Why that way?

By Corner Post

Here’s something you may find interesting, especially if you’ve ever heard someone answer the question, “Why do you do it that way?” with “That’s the way we’ve always done it.” (I’ve seen or heard this explanation multiple times over the years in various places, but never with a citation.)

In the United States, the standard railroad gauge (the width between the two 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 early U.S. railroads were patterned after English railroads.

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.

But why did the tramway builders use that gauge? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons which used that wheel spacing.

Okay. Why did the wagons have that particularly odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long-distance roads in England, because that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So, who built those old, rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Bureaucracies and specifications seem to live forever. So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse’s patoot came up with it, you may be right on track (pun intended), because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses!