Unknown_Ladder t1_iyjvaba wrote on December 1, 2022 at 10:53 PM

Reply to comment by jazzman23uk in TIL that the southern United States converted all 11,500+ miles of its railroads from broad gauge (5 ft/1.524 m) to nearly-standard gauge (4 ft 9 in/1.448 m) in just 36 hours, starting on May 31, 1886 by 1859

Broad rail gauges offer the advantage of higher speed and weight capacity. it made sense for Russia to establish a broad gauge due to it being a big country with a spread out population where speed was more important. I think that's also why the south had a bigger gauge since the south is more spread out.

jazzman23uk t1_iyjxt5f wrote on December 1, 2022 at 11:11 PM

I mean, you're not wrong, but China isn't exactly small... And China currently has the world's fastest train. South Africa uses tiny 3'6" tracks. Even the Japanese bullet trains use a standard 4'8" gauge somehow.

Britain did have the 'true' Broad Gauge railway network for GWR, being the good ol' 7'1/2", which didn't get adopted despite Britain being entirely dependent on the rail network back then. Things would've been a lot more comfortable if we'd gone the broad gauge route