Track Gauge In The United States
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Track Gauge In The United States
Originally, various track gauges were used in the United States. Some railways, primarily in the northeast, used standard gauge of ; others used gauges ranging from to . As a general rule, southern railroads were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly , while northern railroads that were not standard-gauge tended to be narrow-gauge. The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1863 specified standard gauge. Notable exceptions were the railroads that predominated in the first part of the 19th century in New York State, and the lines centered on Portland, Maine. Problems began as soon as lines began to meet, and standard gauge was adopted in much of the northeastern U.S. Standard gauge had spread widely across the country by the late 19th century except in some parts of the South; it was adopted there in a two-day changeover on May 31-June 1, 1886. Today, standard gauge is used almost everywhere in the U.S. Non-standard gauges remain in use only for some municipal and regional mass trans ...
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Track Gauge
In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) 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. The term derives from the metal bar, or gauge, that is used to ensure the distance between the rails is correct. Railways also deploy two other gauges to ensure compliance with a required standard. A '' loading gauge'' is a two-dimensional profile that encompasses a cross-section of the track, a rail vehicle and a maximum-sized load: all rail vehicles and their loads must be contained in the corresponding envelope. A ''structure gauge'' specifies the outline into which structures (bridges, platforms, lineside equipment etc.) must not encroach. Uses of the term The most common use of the term "track gauge" refers to the ...
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5 Ft 6 In Gauge Railway
, a broad gauge, is the track gauge used in India, Pakistan, western Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART in San Francisco, United States. In North America, it is called Indian Gauge, Provincial, Portland, or Texas gauge. In Argentina, it is known as "trocha ancha" (Spanish for ''broad gauge''). In the Indian subcontinent it is simply known as "broad gauge". Elsewhere it is known as Indian gauge. It is the widest gauge in regular passenger use anywhere in the world. Asia India In India, the initial freight railway lines were built using standard gauge. In the 1850s, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway adopted the gauge of for the first passenger railway in India between Bori Bunder and Thane.Indian Railways: Some Fascinating Facts“Train Atlas” ''Train Atlas'', Indian Railways, 2003 This was then adopted as the standard for the nationwide network. Indian Railways today predominantly operates on broad gauge. Most of the metre gauge and narrow gauge railways ...
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United Railways And Electric Company
The United Railways and Electric Company was a street railway company in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area of the U.S. state of Maryland from 1899 to 1935. In 1900, the company built the Power Plant in Baltimore's Inner Harbor to provide electrical power to the system. The system suffered extensive damage during the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, but the company rebuilt under the supervision of its president, John Mifflin Hood. United Railways declared bankruptcy in 1933. The company was reorganized in 1935 as the Baltimore Transit Company. In 1970 the transit company was absorbed into the Maryland Transit Administration, a public agency. List of streetcar lines The date that the line was replaced with a bus or abandoned (the day after the last full day of streetcar operation) is shown. ;Radiating from downtown in a clockwise order * Falls Road Line: April 24, 1949 (ca. 1914 along Falls Road south of 36th Street) * Roland Park Line: April 14, 1940 * Lakeside Line: January 29, 1950 ...
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History Of MTA Maryland
The Maryland Transit Administration was originally known as the Baltimore Metropolitan Transit Authority, then the Maryland Mass Transit Administration before it changed to its current name in October 2001. The MTA took over the operations of the old Baltimore Transit Company on April 30, 1970. Many routes of the agency's current bus lines are based on the original streetcars operated by the Baltimore Transit Company and its parent companies between the 1890s and 1960s. All of these routes were ultimately converted to rubber tire bus operations, and many were consolidated, extended into newly developed areas, or otherwise reconfigured to keep up with the ridership demands of the times. Additional routes and extensions were added in later years to serve newly developed communities and to feed into Metro and Light Rail stations. With the growth in popularity of the private automobile during the 20th century, streetcar and bus ridership declined, and the needs for public transport ...
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Baltimore Streetcar Museum
The Baltimore Streetcar Museum (BSM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum. It is located at 1911 Falls Road ( MD 25) in Baltimore, Maryland. The museum is dedicated to preserving Baltimore's public transportation history, especially the streetcar era. Exhibits and displays Operating streetcars During public operations, the Baltimore Streetcar Museum offers rides to visitors on various streetcars including: Car #264 United Railways and Electric Company convertible model built in 1900 by the Brownell Car Company. The car has hand brakes only. Car #4533 United Railways and Electric Company One-Man Safety model, built as a handbrake two-man car in 1904 by J. G. Brill Company, rebuilt by UR&E as a one-man safety car in 1924, rebuilt again by BTCo as a Company rail conductivity testing car and renumbered 3550, lasting in service until 1963; Returned to its 1924 appearance in a recent Museum rebuilding. Car #6119 United Railways and Electric Company Peter Witt streetcar model, bui ...
