Railway Bridge...

[vampirej]

Does anyone know why they are made soooooo narrow?? I mean, everyone of them!!!!
Just half a car width wider, would have made it a lot easier for us to drive pass without the needs pressing the button to retract the mirrors!!
I have searched the web but found nothing...

[Wodjno]

Does anyone know why they are made soooooo narrow?? I mean, everyone of them!!!!
Just half a car width wider, would have made it a lot easier for us to drive pass without the needs pressing the button to retract the mirrors!!
I have searched the web but found nothing...

The Bridges that you refer to were mainly built in the mid 1800's early 1900's..
There wasn't a need for the kind of width that Automobiles require these days..

Apologies for knowing the answer to this question ..

[vampirej]

Seriously?
That's fine though, but what about the new one or when they reconstruct one, couldn't they make them wider whilst they are at it?

[Wodjno]

Seriously?
That's fine though, but what about the new one or when they reconstruct one, couldn't they make them wider whilst they are at it?

Most new railway bridges would be constructed for the present type of traffic.. Is there 1 in particular you are reffering to ??

[psbarham]

of course they could , but they won't coz you know what railway workers are like ' why yes another cuppa would be great '

[vampirej]

Not any in particular, just noticed it that's all... and can't understand why they couldn't make it slightly bigger... hence the rant!
Especially the ones with no road marking but a sign that reads "Beware, oncoming traffic in middle of the road" or something similar... FFS, make it bigger!!!

[strapping young lad]

building a narrow bridge cuts the price down

does it have a weight restriction too?

[Wodjno]

building a narrow bridge cuts the price down

does it have a weight restriction too?

All of the Old Bridges that your talking about are Enormously over engineered.. If the most weight they are going to take is say 300 tons they could more likely take 2000 tons.. This is because early constuctures and engineers were not so accurate with there calculations so extra strength was built in just for good measure.. Also when it comes down to cost the Narrow bridges were not subject to limitations of cost so much as modern day bridges as it's all about profit these days.. If an Old style Bridge was built today the cost would be astronomical, so thats why there now mostly built out of Pre Stressed concrete..


Again Sorry for knowing this information

Fcuk i'm Cuffing Closet Trainspotter and didn't know

[K9NG]

Yeah know what you mean there's one on the way to SGT Taplow,
where you have to drive into middle of the road to get through,
so anything coming the other way watch out

[enigma]

Standard gauge, in railway terminology, means a distance between the rails of 4 feet, 8 ½ inches or 1.435 metres. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, & English expatriates built railways all around the world. Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first railway lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railway tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did they use that gauge in England, 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. Okay! Why did their wagons use that odd wheel spacing?

Because, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads. Because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts. So who built these old rutted roads?

The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The Roman roads have been used ever since. And the ruts?

The original ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by the wheels of Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The standard railway gauge of 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.

Specifications and Bureaucracies 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 Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war-horses.

And the Space Shuttle?
Plus, there's an interesting extension of the story about railway gauge and horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on the launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at a factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railway from the factory runs through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than a railway track, and the railway track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So a major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was originally determined by the width of a horse's ass.

[Wodjno]

Standard gauge, in railway terminology, means a distance between the rails of 4 feet, 8 ½ inches or 1.435 metres. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, & English expatriates built railways all around the world. Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first railway lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railway tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did they use that gauge in England, 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. Okay! Why did their wagons use that odd wheel spacing?

Because, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads. Because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts. So who built these old rutted roads?

The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The Roman roads have been used ever since. And the ruts?

The original ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by the wheels of Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The standard railway gauge of 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.

Specifications and Bureaucracies 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 Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war-horses.

And the Space Shuttle?
Plus, there's an interesting extension of the story about railway gauge and horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on the launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at a factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railway from the factory runs through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than a railway track, and the railway track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So a major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was originally determined by the width of a horse's ass.

And the this so describes why what are known in the railway world as an "Under Bridge" (Road under rail) are so narrow in what way

[K9NG]

Nice bit of copy and paste

[Wodjno]

Nice bit of copy and paste

Which actually explains nothing about the Topic of conversation

[K9NG]

No I know..

[Wodjno]

No I know..

Is that "No I know" or "Now I Know"

[enigma]

And the this so describes why what are known in the railway world as an "Under Bridge" (Road under rail) are so narrow in what way

Cos they still only needed to be as wide as a horses butt!

[Wodjno]

Cos they still only needed to be as wide as a horses butt!

That is a cut and paste article on a Rail Under Bridge( a tunnel for trains to go under) ..


I think the original question was why are Road under Rail Bridges so Narrow ( A tunnel for road vehicles to go under a railway line )

[enigma]

That is a cut and paste article on a Rail Under Bridge( a tunnel for trains to go under) ..


I think the original question was why are Road under Rail Bridges so Narrow ( A tunnel for road vehicles to go under a railway line )

Its actually an article on why railways are the gauge that they are

Thought you would have known that!

[Wodjno]

Its actually an article on why railways are the gauge that they are

Thought you would have known that!

I know what is ..
But even more so i know what it isn't..

4ft, 6ft, 10ft, Cess

[WildCards]

[QUOTE=bigdaveakers]Standard gauge, in railway terminology, means a distance between the rails of 4 feet, 8 ½ inches or 1.435 metres. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, & English expatriates built railways all around the world. Why did the English build them like that? blablablablabla.............QUOTE]

Is this out of your head Dave or have you nicked it from the web?

Either way, for knowing and discussing in a manner not normally associated with car nuts. I condemn you both (BDA & WODNJO)