Break of gauge
Break of gauge was a common issue in the early days of railways, as standards had not yet been set and different organizations each used their own favored gauge on the lines they controlled—sometimes for mechanical and engineering reasons (optimizing for geography or particular types of load and rolling stock), and sometimes for commercial and competitive reasons (interoperability and non-interoperability within and between companies and alliances were often key strategic moves).
[1]: 202–203 L. T. C. Rolt's biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (key proponent of the broad gauge for the Great Western Railway) remarks on the apparent mysteriousness of this lack of implementation,[1]: 202–203 but a likely explanation is that the combatants at the time were likely primarily interested in winning the Gauge War and setting a standard that benefited their commercial interests.
The lack of a standardized gauge was a significant problem in transportation in the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
A more modern and sophisticated method is to have multigauge bogies with wheelsets whose wheels can be moved inwards and outwards.
Piggyback operation by the trainload occurred as a temporary measure between Port Augusta and Marree during gauge conversion work in the 1950s to bypass steep gradients and washaways in the Flinders Ranges.
[2][3] Narrow-gauge railways were favoured in the underground slate quarries of North Wales, as tunnels could be smaller.
More rarely, standard-gauge vehicles are carried over narrow-gauge tracks using adaptor vehicles; examples include the Rollbocke transporter wagon arrangements in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, and the milk transporter wagons of the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway in England.
Greater efficiency is achieved when the lengths of the wagons on each gauge are the same, so that the containers can be transferred from one train to the other with no longitudinal movement.
At the Altynkol railway station near the border at Khorgos, two trains (the Chinese 1,435 mm or 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard gauge one and the Kazakh 1,520 mm or 4 ft 11+27⁄32 in one) are placed side by side at parallel tracks, while gantry cranes move the containers from one train to the other in as short a time as 47 minutes.
Many internal Swiss railways that operate in the more mountainous regions are 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge, and most are equipped with rack assistance to deal with the relatively steep gradients encountered.
[7] Through running of standard-gauge trains on rack sections would not be possible, but dual-gauge track exists in many places where the gradient is relatively flat to carry standard- and metre-gauge stock.
The effects of a minor break of gauge can be minimized by placing it at the point where a cargo must be removed from cars anyway.
An example of this is the East Broad Top Railroad in the US, which had a coal wash and preparation plant at its break of gauge in Mount Union, Pennsylvania.
Examples include five 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad-gauge lines from Victoria, Australia, which crossed the border into otherwise standard-gauge New South Wales.
In 1994, the Rail Baltica proposal emerged to build a 728 km (452 mi) north–south standard-gauge line to link European railways from Poland via Kaunas, Lithuania, and Riga, Latvia, to Tallinn, Estonia.
A standard-gauge line, extending from Belarusian-Polish border to Hrodna, is used for passenger connections to Białystok, Warsaw and Kraków.
[11] While track gauge is the most important factor preventing through running between adjacent systems, other issues can also be a hindrance, including structure gauge, loading gauge, axleloads, couplings, brakes, electrification systems, signalling systems, multiple unit controls, rules and regulations, driver certification, righthand or lefthand running, repairs (how to make and pay for repairs while rolling stock is on other railway's territory) and language.
[16] The United States of America had broad-, narrow-, and standard-gauge tracks in the 19th century, but is now almost entirely 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge.
Kazakhstan was planning to build an additional line using standard gauge,[21] between Dostyk and Aktogay but the scheme was abandoned.
In 1845, the South Australian newspaper mentioned the convening of a Royal Commission in Britain "inquiring whether, in future private acts of parliament for the construction of railways, provision ought to be made for securing a uniform gauge, and whether ... to bring the railways already constructed, or in progress ... into uniformity".
A uniform gauge will be of the utmost importance to the internal traffic of the province;[note 2] and the time to determine the proper and most convenient width of the rail, is at the commencement".
They made their gauge choices in accordance with their perception of their own economic and geographical circumstances and to buttress, if not promote, their individual identities as colonies.
[35] Progress after that was still very slow, largely confined to linking all mainland capital cities with standard-gauge lines – achieved only in 1982.
At the frontier between New South Wales and Victoria our multitude of passengers were routed out of their snug beds by lantern-light in the morning in the biting-cold of a high altitude to change cars on a road that has no break in it from Sydney to Melbourne!
Think of the paralysis of intellect that gave that idea birth; imagine the boulder it emerged from on some petrified legislator's shoulders.The greatest number of break-of-gauge stations was in South Australia.
