![]() ![]() His designs were so successful that they became the standard, and when the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened in 1825, it used his locomotives, with the same gauge as the Killingworth line, 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm). Locomotives were being developed in the first decades of the 19th century they took various forms, but George Stephenson developed a successful locomotive on the Killingworth Wagonway, where he worked. The Arbroath and Forfar Railway opened in 1838 with a gauge of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm), and the Ulster Railway of 1839 used 6 ft 2 in ( 1,880 mm). Thus, the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway (1826) in the West of Scotland used 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm) the Dundee and Newtyle Railway (1831) in the north-east of Scotland adopted 4 ft 6 + 1⁄ 2 in ( 1,384 mm) the Redruth and Chasewater Railway (1825) in Cornwall chose 4 ft ( 1,219 mm). ![]() Railways were still seen as local concerns: there was no appreciation of a future connection to other lines, and selection of the track gauge was still a pragmatic decision based on local requirements and prejudices, and probably determined by existing local designs of (road) vehicles. Įdge rails required a close match between rail spacing and the configuration of the wheelsets, and the importance of the gauge was reinforced. A considerable progressive step was made when cast iron edge rails were first employed these had the major axis of the rail section configured vertically, giving a much stronger section to resist bending forces, and this was further improved when fish-belly rails were introduced. The Penydarren Tramroad probably carried the first journey by a locomotive, in 1804, and it was successful for the locomotive, but unsuccessful for the track: the plates were not strong enough to carry its weight. įish-belly cast-iron rails from the Cromford and High Peak Railway The Penydarren Tramroad of 1802 in South Wales, a plateway, spaced these at 4 ft 4 in ( 1,321 mm) over the outside of the upstands. The wagons were built to a consistent pattern and the track would be made to suit the needs of the horses and wagons: the gauge was more critical. Īs the guidance of the wagons was improved, short strings of wagons could be connected and pulled by teams of horses, and the track could be extended from the immediate vicinity of the mine or quarry, typically to a navigable waterway. Flanged wheels eventually became universal, and the spacing between the rails had to be compatible with that of the wagon wheels. In some localities, the plates were made L-shaped, with the vertical part of the L guiding the wheels this is generally referred to as a "plateway". Timber rails wore rapidly: later, flat cast-iron plates were provided to limit the wear. Initially the wagons were guided by human muscle power subsequently by various mechanical methods. The earliest form of railway was a wooden wagonway, along which single wagons were manhandled, almost always in or from a mine or quarry. See also: Permanent way (history), Wagonway, and Plateway Deriving from the name of the bar, the distance between these rails is also referred to as the track gauge. The term derives from the "gauge", a metal bar with a precisely positioned lug at each end that track crews use to ensure the actual distance between the rails lies within tolerances of a prescribed standard: on curves, for example, the spacing is wider than normal. The most common use of the term "track gauge" refers to the transverse distance between the inside surfaces of the two load-bearing rails of a railway track, usually measured at 12.7 millimetres (0.50 inches) to 15.9 millimetres (0.63 inches) below the top of the rail head in order to clear worn corners and allow for rail heads having sloping sides. A structure gauge specifies the outline into which structures (bridges, platforms, lineside equipment etc.) must not encroach. 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. Railways also deploy two other gauges to ensure compliance with a required standard. The term derives from the metal bar, or gauge, that is used to ensure the distance between the rails is correct. Since many different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge differences often present a barrier to wider operation on railway networks. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track.
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