RETW Loc: Washington

Rail road gauge



Fascinating Stuff . . .




Railroad Tracks




The U.S. 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 English expatriates designed the U.S. Railroads.




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 had used

for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.









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?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.




And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match

for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.









Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome,

they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches

is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

In other words, bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder,

'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.

Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough

to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.









Now, the twist to the story:




When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad,

you will notice that 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 in Utah.









The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger,

but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.

The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains

and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel.

The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know,

is about as wide as two horses' behinds.










So, a major Space Shuttle design feature

of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system

was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.




And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!




Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything.




Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?


RETW

sisboombaa

badbobby Loc: texas

now that was worth reading
were you mayhaps referring to some of the horses asses on OPP
nah you wouldn't do that

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

So...... how wide does the Capitol doors have to be, to admit 639 horses asses?

reconreb Loc: America / Inglis Fla.

reconreb Loc: America / Inglis Fla.

4' 8" and two at a time ,, and your a major ?? just kidding .. Actually the doors are very interesting as to the history and size / weight .........http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Doors

THUNDERBOLT

Thank you for this post...
NOW,
Something just for you.
ThunderBolt

RETW Loc: Washington

I feel so honored. %$&%%$#@UYTG^^&&*% I think.


HA HA Ha Ha Ha HA


RETW

RETW Loc: Washington

Interesting yes, Funny no. But than again!!!!!!!!


RETW

billy a Loc: South Florida

I've been working with my hands all of my life,and have often asked myself "why ?" is some tool or system used "this way?"
This is neat stuff. Thank you.

bahmer

That really explains Washington D.C. doesn't it?

bggamers Loc: georgia

NOW I UNDERSTAND why every one in washington acts like they do (like asses) just didnt know which kind. Now we need to diagnose what assy disease has infected california any idea's

goch1

That was VERY INTERESTING. Great Trivia for discussing why things are the way they are. Thanks!