Railways with a

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges ...

of fall within the category of

broad-gauge railway A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countrie ...

s. , they were extant in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and on the

island of Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Irelanda sovereign state covering five-sixths of th ...

History

;600 BC :The

Diolkos The Diolkos (, from the Greek , "across", and , "portage machine") was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The shortcut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the ...

(Δίολκος) across the

Isthmus of Corinth The Isthmus of Corinth ( Greek: Ισθμός της Κορίνθου) is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The wide Isthmus was known in the a ...

in Greece – a grooved paved trackway – was constructed with an average gauge of . ;1840 : The

Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway Grand Duchy of Baden had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische Staatseisenbahnen or G.Bad.St.E.''), which was founded in 1840. At the time when it was integrated into the Deutsche ...

was constructed in 1840–1851 to gauge before being converted to in 1854–1855. ;1843 : The

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...

, after investigating a dispute caused by diverse gauges, recommended the use of in Ireland. ;1846 : The

Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846 The Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. 57) or the Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846 or the Gauge of Railways Act 1846 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that was designed to standardise railway track ...

made mandatory throughout all of Ireland. ;1847 : The

Swiss Northern Railway The Swiss Northern Railway ( German: ''Schweizerische Nordbahn'', SNB), informally known as the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn'', opened the first railway line within Switzerland in 1847, the Zürich–Baden line. This followed the extension of a Fre ...

was opened as a line and converted to in 1854. ;1854 : The first Australian railway to operate steam-powered freight and passenger services,

Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company The Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company was a railway company in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The company was incorporated on 20 January 1853 to build the Port Melbourne railway line, line from Melbourne to the port o ...

, was built as a line. ;1858 : The first Brazilian railway was opened: the Companhia de Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II. ;1863 : The Canterbury Railway in New Zealand was built in . It was converted to in 1876.

Nomenclature

* In

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the gauge is known as Irish gauge. In Ireland it is also common to hear it referred to as ''standard gauge'' or ''broad gauge'' when distinguishing it from the various 3 ft narrow-gauge railways of the island. * In

, where the states of Victoria and South Australia have this gauge (as did Tasmania in the 19th century), it is known as broad gauge. * In Brazil, the gauge is mainly known as broad gauge (), but occasionally as Irish gauge ().

Installations

Similar gauges

The Pennsylvania trolley gauges of and are similar to this gauge, but incompatible. There is also a gauge. See:

Track gauge in Ireland The track gauge adopted by the mainline railways in Ireland is . This unusually broad track gauge is otherwise found only in Australia (where it was introduced by the Irish railway engineer F. W. Sheilds), in the states of Victoria, southern New ...

Locomotives

Before the advent of diesel and electric traction, one of the advantages of the broader Irish gauge compared to was that more space between steam locomotive

frames A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

allows for a bigger firebox, enabling generation of more steam.

References