stimac@tymix.UUCP (Michael Stimac) (02/12/86)
A poster asked recently why, if British engineers were involved, the gauge of certain railroads was not the same as British gauge. Leaving aside the over-simplification of assuming that all RRs in a given country are of the same gauge, the answer to this question is that choosing the gauge of a railroad to be built is both an engineering and financial decision, not a mere convention to be carried over from the last railroad that was built. Basically, the trade-off is that narrow gauge railroads are less expensive in first cost, while wider gauge railroads provide more efficient transportation over the long-run. This is why some railroads were originally built to a narrow gauge, and then subsequently converted to "standard" gauge, as the revenues and profitability grew. Choosing the gauge is just one of many financial/engineering trade-offs that have to be made when building a railroad. Choice of route is another big one. The trade-off decision extends to such seemingly minor matters as tie material or 4 vs. 6-axle locomotives. If anyone is interested in an easy to read exposition of railroad design and planning, I recommend the book "The Railroad, what it is and what it does", by John Armstrong. Fine reading for anyone who is interested in how railroads really work. John explains it all much better than I can. Michael Stimac ...hplabs!oliveb!tymix!stimac
rck@ihuxx.UUCP (Kukuk) (02/14/86)
Do any of the net.railroad readers have any experince with
LGB scale ("Gauge 1") live steam locomotives? I'm interested
in learning about this hobby. Please reply by mail.
Thanks,
Ron Kukuk