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Railways with a railway track gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm) first appeared in the United Kingdom and the United States. This gauge became commonly known as "Russian gauge", because the government of the Russian Empire chose it in 1843. Former areas and states (such as Finland) of the Empire have inherited this standard. [1]
The Breitspurbahn (German pronunciation: [ˈbʁaɪtʃpuːɐ̯baːn], translation: broad-gauge railway) was a railway system planned and partly surveyed by the Nazi government of Germany. Its track gauge – the distance between the two running rails – was to be 3000 mm ( 9 ft 10 + 1 ⁄ 8 in ), more than twice that of the 1435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ...
Similar 600 mm (1 ft 11 + 5 ⁄ 8 in) gauge equipment, which was originally manufactured for the trench railways of World War I, was used on United States military bases in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, and Oklahoma through World War II; and sold as military surplus for earth-moving construction through the 1920s. [16] [17]
See 9 + 7 ⁄ 16 in (240 mm) gauge ridable miniature railways: 241 mm 9 + 1 ⁄ 2 in: See 9 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (241 mm) gauge ridable miniature railways: 260 mm 10 + 1 ⁄ 4 in: See 10 + 1 ⁄ 4 in (260 mm) gauge ridable miniature railways: 267 mm 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 in: England Beale Park miniature railway 305 mm 12 in: See 12 in (305 mm) gauge ridable ...
The gauge is set by the positioning of the cast-in fixings, so it is not a simple task to re-gauge existing track; it also creates problems with spot replacement of sleepers. Many sleepers were made with the reduced track gauge but 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) standard gauge versions have also been manufactured in more recent times. [27]
Russian and 5 ft gauge. 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in): former Soviet Union states; 1,524 mm (5 ft): Finland and Estonia (The difference is within tolerance limits, so it is possible to exchange trains between 1520 mm and 1524 mm networks without changes to the wheelsets, however sometimes issues like stuck rolling stock might occur.)
The American gauges converged, as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. Notably, all the 5 ft (1,524 mm) broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. [21] See Track gauge in the United States.
In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge differences often present a barrier to wider operation on railway networks.