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koolaideprived t1_iyjxy49 wrote

Reply to comment by CarelessHisser 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

If a country is a potential enemy, you don't want to have the same rail gauge because then an invading force can use your rail to move military supplies straight from home territory during an invasion.

Spain still runs (or at least the last time I was there) on a separate gauge from the rest of Europe, a holdover from wwii era.

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valeyard89 t1_iykcsg6 wrote

that's the issue Ukraine has right now, Russia has been using their rail network to resupply.

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koolaideprived t1_iykdtkd wrote

Yeah, I'm assuming all former soviet bloc use the same gauge.

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