Thye original railways in the north of England to the coal mines were 5 feet gauged to the outside of the rails. The rails were 2" wooden rails with an iron strap on the top. When the first locomotives were built that were to the 4'-8" gauge to match the wagons which were short 4 wheel wagons carrying coal from the mines to the port. As the locomotives got slightly larger and with 3 axles they had trouble getting around the corners without the flanges on the wheels binding. In some cases the gauge was widened to 4'-9" or 4'-8.5" to make it easier. At one time in England, 4'-8", 4'-8.5" and 4'-9" gauges were in use and Brunel on the Great Western Railway used a 7' gauge but the line to Bristol from London was fairly straight so did not cause any problems. Shifting goods from one wagons on one gauge to another was time-consuming and expensive and a parlimentary commission in 1848 decided that the only gauge to be used in England and Scotland was to be 4'-8.5". The Great Western did not complete the changeover until 1892! The Welsh railways used a lot of 2' gauge (more like 1'-11.5"). The Norwegian Narrow gauge railways in the 1860s used 3'-6" and these were copied to New Zealand, Ceylon, Japan, South Africa and Queensland in Australia. There were also 1 metre gauge in India, a private line in Norway. In Sweden there was a 43" gauge. Most of Europe following the English developments adopted the 4'-8.5" gauge though there were also 2 foot gauges in France and Sweden and some 2'5" gauge in Norway. The Russians used a 5 foot (or 5'-6") gauge. The Irish broad gauge was 5'-3" and this was initially used by the Canterbury Provincial Railways in New Zealand (they got the locomotives cheap) before the NZ government decision in 1870, following the consultants investigations of the experiences in Norway, that all future railways would be 3'-6" gauge. The 5'-3" rolling stock was sold to the State of Victoria in Australia who also used that gauge. The Denver and Rio Grand narrow gauge railway in the USA used a 3 foot gauge as did the isle of Man. Balwin Locomotive Works in the USA built locomotives for NZ in the 1880s which were their standard 3 foot gauge 4-8-0 locomotives re-gauged to 3'-6" to become the NZ Railways class T.
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Today's Featured Article - Women and Tractors - More Views From the Farmer's Wife - by Teri Burkholder. The top ten reasons why the judges wouldn't let you participate in the stock antique tractor pull: Hey, this is stock! It came with that V8 in it! That "R" on my tires stands for "really old" not radial! Blue gas? We thought it was a pretty color! What wire hooked to my throttle?
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