Railroad Gauge and Horses Asses

[RME]

tomikawaTT

So, why was that colliery using that gauge? GOOD question.

Yeah.  Five even feet, with the flanges on the outside of the plateways.

When you shift the flanges to the inside of the wheels, with clearance, and measure over those to get gauge, it's not as surprising that you get an odd fraction.

The two-horse-chariot is a fun meme, but it shouldn't be thought of as actual industrial history.

[tomikawaTT]

Why are the rails 56 1/2 inches apart?

Probably because George Stephenson chose that gauge for the Stockton and Darlington back in 1830.  Stephenson went on to manufacture locomotives to 'Standard' gauge for the British Isles, the Continent and 'The Colonies' (US and Canada.)

Why?  Because Stephenson had worked at a colliery with tracks gauged 56 inches.  He freed up the gauge by 1/2 inch since the Stockton and Darlington would be running longer wheelbase rolling stock.  (Brunel derided Stephenson's 'Standard' gauge as, "Mine cart gauge," and built his own railroad to 7 foot 1/4 inch gauge.)

So, why was that colliery using that gauge?  GOOD question.

Chuck

[M636C]

When I visited Rome in 1974, I was amused to note that the tramcars were lettered "SPQR".

However, the horse width story of gauge selection is generally regarded as an urban myth.

M636C

[Firelock76]

Don't take EVERYTHING I say here so seriously! 

When I'm serious, believe me, you'll know it.

As far as the other horse's patootie, let me quote the fictional Pontius Pilate from "Ben Hur"...

"Where there is greatness, either great government or great feeling, error also is great."

Fiction, but it makes sense.

[RME]

Firelock76

And as long as I'm at it... Senatus Populus Que Romanus!

If you're going to be at it, do it as the Romans would.  "Populusque" is one word: the additive suffix (technically it's an enclitic particle, but that sounds vaguely non-family-friendly) meaning 'and' in the sense of 'thoroughly together with'.

Why not try for INRI, a phrase from perhaps the greatest historical Roman supposed horse's ass of all? ...And it's even the right time of year!

[Firelock76]

Ave Caesar!  Roma aeterna est!

And as long as I'm at it...

Senatus Populus Que Romanus!

[samfp1943]

And on another note: "...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 a horse's ass.

 

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!

 

Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything.

Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?"  Steve

 

It might also be mentioned that that

Cascade Tunnel, "...one of the longest railroad tunnels in the United States, located in central Washington about 60 miles (100 km) east of Seattle. It carries a line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad through the Cascade Range between Berne (on the east) and Scenic. It is 41,078 feet (7.8 miles [12.5 km]) long. Constructed from 1925 to 1929..."  Also must pass most of the American- made domestic aircraft fleet. prior to their first flight.  The 737,and its varients, must all travel to Washington state from Kansas via that same BNSF RR.

 

Those same aircraft are also capable of lifting a large number of those same

So it seems anyway we travel, Railroad, Airplane, or Chariot. we are captive to some horse's posterior!

 {and a tip of the hat to Steve, and his sister!}

 

 

[steve24944]

Don't know if this has been posted before.  My sister sent me this, thought I would share it.

 

 

 

Railroad gauge

 

 

Fascinating Stuff . . .

 

Railroad Tracks

 

The U.S. 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 England, and English expatriates designed the U.S. Railroads.

 

Why did the English 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 old, long distance roads in England, 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 England) 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.

 

In other words, bureaucracies live forever. 

 

So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or 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.

 

 

 

Now, the twist to the story:

 

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that 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 bit larger, 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 a horse's ass.

 

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!

 

Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything.

Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?

 

Steve