The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates designed the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.
Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?' , you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah
The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything...
I do hope this has been helpful !
Dougwe said
06:27 PM Mar 30, 2015
Thankyou so much for that vital piece of history and information. If I cash my knife and fork in over night I will have done so knowing that 4 feet 8.5 inches was history in the making. THANKYOU
Happywanderer said
06:49 PM Mar 30, 2015
I have to say I found this very interesting. Who would have thought afterall these years we are still being ruled by ancient times.
KFT said
07:15 PM Mar 30, 2015
Happywanderer wrote:
I have to say I found this very interesting. Who would have thought afterall these years we are still being ruled by ancient times.
you only have to take a look at how our politicians work out things like taxes to realise that the ancient past is alive and well in today's society.
am I still on topic there Dougwe?
bab600 said
09:26 PM Mar 30, 2015
Very interesting
But what happened in the old days 50's when we had to change trains at Albury
obviously some one study Roman history!!!!!
Regards Brian
ShortNorth said
10:29 PM Mar 30, 2015
Ahh Yes !!! The change at Albury - story I heard was the Victorians couldn't get normal horses, only very obese ones - so they changed to 5ft 3in to fit the 'fat-asred' horses
Gee fanks Rocky, glad I still have my knife and fork. It does all sound very good though so I will stick with the OP's description.
A bit like that diet where you eat a pie and sauce then wash down with a diet coke. The coke makes it healthy.
deverall11 said
02:23 PM Mar 31, 2015
KFT wrote:........
you only have to take a look at how our politicians work out things like taxes to realise that the ancient past is alive and well in today's society.....
Are you saying that our esteemed politicians are akin to a horse's ass? Ha Ha.
Horse's ass, village idiot, the list just goes on....and on...
Railroad tracks.
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates designed the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.
Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?' , you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah
The
engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything...
I do hope this has been helpful !
you only have to take a look at how our politicians work out things like taxes to realise that the ancient past is alive and well in today's society.
am I still on topic there Dougwe?
But what happened in the old days 50's when we had to change trains at Albury
obviously some one study Roman history!!!!!
Regards Brian
Ahh Yes !!! The change at Albury - story I heard was the Victorians couldn't get normal horses, only very obese ones - so they changed to 5ft 3in to fit the 'fat-asred' horses
Gday...
What an annoying wet blanket Rocky is
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp
Scroll down to the heading Origins - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_gauge
Cheers - John
A bit like that diet where you eat a pie and sauce then wash down with a diet coke. The coke makes it healthy.
Are you saying that our esteemed politicians are akin to a horse's ass? Ha Ha.
Horse's ass, village idiot, the list just goes on....and on...
Larry
Bugger someone always ruins a good story with the truth. Bet Rocky never worked for a newspaper