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Anarrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with atrack gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge. Most narrow-gauge railways are between600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) and1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in).
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built withtighter curves, smallerstructure gauges, and lighterrails; they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- orbroad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain).[1] Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a smallstructure gauge necessitates a smallloading gauge.
In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard: Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states ofQueensland,Western Australia andTasmania have a3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, whereas Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand havemetre-gauge railways. Narrow-gauge trams, particularly metre-gauge, are common in Europe. Non-industrial, narrow-gauge mountain railways are (or were) common in theRocky Mountains of the United States and thePacific Cordillera of Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the formerYugoslavia, Greece, and Costa Rica.
A narrow-gauge railway is one where the distance between the inside edges of the rails is less than1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in).[2] Historically, the term was sometimes used to refer to what are nowstandard-gauge railways, to distinguish them frombroad-gauge railways, but this use no longer applies.
The earliest recorded railway appears inGeorgius Agricola's 1556De re metallica, which shows a mine in Bohemia with a railway of about2 ft (610 mm) gauge. During the 16th century, railways were primarily restricted to hand-pushed, narrow-gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. In the 17th century,mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines wereindustrial, connecting mines with nearby transportation points (usually canals or other waterways). These railways were usually built to the same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed.[3]
The world's firststeam locomotive, built in 1802 byRichard Trevithick for the Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a3 ft (914 mm)plateway. The first commercially successful steam locomotive wasMatthew Murray'sSalamanca built in 1812 for the4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm)Middleton Railway inLeeds.[4] Salamanca was also the firstrack-and-pinion locomotive. During the 1820s and 1830s, a number of industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In 1842, the first narrow-gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for the1,100 mm (3 ft 7+5⁄16 in)-gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium.[5] The first use of steam locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway was in 1865, when theFfestiniog Railway introduced passenger service after receiving its first locomotives two years earlier.[6]
Many narrow-gauge railways were part of industrial enterprises and served primarily asindustrial railways, rather than general carriers. Common uses for these industrial narrow-gauge railways included mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and conveying agricultural products. Extensive narrow-gauge networks were constructed in many parts of the world; 19th-century mountain logging operations often used narrow-gauge railways to transport logs from mill to market. Significantsugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland, and narrow-gauge railway equipment remains in common use for building tunnels.
In 1897, a manganese mine in theLahn valley in Germany was using twobenzine-fueled locomotives with single cylinderinternal combustion engines on the 500mm gauge tracks of theirmine railway; these locomotives were made by the Deutz Gas Engine Company (Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz), nowDeutz AG.[7][8] Another early use of internal combustion was to power a narrow-gauge locomotive was in 1902.F. C. Blake built a 7 hp petrol locomotive for theRichmond Main Sewerage Board sewage plant atMortlake. This2 ft 9 in (838 mm) gauge locomotive was probably the third petrol-engined locomotive built.[9]
Extensive narrow-gaugerail systems served the front-line trenches of both sides inWorld War I.[10][11] They were a short-lived military application, and after the war the surplus equipment created a small boom in European narrow-gauge railway building.
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The heavy-duty3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow-gauge railways in Australia (Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia. Tasmania), New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines demonstrate that if track is built to a heavy-duty standard, performance almost as good as a standard-gauge line is possible.
Two-hundred-car trains operate on theSishen–Saldanha railway line in South Africa, and high-speedTilt Trains run in Queensland. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge; in New Zealand, someBritish Rail Mark 2 carriages have beenrebuilt with new bogies for use byTranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service),Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service), andAuckland One Rail (Auckland suburban services).
Another example of a heavy-duty narrow-gauge line is Brazil'sEFVM.1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge, it hasover-100-pound rail (100 lb/yd or 49.6 kg/m) and aloading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. The line has a number of 4,000-horsepower (3,000 kW) locomotives and 200-plus-car trains.
Narrow gauge's reduced stability means that its trains cannot run at speeds as high as on broader gauges. For example, if a curve with standard-gauge rail (1435 mm) can allow speed up to 145 km/h (90 mph), the same curve with narrow-gauge rail (1067mm) can only allow speed up to 130 km/h (81 mph).[12]
In Japan and Queensland, recent permanent-way improvements have allowed trains on3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tracks to exceed 160 km/h (99 mph).Queensland Rail'sElectric Tilt Train, the fastest train in Australia and the fastest3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge train in the world, set a record of 210 km/h (130 mph).[13] The speed record for3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow-gauge rail is 245 km/h (152 mph), set in South Africa in 1978.[14][15][16]
A special2 ft (610 mm) gauge railcar was built for theOtavi Mining and Railway Company with a design speed of 137 km/h (85 mph).[17]Curve radius is also important for high speeds: narrow-gauge railways allow sharper curves, but these limit a vehicle's safe speed.
Many narrow gauges, from15 in (381 mm) gauge to4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm) gauge, are in present or former use. They fall into several broad categories:
4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) track gauge (also known as Scotch gauge) was adopted by early 19th-century railways, primarily in theLanarkshire area of Scotland.4 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1,384 mm) lines were also constructed, and both were eventually converted to standard gauge.
1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) between the inside of the rail heads, its name and classification vary worldwide and it has about 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi) of track.
As its name implies, metre gauge is a track gauge of1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in). It has about 95,000 km (59,000 mi) of track.
According to Italian law, track gauges in Italy were defined from the centre of each rail rather than the inside edges of the rails. This gauge, measured950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) between the edges of the rails, is known asItalian metre gauge.
There were a number of large3 ft (914 mm) railroad systems in North America; notable examples include theDenver & Rio Grande andRio Grande Southern in Colorado; theTexas and St. Louis Railway in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri; and, theSouth Pacific Coast,White Pass and Yukon Route andWest Side Lumber Co of California.3 ft was also a common track gauge in South America, Ireland and on theIsle of Man.900 mm was a common gauge in Europe. Swedish three-foot-gauge railways (891 mm or2 ft 11+3⁄32 in) are unique to that country and were once common all over the country. Today the only 891 mm line that remains apart from heritage railways isRoslagsbanan, a commuter line that connects Stockholm to its northeastern suburbs.
A few railways and tramways were built to2 ft 9 in (838 mm) gauge, includingNankai Main Line (laterconverted to3 ft 6 in or1,067 mm),Ocean Pier Railway at Atlantic City,Seaton Tramway (converted from2 ft) andWaiorongomai Tramway.
800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in) gauge railways are commonly used forrack railways. Imperial2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge railways were generally constructed in the formerBritish colonies.760 mmBosnian gauge and750 mm railways are predominantly found in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Gauges such as2 ft 3 in (686 mm),2 ft 4 in (711 mm) and2 ft 4+1⁄2 in (724 mm) were used in parts of the UK, particularly for railways in Wales and the borders, with some industrial use in the coal industry. Some sugar cane lines in Cuba were2 ft 3+1⁄2 in (699 mm).[20]
2 ft (610 mm) gauge railways were generally constructed in the former British colonies. TheUS had a number of railways of that gauge, including several in the state of Maine such as theWiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway.1 ft 11+3⁄4 in (603 mm),600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) and1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) were used in Europe.
Gauges below1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) were rare.Arthur Percival Heywood developed15 in (381 mm) gaugeestate railways in Britain andDecauville produced a range of industrial railways running on500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) and400 mm (15+3⁄4 in) tracks, most commonly in restricted environments such as underground mine railways, parks and farms, in France. Several18 in (457 mm) gauge railways were built in Britain to serve ammunition depots and other military facilities, particularly duringWorld War I.
Narrow gauge is defined as anything less than the standard gauge of UK main lines
