4 ft 8 in gauge railways

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4 ft 8 in gauge railways are railways with a track gauge of 4 ft 8 in / 1,422 mm. This gauge is 12 inch (13 mm) less than 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge The first such railways were the Killingworth Railway[1][2] and the Stockton and Darlington Railway [note 1]

Similar gauges

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Railways

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Country / territory System / RR name Notes
  Netherlands Trams in Amsterdam In operation. Converted to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) between 1900 and 1906
  New Zealand Trams in Dunedin Defunct
  UK Clarence Railway Became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1865
Hetton colliery railway Closed in 1959[5]
Killingworth Colliery railway
Killingworth Railway
Killingworth tramway
Killingworth wagonway
Four different names for the same line. Defunct
Stockton and Darlington Railway Became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1863
  USA Centreville Military Railroad Defunct
Green Mountain Cog Railway
Los Angeles and Independence Railroad
Manassas Gap Railroad
Montgomery and West Point Railroad
Mount Washington Cog Railway In operation
New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad Became the St. Charles Streetcar Line,[6] converted to 5 ft 2+12 in (1,588 mm)
North Carolina Railroad
Pontchartrain Railroad
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad
Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad
Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad
West Feliciana Railroad
Western North Carolina Railroad
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Smiles (1904, p. 160) states that early tramroads had rails 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm) apart, but Tomlinson (1915, pp. 82–83) challenges this, stating that the most common gauge of the early tramroads and waggonways was about 4 ft (1,219 mm), and some, such as the Wylam waggonway, had the rails 5 ft (1,524 mm) apart. The gauge of the S&DR was given in early documents as 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm), but the distance between the rails was later measured as 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm), and this became the standard gauge used by 60 per cent of railways worldwide. The difference of 12 inch (13 mm) is a mystery.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ Allen 1974, p. 20.
  2. ^ The Rocket Men, by Robin Jones, p33; Mortons Media Group.
  3. ^ Davis, Hunter (1975). George Stephenson: A Biographical Study of the Father of Railways. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 75. ISBN 0-297-76934-0.
  4. ^ "Robert Stephenson (1803–1859)". Network Rail. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  5. ^ Allen, G. Freeman (December 1959). "Talking of trains: First mineral railway closed". Trains Illustrated. Hampton Court: Ian Allan.
  6. ^ Cook 2005, p. 136.

Sources

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