md@io.UUCP (Mark Dionne x5551) (05/18/89)
I recently came across a book about railroads which had the following
fascinating bit of "standards" history:
... By the middle 1880's, practically all the roads except
those in the South, were of the present standard gauge. The
southern roads were still five feet between rails.
It was decided to change the gauge of all southern roads to
standard, in one day. This remarkable piece of work was carried
out on a Sunday in May of 1886. For weeks beforehand, shops had
been busy pressing wheels in on the axles to the new and narrower
gauge, to have a supply of rolling stock which could run on the
new track as soon as it was ready. Finally, on the day set,
great numbers of gangs of track layers went to work at dawn.
Everywhere one rail was loosened, moved in three and one-half
inches, and spiked down in its new position. By dark, trains
from anywhere in the United States could operate over the tracks
in the South, and a free interchange of freight cars everywhere
was possible.
--Trains, Robert Selph Henry, Bobbs-Merrill, 1957, P.78.
Can anyone add any additional information or references?
--
...!mit-eddie!ileaf!md Mark Dionne, Interleaf
...!sun!sunne!ileaf!md Ten Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141
(617) 577-9813 x5551
--
...!mit-eddie!ileaf!md Mark Dionne, Interleaf
...!sun!sunne!ileaf!md Ten Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141
(617) 577-9813 x5551waddell@teraida.UUCP (Chris Waddell) (05/25/89)
I have always heard that the south used a different gauge because they didn't
want Yankee and later Union trains to be able to run on thier rails. Does any-
body know if this is true??
-Christoper Waddell
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