One theory that I will throw out to be chewed upon is that 4' 8 1/2" came
about more or less by happenstance. In a recent book of about MoW
equipment, the author claimed that very early railroads measured their gauge
by the outside edge of the rails, five feet (a nice even number) since they
used outside flanged wheels at the time. When they switched to inside
flanged wheels, they also switched how they looked at gauge, and it just
happened to work out to be 4' 8 1/2".
Thank you kindly,
Mike Matalis
Railroad Photographer and Raconteur
Downers Grove IL
mmatalis@s...
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