.airlinereporter.com/2010/11/who-has-wider-seats-airbus-a320-or-boeing-737/

    Just thank those old Roman Horses Asses for your discomfort. Just be glad you're not having to ride in one of those Roman War Chariots!