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From: jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: net.railroad
Subject: Re: Re: CNW Left Handed Running
Message-ID: <2577@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 11-Feb-86 18:10:08 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2577
Posted: Tue Feb 11 18:10:08 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Feb-86 01:07:47 EST
References: <2056@brl-tgr.ARPA> <673@hlwpc.UUCP> <732@astrovax.UUCP>
Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 21

> British influence has been cited as the reason for left-handed operation
> of some railroads in Europe, if not also the US.  If this is true, then
> why does the European continent not also use the same gauge as the
> British?
> Nels Anderson 

I'll refrain from razzing you excessively, but in fact the only European
countries that _don't_ use 56.5 inch gauge are Spain/Portugal, Ireland and 
Russia, which all have slightly wider gauges. (Sorry, I don't know if they're
all the same.) Why was it that Britain could sell 4-8-1/2 all over Europe,
(and America!) but not in Ireland, which it controlled at the time?

Were you maybe thinking of "loading gauge", the outline of the largest stock
allowed on a system? This is certainly different (smaller) in Britain than
in Europe and smaller in Europe than in America.

Modern marvellous mechanical motions allow through running of some trains
from France to Spain without stopping.

One of Hitler's more grandiose fantasies was a network of ~12-foot gauge
railroads to tie his 1000-year empire together. Some design work was done 
and there was an article about it in "Trains" some time last year.