{"id":320,"date":"2012-05-31T01:13:36","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T08:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argee.net\/wordpress\/?p=320"},"modified":"2012-06-19T18:09:50","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T01:09:50","slug":"weve-always-done-it-that-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320","title":{"rendered":"We&#8217;ve always done it that way&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"mr_social_sharing_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Social Sharing Toolkit v2.2 --><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 51px; height: 21px; overflow: hidden;\"><div class=\"fb-like\" data-href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\" data-send=\"false\" data-width=\"51\" data-show-faces=\"false\"><\/div><\/span><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><fb:share-button type=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\"><\/fb:share-button><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"none\" data-url=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\" data-text=\"We\u2019ve always done it that way\u2026\"><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><div class=\"g-plusone\" data-size=\"medium\" data-annotation=\"none\" data-href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\"><\/div><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_digg\" href=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthrawnrickle.com%2F%3Fp%3D320&amp;title=We%E2%80%99ve+always+done+it+that+way%E2%80%A6\" class=\"mr_social_sharing_popup_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/buttons\/digg.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Digg This\" title=\"Digg This\"\/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_reddit\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthrawnrickle.com%2F%3Fp%3D320\" class=\"mr_social_sharing_popup_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/buttons\/reddit.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Submit to reddit\" title=\"Submit to reddit\"\/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"linksalpha_button linksalpha_link\" href=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/social\/mobile\" data-url=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\" data-text=\"We\u2019ve always done it that way\u2026\" data-desc=\"Standard gauge tracks The distance between railroad track rails is called the railroad gauge. The U.S. standard railroad gauge is 4 ft 8 \u00bd in. Now that\u2019s an odd number. Why, you might ask, is the U.S. standard railroad gauge 4 ft 8 \u00bd in, instead of 5 ft or 4 \u00bd ft or 1 \u00bd meters? Why exactly 4\" data-image=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/normalgleis1.jpg\" data-button=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/images\/social_share_button.png\" alt=\"Share\" class=\"linksalpha_image\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/scripts\/loader_iconbox.js?v=2.4\"><\/script><\/span><\/div><p align=\"center\"><span><a style=\"font-size: 12px;\" href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/normalgleis1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-729\" title=\"normalgleis1\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/normalgleis1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"140\" \/><\/a> <em style=\"font-size: 12px;\">Standard gauge tracks<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The distance between railroad track rails is called the railroad gauge. The U.S. standard railroad gauge is 4 ft 8 \u00bd in. Now that\u2019s an odd number. Why, you might ask, is the U.S. standard railroad gauge 4 ft 8 \u00bd in, instead of 5 ft or 4 \u00bd ft or 1 \u00bd meters? Why exactly 4 ft 8 \u00bd in?<\/p>\n<p>The simple answer is we\u2019ve always done it that way; that\u2019s how they built them in England, and\u2014for the most part\u2014English engineers built the US Railroads.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, this just pushes the question. So why did the English use 4 ft 8 \u00bd in?<\/p>\n<p>This one is also simple and complex. The first English rail lines were built by the same guys who built the pre-railroad tramways, and\u2014you guessed it\u2014that\u2019s the gauge they used.<\/p>\n<p>Okay\u2026why?<\/p>\n<p>Well\u2026the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons. Care to guess the standard wagon wheel spacing back then in England?<\/p>\n<p>We keep pushing the question; why this odd number: 4 ft 8 \u00bd in?<\/p>\n<p>This answer is easy. The wheel ruts on many of the old, long-distance English roads were spaced at exactly 4 ft 8 \u00bd in. They were built by Imperial Rome throughout Europe and England for their legions, and the roads have been in use ever since. All Roman war chariots had a wheel spacing of 4 ft 8 \u00bd in. These heavy chariots driven by the thousands over all these roads heavily rutted them. And if anybody wished to use these roads, they were thus obliged to set their wheel spacing to 4 ft 8 \u00bd in, or chance losing several wheels along their trip.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Roman-Road-near-Meggs-Hill-England.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-730\" title=\"Roman Road near Meggs Hill England\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Roman-Road-near-Meggs-Hill-England-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/rutted-road.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-731\" title=\"rutted road\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/rutted-road-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p align=\"center\">Ruts in &#8220;Roman Road&#8221; Meggs Hill, England and Rutted Roman road in Pompeii<\/p>\n<p>And why exactly 4 ft 8 \u00bd in? Because that\u2019s the minimum width for a battle rig pulled by two war horses\u2014essentially the width of two horses behinds.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/roman-chariot-vintage-engraving-80ae00.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-732\" title=\"roman-chariot-vintage-engraving-80ae00\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/roman-chariot-vintage-engraving-80ae00-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/two-horses-butts.