Re: (erielack) Re: EL Mail List Digest V3 #2356

["Tim Stuy" <njmidland_@_verizon.net>]

So then how did the Erie end up with 6 foot gauge? Big horses?

Tim

On 4/20/07, Bill K. <pontiac_@_dreamscape.com> wrote:
>
>
> FWIW, as per a Paul Harvey "The Rest of the Story" the reason it's 4' 8
> 1/2"
> was simply because that's just a tad wider than the rearends of two horses
> standing side by side.   In other words, it was more the horse's anatomy
> that led to the dimension, than any conscious decision on any person's
> part.
>
> Coincedentally, this would be a team of horses; so 4 foot 8 1/2" is
> literally a "team track" -
>
> It seems reasonable that the earliest trains would be built to the gauge
> of
> the same cart tracks left by the Romans and still used by the people of
> the
> later time, both for ease in conversion of a road to rails, and to allow
> the
> use of standard carriages as cars.
>
>
> And given the management actions of some railroads to this very day, it
> could probably be argued you'll still find at least a couple horse's
> rearends between the rails -
>
>
>
> Bill K.
>
>


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