Narrow gauge

Narrow-gauge railways are railroads (railways) where the distance between the two parallel rails constituting the railway track (the track gauge) is less than the 1435 mm (4 ft 8.5 in) of standard-gauge railroads. In practice, most presently existing narrow-gauge railroads have gauges of 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) or less. The rationale for the use of a narrower gauge is that a railway using such a gauge can be substantially cheaper to build, equip, and operate than one employing the standard gauge. On the other hand, standard-gauge railroads have a greater haulage capacity and allow greater speeds than those a narrow-gauge system can ever hope to attain.

Related Topics:
Railroads - Rail - Track - Track gauge - Standard-gauge

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Historically, many narrow-gauge railways were built as part of specific industrial enterprises and can be referred to as "industrial railways". Unlike most standard-gauge railways, they were built to be part of a particular industrial process rather than general carriers. Some common uses for these industrial narrow-gauge railways were mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and the conveying of agricultural products. Extensive networks were constructed in many parts of the world for logging or for transporting agricultural products. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in places such as Cuba, Fiji, Java, and Queensland in Australia, while narrow-gauge railway equipment remains in common use for the construction of tunnels. The other significant reason for narrow-gauge railways to be constructed was to take advantage of reduced construction costs in mountainous or difficult terrain, hence the national railway systems of countries such as Japan and New Zealand are primarily or solely narrow gauge. Non-industrial narrow-gauge mountain railways are or were also common in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the USA, in Mexico, in Switzerland, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Costa Rica. Another country with a notable national railway built to narrow gauge is South Africa.

Related Topics:
Industrial railway - Mining - Logging - Construction - Tunnel - Quarry - Agricultural products - Sugarcane - Cuba - Fiji - Java - Queensland - Australia - Rocky Mountains - Canada - USA - Mexico - Switzerland - Yugoslavia - India - Costa Rica - South Africa

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