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-733\" title=\"two horses butts\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/two-horses-butts-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: x-small;\">Roman War Chariot and the back-sides of a couple of horses<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So the complicated part of the answer is that the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 ft 8 1\/2 in is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.<\/p>\n<p>Now, in the words of the inimitable Paul Harvey: Here is the rest of the story&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The Space Shuttle was initially boosted during its launch phase by two large solid fuel rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank &#8211; the solid rocket boosters or SRBs. The SRBs were manufactured by Thiokol at their Utah factory. The designing engineers wanted to make the SRBs a bit fatter than the 12.17ft of their design, but they had a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Thiokol had to ship the SRBs by train from their factory to the launch site. The railroad line passes through a mountain tunnel, and the SRBs had to pass through that tunnel. By design, that tunnel is just sufficiently wider than the track to accommodate a railroad car, and the railroad track width, as you now know, was determined by the wheel separation of an Imperial Roman war chariot.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/solid-rocket-booster-cutaway.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-734\" title=\"Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) (SRB-SP-070B)\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/solid-rocket-booster-cutaway-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/tunnel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-735\" title=\"tunnel\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/tunnel-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nCutaway of the SRB and a railroad tunnel<\/p>\n<p>Thus, a major design feature of what was arguably the world\u2019s most advanced transportation system, the Space Shuttle, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse\u2019s ass.<\/p>\n<p>(<em>Is this story factual? I wouldn&#8217;t bet the kid&#8217;s college fund on it, but it certainly makes a good story to accompany a fine single-malt!)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"mr_social_sharing_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Social Sharing Toolkit v2.2 --><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 51px; height: 21px; overflow: hidden;\"><div class=\"fb-like\" data-href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\" data-send=\"false\" data-width=\"51\" data-show-faces=\"false\"><\/div><\/span><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><fb:share-button type=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\"><\/fb:share-button><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"none\" data-url=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\" data-text=\"We\u2019ve always done it that way\u2026\"><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><div class=\"g-plusone\" data-size=\"medium\" data-annotation=\"none\" data-href=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\"><\/div><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_digg\" href=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthrawnrickle.com%2F%3Fp%3D320&amp;title=We%E2%80%99ve+always+done+it+that+way%E2%80%A6\" class=\"mr_social_sharing_popup_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/buttons\/digg.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Digg This\" title=\"Digg This\"\/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_reddit\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthrawnrickle.com%2F%3Fp%3D320\" class=\"mr_social_sharing_popup_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/buttons\/reddit.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Submit to reddit\" title=\"Submit to reddit\"\/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"linksalpha_button linksalpha_link\" href=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/social\/mobile\" data-url=\"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/?p=320\" data-text=\"We\u2019ve always done it that way\u2026\" data-desc=\"Standard gauge tracks The distance between railroad track rails is called the railroad gauge. The U.S. standard railroad gauge is 4 ft 8 \u00bd in. Now that\u2019s an odd number. Why, you might ask, is the U.S. standard railroad gauge 4 ft 8 \u00bd in, instead of 5 ft or 4 \u00bd ft or 1 \u00bd meters? Why exactly 4\" data-image=\"\" data-button=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/images\/social_share_button.png\" alt=\"Share\" class=\"linksalpha_image\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/scripts\/loader_iconbox.js?v=2.4\"><\/script><\/span><\/div><p align=\"center\"><font style=\"FONT-SIZE: 12px\"><img style=\"BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: 0px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: 0px solid\" src=\n\"http:\/\/images.quickblogcast.com\/52795-47286\/normalgleis1.jpg?a=70\"><br \/>\n<em>Standard gauge tracks<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n<p>The distance between railroad track rails is called the railroad gauge. The U.S. standard railroad gauge is 4 ft 8 \u00bd in. The reason is fascinating&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6,7,5,4,3],"tags":[61,66,58,52,51,63,60,56,62,55,50,53,59,72,54,68,65,67,64,49,69,71,70,57],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engineering","category-history","category-humor","category-military","category-science","category-space","tag-asses","tag-booster","tag-chariot","tag-england","tag-gauge","tag-harvey","tag-horses-ass","tag-meggs-hill","tag-paul-harvey","tag-pompeii","tag-railroad-gauge","tag-roman-road","tag-roman-war-chariot","tag-ruts","tag-rutted-road","tag-shuttle-space","tag-solid-rocket-booster","tag-space-shuttle","tag-srb","tag-standard-gauge","tag-thiokol","tag-tunnel","tag-utah","tag-war-chariot"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrawnrickle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}