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4 ft 8 in gauge railways
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4 ft 8 in gauge railways are railways with a track gauge of 4 ft 8 in / 1,422 mm. This gauge is 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) less than 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge The first such railways were the Killingworth Railway[1][2] and the Stockton and Darlington Railway [note 1]
Similar gauges
- The Huddersfield Corporation Tramways, 4 ft 7+3⁄4 in (1,416 mm), the gauge is 3⁄4 inch (19 mm) less than 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
- The Glasgow Corporation Tramways, 4 ft 7+3⁄4 in (1,416 mm)
- The Washington Metro 4 ft 8+1⁄4 in (1,429 mm), the gauge is 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) less than 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
- The trams in Nuremberg for one time nominally used 1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in), the gauge is 1⁄8 inch (3 mm) less than 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
- The MTR uses 1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in) on most lines.
- The Bucharest Metro uses 1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in)
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Railways
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See also
Notes
- Smiles (1904, p. 160) states that early tramroads had rails 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm) apart, but Tomlinson (1915, pp. 82–83) challenges this, stating that the most common gauge of the early tramroads and waggonways was about 4 ft (1,219 mm), and some, such as the Wylam waggonway, had the rails 5 ft (1,524 mm) apart. The gauge of the S&DR was given in early documents as 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm), but the distance between the rails was later measured as 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), and this became the standard gauge used by 60 per cent of railways worldwide. The difference of 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) is a mystery.[3][4]
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References
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