Pdxrailtransit Wrote:
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> An article on the origins of Standard Gauge:
> [mesquitelocalnews.com]
> oad-design/
>
> I have read articles that are skeptical about this
> origin story though.

Total crap! Such misinformation has been perpetuated ever since the internet began, and maybe even prior to THAT.

The true fact of EXACTLY why "standard gauge" of today is 4' 81/2"; the first/original "Rail Road" laid down in England was on round log rails (think fences) with carriages pulled by horses or oxen. The rails were laid 5 feet apart, at the OUTSIDE edge, and all the wheels had the flanges on the OUTER EDGE of the wheel. Everything was working fine, until a slight curve was laid, and the animals suddenly could no longer pull the carriage through the curve! Now what???

Upon close examination the inventors discovered that the wheel flanges bound-up on the curve (remember that the flanges were on the OUTSIDE). Through experimentation, they discovered that if the wheels had the flanges on the INSIDE edge, then the curves could easily be negotiated. Since the Rail Road was already laid out, they sure hell didn't want to re-gauge the whole mess, so,,,,,,,,the carriage wheels were simply modified/made with the flanges on the INSIDE, and thus the track gauge was then 4 feet 8 and one-half inches from the INSIDE of the rails. Same as it is today.