Discussion
Railroad tracks.The U.S. Standard railroad gauge (distance between 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 English expatriates designed the U.S. Railroads.Why did the English build them like that?Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who builtthe pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and toolsthat they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular Odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would breakon some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's thespacing of the wheel ruts .. So, who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (includingEngland )for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, whicheveryone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses ... Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design featureof what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determinedover two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything...Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?
evotell said:
Railroad tracks.The U.S. Standard railroad gauge (distance between 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 English expatriates designed the U.S. Railroads.Why did the English build them like that?Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who builtthe pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and toolsthat they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular Odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would breakon some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's thespacing of the wheel ruts .. So, who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (includingEngland )for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, whicheveryone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses ... Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design featureof what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determinedover two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything...Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?
evotell said:
Railroad tracks.The U.S. Standard railroad gauge (distance between 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 English expatriates designed the U.S. 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.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and toolsthat they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular Odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would breakon some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's thespacing of the wheel ruts .. So, who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (includingEngland )for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, whicheveryone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.
Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses ...
Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design featureof what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determinedover two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything...Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?
Fixed that for you without even reading it. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England,and English expatriates designed the U.S. 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.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and toolsthat they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular Odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would breakon some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's thespacing of the wheel ruts .. So, who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (includingEngland )for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, whicheveryone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.
Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses ...
Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design featureof what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determinedover two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything...Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?
Mobsta said:
evotell said:
blah blah horses arse
I will eat your horse arses with my Tyrannosaurs, unless you come up with 40.85 words beginning with 'para'para
parabioses
parabiosis
parabiotic
parabiotically
parable
parables
parabola
parabolas
parabolic
parabolically
paraboloid
paraboloidal
paraboloids
parachor
parachors
parachute
parachuted
parachutes
parachutic
parachuting
parachutist
parachutists
parade
paraded
parader
paraders
parades
paradichlorobenzene
paradichlorobenzenes
paradiddle
paradiddles
paradigm
paradigmatic
paradigmatically
paradigms
parading
paradisaic
paradisaical
paradisaically
paradi
I'm bored in work..
ZOLLAR said:
Mobsta said:
evotell said:
blah blah horses arse
I will eat your horse arses with my Tyrannosaurs, unless you come up with 40.85 words beginning with 'para'para
parabioses
parabiosis
parabiotic
parabiotically
parable
parables
parabola
parabolas
parabolic
parabolically
paraboloid
paraboloidal
paraboloids
parachor
parachors
parachute
parachuted
parachutes
parachutic
parachuting
parachutist
parachutists
parade
paraded
parader
paraders
parades
paradichlorobenzene
paradichlorobenzenes
paradiddle
paradiddles
paradigm
paradigmatic
paradigmatically
paradigms
parading
paradisaic
paradisaical
paradisaically
paradi
I'm bored in work..
Well played.
When I was in school (and Supermac was still PM at the time, by the way 
) we had a teacher who said that the gauge from outer rail edge to outer rail edge was originally 5 feet, then allowing an inch & three quarters for the rails, you got to an inner gauge of 4 feet 8 and a half inches.
Always sounded plausible to me
) we had a teacher who said that the gauge from outer rail edge to outer rail edge was originally 5 feet, then allowing an inch & three quarters for the rails, you got to an inner gauge of 4 feet 8 and a half inches.Always sounded plausible to me
...especially when you think the first people to use rails were the mines, who used what we would call "narrow gauge" rails with wagons either pushed by child employees or animals. Using a machine to move the coal didnt happen for sometime afterwards. So, in the phrase of the OP:
...So, who knew that the en tire rail network was based on child labour, and should be banned with immediate effect and turned into a high-speed city centre to city centre road network
...So, who knew that the en tire rail network was based on child labour, and should be banned with immediate effect and turned into a high-speed city centre to city centre road network
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