Thanks to everyone for the tremendous response to our Tuesday blog post, Continuities. If you missed it, you can view the post by clicking here.
In continuing with our theme of "continuities" from our last post, here's another continuity that you might not have noticed.
Track Gauge
 |
| Image from Quora |
Gauge in this context refers to the distance between the railroad track rails (see the diagram above.) In North America, all railroads share the same track gauge (exactly four feet, eight and one half inches - known as STANDARD GAUGE) to allow for easy interchange of railcars.
Street car networks across the US occasionally adopted their own track gauge - Baltimore streetcars, for example, operated on five feet, four and one half inch gauge.
Street cars in Washington DC operated on Standard Gauge track, 4' 8.5" between rails.
At the Trolley Museum, our track is Standard Gauge - any streetcar we acquire that does not have trucks (the wheel sets underneath the car) made for standard gauge operation requires replacing the trucks with ones compatible with our railroad.
 |
| Photo taken with necessary safety precautions in place - as a reminder, walking on railroad tracks (anywhere in the country) is considered trespassing and illegal, punishable by citation and/or arrest in accordance with local law. |
We have much more great content schedule for publication - be sure to subscribe to get our posts delivered right to your email inbox. Use the subscription box on the left of this page, or at the bottom.
Thanks for your support!