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Track gauge
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Minimum   Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in) Narrow   600 mm, Two foot 597 mm 600 mm 603 mm 610 mm (1 ft ​11 1⁄2 in) (1 ft ​11 5⁄8 in) (1 ft ​11 3⁄4 in) (2 ft)   750 mm, Bosnian, Two foot six inch, 800 mm 750 mm 760 mm 762 mm 800 mm (2 ft ​5 1⁄2 in) (2 ft ​5 15⁄16 in) (2 ft 6 in) (2 ft ​7 1⁄2 in)   Swedish three foot, 900 mm, Three foot 891 mm 900 mm 914 mm (2 ft​11 3⁄32 in) (2 ft ​11 7⁄16 in) (3 ft)   Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft ​3 3⁄8 in)   Three foot six inch 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)   Four foot six inch 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)   Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft ​8 1⁄2 in) Broad   1520 mm, Five foot 1,520 mm 1,524 mm (4 ft ​11 27⁄32 in) (5 ft)   Five foot three inch 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)   Iberian 1,668 mm (5 ft ​5 21⁄32 in)   Five foot six inch 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)   Six foot 1,829 mm (6 ft)   Brunel 2,140 mm (7 ft ​1⁄4 in)
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JA1271 with excursion consist climbing the Opapa incline in New Zealand

Tram descending the Great Orme Tramway

Dual gauge track in Perth, Australia including both 3 ft 6 in and standard gauge

A preserved Japanese JNR Class D51 in main line service in 2014

The Taroko Express in Taiwan

Sheung Wan station on Hong Kong Tramway with bus interchange

San Francisco cable car traversing a hill

Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in/​1,067 mm were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire, and was adopted as a standard in Japan and Taiwan.

There are approximately 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi) of 1,067 mm gauge track in the world.

History

1795

One of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, constructed as a horse-drawn wagonway in 1795. Other 3 ft 6 in gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century.

1862

In 1862 the Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Norway, the Røros Line.

1865

In 1865 the Queensland Railways were constructed. Its 3 ft 6 in gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon and consulting engineer Charles Fox.

1867

In 1867, the construction of the railroad from the Castillo de Buitrón mine to the pier of San Juan del Puerto, Huelva, Spain, began. The width was 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm).

1868

In 1868 Charles Fox asks civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a 3 ft 6 in railway in Costa Rica.

1871

In 1871 the Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway were opened, promoted by Pihl and Fitzgibbon and surveyed by Wragge as an engineer of Fox.

1872

In January 1872 Robert Fairlie advocated the use of 3 ft 6 in gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways: Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance.^[1]

1872 also saw the opening of the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan, proposed by the British civil engineer Edmund Morel based on his experience of building railways in New Zealand.^[2]

1873

On 1 January 1873, the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) and broad gauge railways were soon converted to the narrower gauge.

Also in 1873 the Cape Colony adopted the 3 ft 6 in gauge.^[3][4] After conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges.^[5] Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger,^[6] the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa.^[7][8]

1876

Natal also converted its short 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) long Durban network from 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the entire colony in 1876.^[9] Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, the Rhodesias, Nyasaland and Angola, were also constructed in 3 ft 6 in gauge during that time.

After 1876

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous 3 ft 6 in gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Nomenclature

In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge.^[10]

An alternate name for this gauge, Cape gauge, is named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, which adopted it in 1873.^[3] The term Cape Gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as 1,065 mm (3 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) instead of 1067 mm.^[11]

The gauge name Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand.^[12][13]

In Australia the imperial (pre-metric) term 3 foot 6 inch is used. In some Australian publications the term medium gauge is also used,^[14] while in Australian states where 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) is the norm, 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge is often referred to as narrow gauge.

In Japan 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge is referred to as kyōki (狭軌), which directly translates as narrow gauge. It is defined in metric units.

Similar gauges

Similar, but incompatible without wheelset adjustment, rail gauges in respect of aspects such as cost of construction, practical minimum radius curves and the maximum physical dimensions of rolling stock are:

• 
  1,100 mm (3 ft 7 ⁵⁄₁₆ in),


• 
  1,093 mm (3 ft 7 in),


• 
  1,055 mm (3 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in),


• 
  1,050 mm (3 ft 5 ¹¹⁄₃₂ in), and


• 
  1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge.

Usage

See also

• Cape Government Railways


• Heritage railway


• List of track gauges

References

External links

• South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia


• Why Did Japan Choose the 3'6" Narrow Gauge?