Pennsylvania trolley gauge

A number of North American streetcar lines intentionally varied from standard gauge. This may have been to make the streetcar companies less-tempting targets for takeovers by the steam railroads (or competing streetcar companies), which would be unable to run their trains over the streetcar tracks.[1] Pennsylvania trolley gauge was used on the former (defunct) Pittsburgh Railways and the defunct West Penn Railways (5 ft 2 1⁄2 in/1,588 mm) and is still used on the current Pittsburgh Light Rail, on some SEPTA lines such as the Philadelphia streetcar lines and the Philadelphia Market-Frankford subway line (5 ft 2 1⁄4 in/1,581 mm & 5 ft 2 1⁄2 in/1,588 mm) as well as in New Orleans (5 ft 2 1⁄2 in/1,588 mm) and in Cincinnati (5 ft 2 1⁄4 in/1,581 mm).[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "E.g". Columbus' Streetcar Track Gauge: 5'2" vs 4'8 1/2", Columbus Railroads, accessed 2011-03-22.
  2. ^ "Railroad Gauge Width". Паровоз ИС. Российский железнодорожный портал. http://parovoz.com/spravka/gauges-e.html. 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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