# Modern Engineering Design Principles



## SifuPhil (Dec 27, 2013)

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4  feet 8.5 inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge  used? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and the US  railroads were built by English expatriates.


 Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail  lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways,  and that’s the gauge they used.


 Why did ‘they’ use that gauge then? Because the people who built the  tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building  wagons, which used that wheel spacing.


 Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?  Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagon wheels would  break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that’s  the spacing of the wheel ruts.


 So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in  Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The  roads have been used ever since.


 And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for  fear of destroying their wagon wheels and wagons, were first made by  Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for, or by Imperial  Rome, they were all alike in the matter of 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 war chariot.


 Specifications and bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you  are handed a specification and wonder what horse’s rear end came up with  it, you may be exactly right-because the Imperial Roman war chariots  were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war  horses.


 Now the twist to the story… There’s an interesting extension to the  story about railroad gauges and horses’ behinds. When we see a Space  Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets  attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket  boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at  Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make  them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the  factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory had to  run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that  tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the  railroad track is about as wide as two horses behinds.


 So, the major design feature of what is arguably the world’s most  advanced transportation system was determined by the width of a couple  of horses’ asses.


Thanks to Complexify.com


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## Ozarkgal (Dec 27, 2013)

What breed of horses were they using..makes a difference in the width of that behind.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 27, 2013)

Ozarkgal said:


> What breed of horses were they using..makes a difference in the width of that behind.



A quick search tells me that Friesians were the breed of choice for pulling chariots, but that Persians were used for saddle and Spanish breeds for hauling.

Friesian ... beautiful beast!


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## Diwundrin (Dec 27, 2013)

That is without doubt the most educational thing I've read in yonks!   It is just so sensible! No really!  
The Sydney CBD looks like a rat's nest on a map because all the major city streets were laid out along the bullock dray tracks which naturally followed the easiest contours.  So that railway thing?  Brilliant!

We had at least 3 different gauges here, the original, in NSW, was 4'8.5" same as yours and the UK but Vic. went wider, 5' something and Qld went narrow gauge 3' something.  I can remember when everyone had to change trains at the borders.Then they devised some system of changing the bogies on freighters so they didn't have to unload them but that was a tad before my time.  

We finally got over our parochial differences and went 'standard gauge' for the interstate connections at least.  So Qld and Victoria finally caved in to the realisation that NSW's horses arses were the optimum to aspire to.


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## Pappy (Dec 27, 2013)

Beautiful horse Phil....

Horse show: A lot of horses showing off their asses to a lot of horses asses showing off their horses.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 27, 2013)

I remember the narrow-gauge thing here in the US as well, I think it was used in mining areas. The only reason I _do_ remember it is because of my model railroading days.


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## That Guy (Dec 27, 2013)




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## SifuPhil (Dec 27, 2013)

Awww ... choo-choo go boom!


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## Diwundrin (Dec 27, 2013)

Yeah that happened a lot on the narrow gauge. 



Love the pic.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 27, 2013)

And of course the famous 1895 crash in Paris ...


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## Diwundrin (Dec 27, 2013)

OH yes, I have that one 'archived' too. 



Train wrecks figured large in my life.


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## dbeyat45 (Dec 27, 2013)

Diwundrin said:


> That is without doubt the most educational thing I've read in yonks!   It is just so sensible! No really!
> [ Snip ]


 .... and complete crap, like most things that get around on the Internet.


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## Ozarkgal (Dec 27, 2013)

*Pappy*:  





> Horse show: A lot of horses showing off their asses to a lot of horses asses showing off their horses.



LOL...Used to be one of my favorite sayings when I was showing horses.


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## Diwundrin (Dec 27, 2013)

dbeyat45 said:


> .... and complete crap, like most things that get around on the Internet.



:tongue:Never let that get in the way of a good yarn.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 28, 2013)

Diwundrin said:


> :tongue:Never let that get in the way of a good yarn.



Some people are SO literal ... layful:


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## Katybug (Dec 28, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> A quick search tells me that Friesians were the breed of choice for pulling chariots, but that Persians were used for saddle and Spanish breeds for hauling.
> 
> Friesian ... beautiful beast!
> 
> View attachment 4066



That is one of the most beautiful animals I've ever seen.  What a bundle that one would cost in today's market!


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## SifuPhil (Dec 28, 2013)

Katybug said:


> That is one of the most beautiful animals I've ever seen.  What a bundle that one would cost in today's market!



I think it's prettier than the Clydes, but then I'm partial to animals with black hair or fur.  

Here's an idea of what some of the asking prices are ...


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## That Guy (Dec 28, 2013)




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## Diwundrin (Dec 28, 2013)

That Guy said:


>




I think I've worked with the people who designed that one TG. 




One of the great iconic moments of moviedom has to be this one from Ladyhawke.
That Friesian high steppin' through the cathedral, a knockout scene.


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