A railway mode built to a track gauge narrower than the standard gauge used on most main lines, chosen historically to reduce construction cost through mountainous or otherwise difficult terrain, or to allow tighter curves in industrial and mining settings. Narrow gauge lines carried timber, minerals and agricultural produce in many parts of the world, and a number of historic narrow gauge routes survive today as heritage and tourist railways rather than as everyday freight or passenger corridors.
Facts
Core ConcernReducing rail construction and operating cost on difficult terrain or light traffic by building to a gauge narrower than standard. 1 Origin YearEarliest recorded narrow-gauge line appears in Georgius Agricola's 1556 De re metallica, describing a roughly 2 ft gauge hand-pushed mine railway in Bohemia. Steam haulage came far later: the Ffestiniog Railway introduced the first steam-hauled, public passenger narrow-gauge service in 1865. Narrow Gauge Railway
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Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Narrow-Gauge Railway
WikipediaHistory, Early hand-worked lines
The earliest recorded railway appears in Georgius Agricola's 1556 De re metallica, which shows a mine in Bohemia with a railway of about 2 ft (610 mm) gauge.
Lead section
A narrow-gauge railway is one where the distance between the inside edges of the rails is less than 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1/2 in) standard gauge.
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