http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp - Very interesting
Robert Stephenson built his early locomotives to simply match the gauge of the Liverpool & Manchester rail horse tram that payed him to built his steam engines, the gauge was pre-existing and the actual gauges of the horse tram varied from one mine location to another. When he got orders for railroads that were being built from scracth he simply specified that the locomotives would be built exactly the same way they were for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, same engine, same gauge since that was what he was set up to and use to building and that the RR builders would have to match thier gauge to his loco’s, they werent in much of a position to argue the point as there virtually no other real choices to get your engines from for those first few years after the Raintree Trials when everyone wanted their engine from Stephenson. When the earliest RR builders here in the US wanted engines they of course they also went to Stephenson, who also stipulated that his engines came in one gauge and they would have to build accordingly, which they did, this early standardization of construction , as he was simply making copies of his earliest 2-2-0 and 0-4-0 locomotives and didnt want to change anything major like the gauge. So the earliest British and American railroads were all built to the same standardized gauge, subsequest railroad builders simply followed suite as rolling stock was also being produces to meet the Stephenson gauge as it was then known. Once domestic production began here, and Stephensons rigid insistence was no longer a barrier you suddenly start seeing guages all over the place, Most major Northern railroads were already fairly established by the 1840’s when large scale domestic locomotive production really got going, so they tended to stay the Stephenson course, and new smaller branch railroads that bought up the older smaller locomotives second hand as the major cariers upgraded with larger more powerfull engines, of course they had to adher to the guage their new old engines were built to so it became a fairly self propogating gauge. It the South, it was another matter all together, some were built to the Stephenson standard as they picked up second hand engines, but for those that could afford to order new locomotives from Baldwin or Mason, it was anything they thought was better goes. as a result the gages down their ranged anywhere from 4’-8-1/2" to 5’ to 5’6", even in the North the Erie RR built to a whoping 6’ guage, by the Civil War it became such a mess all over the US that cars from one railroad very often could not be interchanged with any other railroad, this became a huge problem for US and Confederate supply forces as entire train loads had to be shifted from one gauge to another, it was tremendously slow and a great hinderence to moving goods in ahurry. The US Military RR agency adopted a rule that once a southern railroad (or large section) was captured and secured, they threw a road gang at it to move the rails to the northern standard most gauge, which was the Stephenson gauge, after the war the Congress eventually mandated that all US Class One carriers would be standardized to 4’-8-1/2" inches, then by a far margain the most common gauge, using the war experiences need to move good quickly during a time of war as reason. The whole “Battle of the Gauges” is much more complex then can be simply stated here, but makes for interesting reading
(http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/erie05.jpg)
Erie Broad Gauge
Rainhill Vic, it is. But you are excused: I make mistakes about things American lol
In germany the guage is 4’ 8 5/8".
Paul
In Germany the gauge is actually 1435mm - that converts to four feet, eight and one half inches.
Where did your figure come from?
Mine came from the DBAG track manual.
tac
Standard gauge track is spaced at a nominal 4’ 8 1/2" (1435mm) over most of the world, including Western Europe. The term “nominal” is a key element.
In actual practice there is a very small probability of miles and miles of track being exactly 4’ 8 1/2" gauge. To ensure that the trains will stay on the track, tolerances have been developed and are part of the engineering specifications for prototype track. Here in the U.S. the Federal Railway Administration specifies tolerances based on service type and speed. As an example, for 60mph rated general service track the gauge is specified to be between 4’ 8" (1,422mm) and 4’ 9 1⁄2" (1,460mm). In this case a gauge of 4’ 8 5/8" (1438mm) could easily exist and still be acceptable.
The common way of specifying gauge ignores the tolerance question.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
tac Foley said:
In Germany the gauge is actually 1435mm - that converts to four feet, eight and one half inches.Where did your figure come from?
Mine came from the DBAG track manual.
tac
Mine came from a USA manual for RR construction for WW II! so that might mean the 1/8th " difference!
Paul
What’s an eighth inch among friends? :lol:
Vic, never let the truth get in the way of a great story! Go to your room 
Steve Featherkile said:
Vic, never let the truth get in the way of a great story! Go to your room
(http://www.picturesofbabies.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/crying-baby-photo.jpg)
Waaaah!! 
(http://www.picturesofbabies.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/crying-baby-photo.jpg)
Looks like the e-Trade baby had a bad day on Wall Street.
The first action by the U.S. Federal government to standardize the gauge of railroads was Presidential Executive Order issued by President Abraham Lincoln (for a gauge of five feet) & S. 483 37th Congress - Third Session; Jan. 24, 1863 (for a gauge of 4 ft. 8-1/2 in.)
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/stevec/Misc-Files/LincolnExOrder.jpg)
Cool
Thanks Steve
I knew of the standard gauge legislation but not of the first. Thanks