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Re: MtMan-List: "Steve Anderson" <blkpowdr@htc.net>: How Specs Live Forever (http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~mdbrown2/specs.htm)
The show was called "Connections". An Old Timers Disease breakthrough!!
Lanney
-----Original Message-----
From: Lanney Ratcliff <rat@htcomp.net>
To: hist_text@lists.xmission.com <hist_text@lists.xmission.com>
Date: Sunday, November 22, 1998 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: "Steve Anderson" <blkpowdr@htc.net>: How Specs Live
Forever (http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~mdbrown2/specs.htm)
>That is remarkable information. Reminds me of the PBS show a few years
back
>that traced similar strings from antiquity to modern times. A lot more
such
>examples exist than one would suppose. Thanks for sharing. I can't think
>of the name of the show for the life of me. Old Timers Disease once again
>raises its ugly head.
>Lanney Ratcliff
>-----Original Message-----
>From: michael pierce <hawknest4@juno.com>
>To: hist_text@lists.xmission.com <hist_text@lists.xmission.com>;
>SOFRETJMP@aol.com <SOFRETJMP@aol.com>; tazchsr@mail.swbell.net
><tazchsr@mail.swbell.net>; paulrothermich@juno.com
><paulrothermich@juno.com>; agottfre@telusplanet.net
><agottfre@telusplanet.net>; LouisSucheston@email.msn.com
><LouisSucheston@email.msn.com>; fmiller@lightlink.com
><fmiller@lightlink.com>; lahtirog@gte.net <lahtirog@gte.net>
>Date: Sunday, November 22, 1998 11:26 AM
>Subject: MtMan-List: "Steve Anderson" <blkpowdr@htc.net>: How Specs Live
>Forever (http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~mdbrown2/specs.htm)
>
>
>>just got this in from a friend of mine that knew i liked historical
>>background and thought i would share it---
>>
>>it is a bit of historical information on why a waggon and a train are the
>>same gage---in reality the us standard gage is 54 3/4 in and is larger
>>than the european gage----some good information to store in your files
>>for future reference---this may cause the same palaber as the bit on the
>>upstream and the downstream of a river---
>>
>>let the discussion begin----
>>
>>HAWK
>>MICHAEL PIERCE
>>1-813-771-1815
>>E-MAIL ADDRESS==hawknest4@juno.com
>>--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
>>From: "Steve Anderson" <blkpowdr@htc.net>
>>To: "Mike Pierce" <HAWKNEST4@juno.com>
>>Subject: How Specs Live Forever
>>(http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~mdbrown2/specs.htm)
>>Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 21:47:21 -0600
>>Message-ID: <003c01be15d3$722babe0$0ac0a5d0@blkpowdr>
>>
>>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>>
>>------=_NextPart_000_0004_01BE1598.84B1A700
>>Content-Type: text/plain;
>> charset="iso-8859-1"
>>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>>
>>
>>How Specs Live Forever
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>-------
>>
>>The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet =
>>8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? =
>>Because that's the way they built them in England, and the U.S. =
>>railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English build =
>>them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same =
>>people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they =
>>used.=20
>>
>>Why did they use that gauge then? Because the people who built the =
>>tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building =
>>wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons use that odd =
>>wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons =
>>would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the =
>>spacing of the old wheel ruts.=20
>>
>>So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in =
>>Europe were built by Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads =
>>have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which =
>>everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were =
>>made by Roman war chariots and they all had identical wheel spacings.=20
>>
>>Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States =
>>standard railroad gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches derives from the original =
>>specification for a Roman war chariot. Specs and bureaucracies seem to =
>>live forever, so the next time you are handed a specification and wonder
>>=
>>what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the =
>>Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the =
>>ass-ends of two war horses.=20
>>
>>-Unknown=20
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>-------
>>
>>Thought you might enjoy this...Steve
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>-------
>>=20
>>
>>------=_NextPart_000_0004_01BE1598.84B1A700
>>Content-Type: text/html;
>> charset="iso-8859-1"
>>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>>
>><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
>><HTML>
>><HEAD>
>>
>><META content=3Dtext/html;charset=3Diso-8859-1 =
>>http-equiv=3DContent-Type><TITLE>How Specs Live Forever</TITLE><BASE=20
>>href=3Dhttp://www.students.uiuc.edu/~mdbrown2/specs.htm>
>><META content=3D'"MSHTML 4.72.3110.7"' name=3DGENERATOR>
>></HEAD>
>><BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
>><DIV> </DIV>
>><CENTER>
>><H1>How Specs Live Forever</H1></CENTER>
>><HR>
>>
>><P>The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet
>>=
>>8.5=20
>>inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? =
>>Because=20
>>that's the way they built them in England, and the U.S. railroads were =
>>built by=20
>>English expatriates. Why did the English build them like that? Because =
>>the first=20
>>rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad =
>>tramways,=20
>>and that's the gauge they used.=20
>><P>Why did they use that gauge then? Because the people who built the =
>>tramways=20
>>used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which =
>>used that=20
>>wheel spacing. Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if =
>>they=20
>>tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the =
>>old, long=20
>>distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.=20
>><P>So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in
>>=
>>Europe=20
>>were built by Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been
>>=
>>used=20
>>ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to =
>>match for=20
>>fear of destroying their wagons, were made by Roman war chariots and =
>>they all=20
>>had identical wheel spacings.=20
>><P>Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States
>>=
>>
>>standard railroad gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches derives from the original=20
>>specification for a Roman war chariot. Specs and bureaucracies seem to =
>>live=20
>>forever, so the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what
>>=
>>horse's=20
>>ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Roman =
>>chariots were=20
>>made to be just wide enough to accommodate the ass-ends of two war =
>>horses.=20
>><P>-Unknown=20
>><HR>
>><BR><U><FONT color=3D#800080>Thought you might enjoy =
>>this...Steve</FONT></U>
>><HR>
>> </BODY></HTML>
>>
>>------=_NextPart_000_0004_01BE1598.84B1A700--
>>
>>
>>--------- End forwarded message ----------
>>
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