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Horse's *
rgrjit8
Member Posts: 109 ✭✭✭
"Does the statement, "We've always done it that way"
ring any bells... ?
The US 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 built the US 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 used for building
wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! 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 (and England) for their legions. The 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.
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet,
8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications
for an Imperial Roman war
chariot. And bureaucracies live forever. So the next
time you are handed a specification and wonder what
horse's * came up with it, you may be exactly right,
because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just
wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war
horses.
Now the twist to the story...
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch
pad, 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 at Utah. The
engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred
to make them a bit fatter, 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. 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 *."
*********************************************************************
I'm not sure how true all this is but it's fun to think about.
Feed your heads!
ring any bells... ?
The US 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 built the US 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 used for building
wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! 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 (and England) for their legions. The 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.
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet,
8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications
for an Imperial Roman war
chariot. And bureaucracies live forever. So the next
time you are handed a specification and wonder what
horse's * came up with it, you may be exactly right,
because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just
wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war
horses.
Now the twist to the story...
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch
pad, 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 at Utah. The
engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred
to make them a bit fatter, 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. 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 *."
*********************************************************************
I'm not sure how true all this is but it's fun to think about.
Feed your heads!
Comments
**I love the smell of Hoppes #9 in the morning**
Now, at the risk of getting poofed and a slap on the wrist, does anyone know the definition od a horse show?
PC=BS
A doubting Thomas at Yahoo researched a little of this and said that the rocket booster part from Thiokol was highly unlikely as there were alternate rail routes that they could have taken.
Feed your heads!
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed
I think she is still just one horse's * wide.
JBB
I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them.
A post about horses and railroads!!!
My kind of stuff!