Irish gauge

Track gauge
Break-of-gauge - Dual gauge
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Rail track - Tramway track
by size mm ft′ in″
  Broad
  Brunel 2140 7′ 0¼″
  Indian 1676 5′ 6″
  Iberian 1668 5′ 5⅔″
  Irish 1600 5′ 3″
  Russian 1520 4′ 11⅚″
  Standard (Stephenson) 1435 4′ 8½″
  Narrow/Medium
  Scotch 1372 4′ 6″
  Cape 1067 3′ 6″
  Metre 1000 3′ 3⅜″
  Narrow
  Three foot 914 3′
  Bosnian 760 2′ 5⅞″
  Narrow/Minimum
  Fifteen inch 381 2′ 3″
North America - South America - Europe
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Irish gauge railways use a track gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in). It is used in

It was used by the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway between 1840 and 1855.

Contents

History

Timeline

600 BCE
The Diolkos (Δίολκος) across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece – a grooved paved trackway – was constructed with an average gauge of 1600 mm.[2]
1840
The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway was constructed to 1600 mm gauge.
1843
The Board of Trade of the United Kingdom recommended the use of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) in Ireland, after investigating a dispute caused by diverse gauges in Ireland.
1846
An Act of Parliament, the Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846, made this gauge mandatory on the island of Ireland.
1854–55
The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway was converted to standard gauge.
2009
The 125 km (77.7 mi) long Oaklands railway line, Victoria is being converted to standard gauge. This project is relatively easy because the old line has wooden sleepers.
The 200 km (124.3 mi) of the Albury-Wodonga railway line, Victoria is being converted to standard gauge.

Summary

Country/region Notes
Australia States of South Australia, Victoria (Victorian broad gauge), New South Wales (only a few routes connected to Victoria) and
Tasmania, Australia (one line, Deloraine to Launceston, opened in 1871, was converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) in 1888).
Brazil Lines connecting the states of Rio de Janeiro,
São Paulo and Minas Gerais;
E.F.Carajás in Pará and Maranhão states, and Ferronorte in
Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states.

Estrada de Ferro Jari
Germany Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway 1840 - 1855[3]
Ireland Irish broad gauge
New Zealand Canterbury Provincial Railways
(All routes gauge converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) by 1876)
United Kingdom Northern Ireland Railways - entire network

Similar gauges

Pennsylvania trolley gauge and the Dublin and Lucan Steam tramway gauge are similar.

Locomotives

One of the supposed advantages of the broader Irish Gauge, compared to standard gauge is the greater space between the wheels for bigger cylinders. In practice, the island of Ireland does not appear to have any heavily loaded and steeply graded lines that would need especially powerful locomotives. The most powerful locomotives on the systems of this gauge are:

See also

References

  1. ^ World fact book
  2. ^ Lewis, M. J. T. (2001), "Railways in the Greek and Roman world", in Guy, A.; Rees, J. (PDF), Early Railways. A Selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference, pp. 8–19 (10–15), http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf 
  3. ^ Rieger, Bernhard (2006-04-23). "Breitspurbahn". http://www.breitspurbahn.de/. Retrieved 2007-11-29. 
General
Broad gauge
Indian 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) • Iberian 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 2⁄3 in) • Irish 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) • Pennsylvanian 5 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1,588 mm) • Russian 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄6 in) • Italian broad gauge 1,445 mm (4 ft 8.9 in)
Standard gauge
4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Narrow/Medium gauge
Scotch 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) • Cape 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) • Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Narrow gauge
Italian meter gauge 950 mm (3 ft 1 3⁄8 in) • Three foot 3 ft  (914 mm) • Bosnian 760 mm (2 ft 5 7⁄8 in) • Italian narrow gauge 700 mm (2 ft 3 9⁄16 in)
Narrow/Minimum gauge
600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in)  • Decauville
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