Ruts, Railroads, Rome, and Horse's Haunches
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Change is inevitable. We now travel cross country on high-speed trains which cover in a day, the kind of distance it would take a horse and cart weeks to achieve.
But how much have things actually changed? The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches which is an exceedingly odd number. So the question that immediately springs to the inquiring mind is "Why was that gauge used?", to which many people may give you the answer "How long is a piece of string?". This is a fatuous and silly answer, but, having read H2G2, and knowing exactly how long a piece of string is, they will then be forced (once told the exact length of a piece of string) to provide you with the following information:
It was because that's the way they built them in England, and the first U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates. "Ah" You say, "But why did the English build them like that?". Well that was because the first railways in Europe were designed and built by the same people who built the pre-rail tramlines, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who designed and built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building carriages, which used that same wheel spacing.
All that seems very reasonable and pragmatic, but why did the carriages use that odd wheel spacing? Well, when they tried to use any other spacing, the carriages were prone to breaking down on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.
So who was it who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions, and the roads have been used ever since. And the ruts?
The very first ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their carts, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were all made to exact specifications by Imperial Rome, they all had exactly the same wheel spacing.
Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.
But that last gnawing-at-the-back-of-your-cerebellum question still remains. Why did the design of the Roman army war chariots incorporate such a strange measurement for its wheelbase?
The answer is simply that Roman chariots were designed to be just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses! Which two war horses it was is lost in the mists of time, but their bottoms have been more important to the development of mankind than any two horses bottoms in history.
So when you sit in your "high-speed" train, which has been delayed for 6 hours, and wonder whether anything has changed since we were driving a horse and cart, you will know the answer. We're still stuck in the same rut we've been in for 2000 years!
But how much have things actually changed? The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches which is an exceedingly odd number. So the question that immediately springs to the inquiring mind is "Why was that gauge used?", to which many people may give you the answer "How long is a piece of string?". This is a fatuous and silly answer, but, having read H2G2, and knowing exactly how long a piece of string is, they will then be forced (once told the exact length of a piece of string) to provide you with the following information:
It was because that's the way they built them in England, and the first U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates. "Ah" You say, "But why did the English build them like that?". Well that was because the first railways in Europe were designed and built by the same people who built the pre-rail tramlines, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who designed and built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building carriages, which used that same wheel spacing.
All that seems very reasonable and pragmatic, but why did the carriages use that odd wheel spacing? Well, when they tried to use any other spacing, the carriages were prone to breaking down on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.
So who was it who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions, and the roads have been used ever since. And the ruts?
The very first ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their carts, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were all made to exact specifications by Imperial Rome, they all had exactly the same wheel spacing.
Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.
But that last gnawing-at-the-back-of-your-cerebellum question still remains. Why did the design of the Roman army war chariots incorporate such a strange measurement for its wheelbase?
The answer is simply that Roman chariots were designed to be just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses! Which two war horses it was is lost in the mists of time, but their bottoms have been more important to the development of mankind than any two horses bottoms in history.
So when you sit in your "high-speed" train, which has been delayed for 6 hours, and wonder whether anything has changed since we were driving a horse and cart, you will know the answer. We're still stuck in the same rut we've been in for 2000 years!
