why is the space between rails of the railway track 4ft and 8.5 inches?

Answer 1

Because that is the standard gauge most, if not all, american railroads use. Out in the southwestern part of this country, a narrow gauge of three feet is used so that the trains can take sharp curves, and can travers on mountainous terrain.

Answer 2

They are normally on curves in order to keep the wheel flanges from slipping and causing a derailment. In some countries with mixed gauge railways, the standard gauge being five feet, eight & a half inches the third rail is used by narrow gauge trains. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I've also read that it was the space between the wheels of a single horse drawn roman chariot. Because so my of theses tracks crossed England and other countries as well it followed that they used the same distance for their carriage roads and eventually RR tracks as well. The fact that the Russian tracks are different from the rest of Europe slowed the Hitler's advance into Russia

Answer 4

I have read that it dates back to the width of the wheel spacing of the Roman chariots of some such thing, but I'm not sure that is correct. It is probably some silly British standard that was developed hundreds of years ago and is still followed today. Sort of like the number of square feet in an acre - 43,560. Where did that oddball number come from?

Answer 5

Hello, I'm a railroad maintance worker, when you lay a tape measure, from side to side, on the rail the correct measurement is 56-1/2 inches, anything over this could cause a derail, the axles of the train are in these measurements, anything bigger, or smaller will cause the train to derail

Answer 6

Because the wheels on that train are 4 feet 8.5 inches apart.

Answer 7

I heard that it started with the distance apart of the trails of 2 draft animals pulling carts in the roman empire.

Answer 8

It depends on what country you are in. Many have different widths