Any answers for this? How is the distance between two rails of a train is decided and fixed?

Answer 1

I saw this on the discovery channel so i decided to work at it.....

There are two main "gauges", narrow and standard. Standard is used throughout the US. Narrow gauge became popular in Europe and Africa - mainly due to mountains. Narrow gauge can withstand sharper turns, which are needed to snake up and down the hills.



Roman military chariots were built exactly wide enough to accomodate 2 horses. The chariot wheels created ruts in the Roman roads, and anyone who did not want to destroy their own personal vehicle made their wheels the same distance apart as those on the military chariots.

One of the few immortal things in this life- a bureaucracy (lol). The same jigs used for building personal vehicles in Roman times continued to be used throughout history. This way everyone's wheels fit into the ruts in the roads, preventing constantly damaging/destroying people's wagons, carts, etc.

The same guys that built wagons were then asked to build rail cars... and the railroad that went with them. They used the same jigs for the rail cars as they'd been using for wagons....

So now you know- The distance between the rails of a railroad is the same width as two Roman horses' back-sides

Answer 2

I think it has something to do with bureaucracies and Roman horses....

Roman military chariots were built exactly wide enough to accomodate 2 horses. The chariot wheels created ruts in the Roman roads, and anyone who did not want to destroy their own personal vehicle made their wheels the same distance apart as those on the military chariots.

One of the few immortal things in this life- a bureaucracy (lol). The same jigs used for building personal vehicles in Roman times continued to be used throughout history. This way everyone's wheels fit into the ruts in the roads, preventing constantly damaging/destroying people's wagons, carts, etc.

The same guys that built wagons were then asked to build rail cars... and the railroad that went with them. They used the same jigs for the rail cars as they'd been using for wagons....

So now you know- The distance between the rails of a railroad is the same width as two Roman horses' back-sides

Answer 3

There are two main "gauges", narrow and standard. Standard is used throughout the US. Narrow gauge became popular in Europe and Africa - mainly due to mountains. Narrow gauge can withstand sharper turns, which are needed to snake up and down the hills.