I had always taken the width of railroad track as a given. Never questioned them. After hearing the story about why they are as wide as they are, I was like, "Oh yeah. They are absurdly close together given that 15 ft high trains weighing thousands of tons ship good across the country over all kinds of crazy paths."
So, yeah. I does seem odd now that trains have a more narrow wheel base than a normal sports car, yet have a significantly higher center of gravity, among other things.
Anyway, this is why. Modern trains have a wheel base that is the same as the wheel base as the street cars in San Fran. The street cars in San Fran were imported from London, which were designed for the tracks in London. The tracks in London were set that distance because that was the distance of carriage wheels. Carriage wheels were designed that way because the roads that were left from when the Romans were in England had grooves that were that far apart. The roads had grooves that were that far apart because chariots had wheels that were that far apart.
And finally, Roman chariots had wheels that are that far apart because it is the approximate width of 2 horses asses next to each other.
So, trains have an absurdly narrow wheel base because that is the approximate width of 2 horses asses, side by side. Which dictated chariot design. And well over 1,000 years later we have giant locomotives moving goods around with a wheel base dictated by chariot design.
Is this true? I don't know for sure. But I trusted the person who told the story. This was in a radio interview. Not a story I was told personally.
So, yeah. I does seem odd now that trains have a more narrow wheel base than a normal sports car, yet have a significantly higher center of gravity, among other things.
Anyway, this is why. Modern trains have a wheel base that is the same as the wheel base as the street cars in San Fran. The street cars in San Fran were imported from London, which were designed for the tracks in London. The tracks in London were set that distance because that was the distance of carriage wheels. Carriage wheels were designed that way because the roads that were left from when the Romans were in England had grooves that were that far apart. The roads had grooves that were that far apart because chariots had wheels that were that far apart.
And finally, Roman chariots had wheels that are that far apart because it is the approximate width of 2 horses asses next to each other.
So, trains have an absurdly narrow wheel base because that is the approximate width of 2 horses asses, side by side. Which dictated chariot design. And well over 1,000 years later we have giant locomotives moving goods around with a wheel base dictated by chariot design.
Is this true? I don't know for sure. But I trusted the person who told the story. This was in a radio interview. Not a story I was told personally.
I learned something interesting...
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