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Double-track Railway
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lines were built as double-track because of the difficulty of co-ordinating operations before the invention of the telegraph. The lines also tended to be busy enough to be beyond the capacity of a single track. In the early days the Board of Trade did not consider any single-track railway line to be complete. In the earliest days of railways in the United States most lines were built as single-track for reasons of cost, and very inefficient timetable working systems were used to prevent head-on collisions on single lines. This improved with the development of the telegraph and the train order system. Operation Handedness In any given country, rail traffic generally runs to one side of a double-track line, not always the same side as ...
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Rapid Transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be called a subway, tube, or underground. Unlike buses or trams, rapid transit systems are railways (usually electric railway, electric) that operate on an exclusive right-of-way (transportation), right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles, and which is often grade-separated in tunnels or on elevated railways. Modern services on rapid transit systems are provided on designated lines between rapid transit station, stations typically using electric multiple units on rail tracks, although some systems use guided rubber tires, magnetic levitation (''maglev''), or monorail. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains, requiring custom-made trains in order to minimize gaps between train a ...
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San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Governments to include the nine counties that border the aforementioned estuaries: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, and San Francisco. Other definitions may be either smaller or larger, and may include neighboring counties that do not border the bay such as Santa Cruz and San Benito (more often included in the Central Coast regions); or San Joaquin, Merced, and Stanislaus (more often included in the Central Valley). The core cities of the Bay Area are San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Home to approximately 7.76 million people, Northern California's nine-county Bay Area contains many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by a comp ...
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Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses diesel multiple-unit trains and a automated guideway transit line to the Oakland International Airport. With an average of weekday passengers as of and annual passengers in , BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States. BART is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District which formed in 1957. The initial system opened in stages from 1972 to 1974. The system was extended most recently in 2020, when Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José stations opened as part of the Silicon Valley BART extension in partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Services BART serves large portions of its three member counties – San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa ...
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Texas And New Orleans Railroad
The Texas and New Orleans Railroad was a railroad in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Location The Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad was a partly double-track, standard-gauge, steam railroad, situated entirely within the Louisiana, State of Louisiana. The main line extended from Algiers, New Orleans, Algiers, on the Mississippi River opposite New Orleans, to Lafayette, Louisiana, Lafayette, where it connected with the line of the Louisiana Western Railroad Company. It formed an important link in the through route of the Southern Pacific Company between New Orleans and San Francisco. The principal branch lines extended from Lafayette to the Mississippi River opposite Baton Rouge, from Lafayette to Cheneyville, Louisiana, Cheneyville, from Breaux Bridge to Port Barre, from Breaux Bridge to Cade, Louisiana, Cade, and from Thibodaux, Louisiana, Thibodaux Junct ...
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New Orleans, Opelousas And Great Western Railroad
The New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad (NOO&GW) was chartered in 1852. Construction began at Algiers, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, in late 1852. By 1857, the track had reached Brashear (now Morgan City) on Berwick Bay, and this remained the end of the line for over 20 years. The NOO&GW was built to the " Texas gauge" of , the only such railroad in the New Orleans area to use that gauge; the line was converted to in 1872. In 1869, steamship operator Charles Morgan bought the NOO&GW and began operating it as owner. In 1878 he organized his railroad property as Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company,Warren, p. xix, 30, 46, and 48. and it eventually became part of the Southern Pacific Company's main line. The line is currently owned and operated by BNSF. Leadership From the establishment of the company in 1852 until 1862, Benjamin Flanders (later Reconstruction Governor of Louisiana and Mayor of New Orleans) was the Secretary ...
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Portland Company
The Portland Company was established 10 November 1846 by John A. Poor and Norris Locomotive Works engineer Septimus Norris as a locomotive foundry to build railroad equipment for the adjacent Portland terminus of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad connection between Portland, Maine and Montreal. The shops opened for business in October, 1847. Its first locomotive, the Augusta, emerged from the shops in July 1848 for delivery to the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth (later part of the Boston and Maine Railroad). Over the next several decades, the Company produced in its Fore Street facilities over 600 steam locomotives as well as 160 merchant and naval vessels, railcars, construction equipment, Knox automobiles, and the like. Portland Company built the engines of the civil war side-wheel gunboats and .Switzer, November 1964, p.85 Taking into account its other products, the Company could lay claim to being one of the leading medium-to-heavy steel manufacturers in New England. The ...
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