Railways with a
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 d ...
of fall within the category of
broad gauge railway
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
s. , they were extant in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
History
600 BC
:The
Diolkos
The Diolkos (, from the Greek , "across", and , "portage machine") was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The shortcut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the ...
(Δίολκος) across the
Isthmus of Corinth
The Isthmus of Corinth (Greek: Ισθμός της Κορίνθου) is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word "isthmus" comes from the Ancien ...
in Greece – a grooved paved trackway – was constructed with an average gauge of .
1840
: The
Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway
The Grand Duchy of Baden was an independent state in what is now southwestern Germany until the creation of the German Empire in 1871. It had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische ...
was constructed in 1840-1851 to gauge before being
converted to in 1854–1855.
1843
: The
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...
, after investigating a dispute caused by diverse gauges, recommended the use of in Ireland.
1846
: The
Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846
The Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vic. c.57) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that was designed to standardise railway tracks. It achieved royal assent on 18 August 1846, during the reign of Queen Victoria of ...
made mandatory throughout all of Ireland.
1847
: The
Swiss Northern Railway
The Swiss Northern Railway (German: ''Schweizerische Nordbahn'', SNB), informally known as the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn'', opened the first railway line within Switzerland in 1847, the Zürich–Baden line. This followed the extension of a Fre ...
was opened as a line and converted to in 1854.
1854
: The first Australian railway to operate steam-powered freight and passenger services,
Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company
The Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company was a railway company in Victoria, Australia. The company was incorporated on 20 January 1853 to build the line from Melbourne to the port of Sandridge, now Port Melbourne.
The proposal met ...
, was built as a line.
1858
: The first Brazilian railway was opened: the
Companhia de Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II.
1863
: The
Canterbury Railway in New Zealand was built in . It was converted to in 1876.
Nomenclature
* In the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, the gauge is known as Irish gauge. () In Ireland it is also common to hear it referred to as "standard gauge" when distinguishing it from the various
3 ft gauge railways of the
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
.
* In Australia, where the states of Victoria and South Australia have this gauge (as did Tasmania in the 19th century), it is known as broad gauge.
* In Brazil, the gauge is mainly known as broad gauge (), but occasionally as Irish gauge ().
Installations
Similar gauges
The
Pennsylvania trolley gauges of and are similar to this gauge, but incompatible. There is also a
gauge. See:
Track gauge in Ireland
The track gauge adopted by the mainline railways in Ireland is . This unusually broad track gauge is otherwise found only in Australia (where it was introduced by the Irish railway engineer F. W. Sheilds), in the states of Victoria, southern New ...
.
Locomotives
![Steam train leaving Great Victoria Street station - 1975 (geograph 3393960)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Steam_train_leaving_Great_Victoria_Street_station_-_1975_%28geograph_3393960%29.jpg)
Before the advent of diesel and electric traction, one of the advantages of the broader Irish gauge compared to was that more space between steam locomotive
frames allows for a bigger firebox, enabling generation of more steam.
See also
*
Track gauge in Australia
Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent for over 150 years. , there are of narrow-gauge railways, of standard gauge railway ...
References
{{Navbox track gauge
Track gauges by name