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Track gauge
By transport mode
Tram
Rapid transit
Miniature
Scale model
By size (list)
Minimum
Minimum
Fifteen inch
381 mm
(15 in)
Narrow
600 mm
Two foot
Two foot three inch
600 mm
610 mm
686 mm
(1 ft 11+5⁄8 in)
(2 ft)
(2 ft 3 in)
750 mm
Bosnian gauge
Two foot six inch
750 mm
760 mm
762 mm
(2 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
(2 ft 5+15⁄16 in)
(2 ft 6 in)
Swedish three foot
900 mm
Three foot
Italian metre
891 mm
900 mm
914 mm
950 mm
(2 ft 11+3⁄32 in)
(2 ft 11+7⁄16 in)
(3 ft)
(3 ft1+13⁄32 in)
Metre
1,000 mm
(3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
Three foot six inch
1,067 mm
(3 ft 6 in)
Four foot
1,219 mm
(4 ft)
Four foot six inch
1,372 mm
(4 ft 6 in)
1432 mm
1,432 mm
(4 ft 8+3⁄8 in)
Standard
1,435 mm
(4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Broad
Italian broad gauge
Dresden gauge
1,445 mm
1,450 mm
(4 ft 8+7⁄8 in)
(4 ft 9+3⁄32 in)
Leipzig gauge
1,458 mm
(4 ft 9+13⁄32 in)
Toronto gauge
1,495 mm
(4 ft 10+7⁄8 in)
1520 mm
Five foot
1,520 mm
1,524 mm
(4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)
(5 ft)
Pennsylvania gauge
Pennsylvania gauge
Five foot three inch
1,581 mm
1,588 mm
1,600 mm
(5 ft 2+1⁄4 in)
(5 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
(5 ft 3 in)
Baltimore gauge
1,638 mm
(5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Iberian gauge
Five foot six inch
1,668 mm
1,676 mm
(5 ft 5+21⁄32 in)
(5 ft 6 in)
Six foot
1,829 mm
(6 ft)
Brunel
2,140 mm
(7 ft 1⁄4 in)
Change of gauge
Break-of-gauge
Dual gauge
Conversion
list
Bogie exchange
Variable gauge
By location
North America
South America
Europe
Australia
Originally, various track gauges were used in the United States. Some railways, primarily in the northeast, used standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm); others used gauges ranging from 2 ft (610 mm) to 6 ft (1,829 mm). As a general rule, southern railroads were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft (1,524 mm), while northern railroads that were not standard-gauge tended to be narrow-gauge. The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1863 specified standard gauge.[1]
Notable exceptions were the 6 ft (1,829 mm) railroads that predominated in the first part of the 19th century in New York State, and the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) lines centered on Portland, Maine. Problems began as soon as lines began to meet, and standard gauge was adopted in much of the northeastern U.S. Standard gauge had spread widely across the country by the late 19th century except in some parts of the South; it was adopted there in a two-day changeover on May 31-June 1, 1886.
Today, standard gauge is used almost everywhere in the U.S. Non-standard gauges remain in use only for some municipal and regional mass transit systems not requiring interchange of equipment.
^https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/37th-congress/session-3/c37s3ch112.pdf Thirty-Seventh Congress Session III Chap CXII March 3, 1863
Retrieved on 2019-01-08.
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