Origin of rail gauge-space between 2 steel rails

What is standard Steel Rail Gauge

The standard steel rail is that the International Union of Railways (UIC) established a standard gauge of mm in (equivalent to 4 feet 8.5 inches of the British system). About 55% of the world's railway gauges are standard rails.

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The standard rail was proposed by the UK, which was the first to use the railway. George Stephenson, a British engineer who designed and built the Stodton and Darlington Railways, June 9, - August 12, , proposed 4 feet 8.5 The inch gauge and successfully persuaded the train manufacturer to produce locomotives and vehicles with a 4 foot 8.5 inch (ie mm) gauge. Because the train designed by Stephenson is an object that everyone imitates, it also makes this gauge popular.

In the Royal Commissioner recommended 4 foot 8.5 inches as the standard gauge. In , the British Parliament passed a bill requiring all railroads to use standard rails in the future. In addition to the UK's Great Western Railway, which uses wide rails, the UK's main railways are standard rails. The Great Western Railway was also converted to a standard track in .

The standard gauge is 4.85 feet. Where did this value come from?

One Popular Story is Like this:

Why do British people use this gauge?
The British railway was designed by people who built tram tracks, and this 4.85 feet is the standard used for tram tracks.
Where does the tram track standard come from?
The first people who built electric cars used to build horse-drawn carriages. They used the wheel width of the carriage as the standard.
Why should the carriage use this wheel width?
Because if the carriage at that time used any other track, the wheel of the carriage would soon crash on the old road in England.
why?
Because the width of the tracks on these roads is 4.85 feet.
Where did these traces come from?
The ancient Romans set the 4.85 feet the width of the Roman chariot.
Why did the Romans use 4.85 feet for the wheel width of the chariot?
This is the width of the horse's buttocks of two pull carts.
Is this really the case?

The story seems to be perfect and sounds quite reliable. So what is the truth? The well-known rumor crack site snopes believes that the wheel pitch is not rigorous. So far, there is no evidence that this claim is reliable.

According to D. Gabe Gabriel's investigation, this rumor began shortly after the end of World War II, but historical materials do not support the facts claimed in the story: although in many places in Europe and the United Kingdom, Roman car scars are still clearly visible, but these Roman car scars are not used for tanks, but for narrower carts.

Gabriel expressed deep suspicion that the tanks of the Roman legions before would play a role in the British railway standards. This rumor claims that the width of the car scar is affected by the needs of the Roman legion to create the chariot, the same width as the tie rod used to connect the two wheels used in the horse-drawn carriage.

Gabriel confirmed that there is a sculpture made by Franzoni in the Vatican Museum, which is considered to be the most accurate description of the Roman chariots so far: the width of the two horses is greater than the width of the chariot, and the wheels of the chariot are located on the back side of the war horse.

Similar to the structure of ancient Chinese chariots, the width of the Roman chariot wheels is mainly designed to meet the needs of the tank personnel and combat, and there is no direct connection with the width of the horse's ass.

So where does the standard 4 gauge 8.5 inch gauge value come from?

I have to say that there are not so many magical explanations in reality, and this may only be determined by a technical house. On the railroad tracks in England, the use of coal cars has been around for a long time. However, because there is no need to share railway tracks between different mines, the widths of the rails used in different mines are different. At that time, there were various widths. The gauge distance, the formulation of these gauge widths is quite random.

On traditional railways, most countries in the world use standard rails, focusing on Western Europe, North America, North Africa and China. Most of the high-speed rail technology is based on standard rail development. The world's existing high-speed rail systems use almost all standard rails, including Japan, Taiwan, etc., where narrow rails are used for railways, and Spain, which uses wide rails for traditional railways.

In countries where narrow railways are used in traditional railways, all of them are converted to standard rails on high-speed railways, thereby improving stability under high-speed operation. The only exceptions are Russia, Uzbekistan and Finland, which use a 5-foot wide-track high-speed rail to make them compatible with traditional railway tracks in the country. It can be seen that the argument that the standard gauge is derived from the Roman chariot, although widely spread, has no exact basis. Hearing the way, after all, he can't afford to scrutinize it carefully.

Rail Gauge Rod

Rail Gauge Rods Used for Railroad Lines

Rail gauge rod is a kind of steel member that is used to connect two rails together at the bottom of a rail gauge rod so as to improve the lateral stability of rails and improve the gauge-keeping capacity of the railway track.

Not all sections of the railway track are needed to install the rail gauge rods. Only in the special sections whose curve radius are less than a certain value or in the station yards or in other special areas we need to install the gauge rod. The general design will be usually given the specific requirements according to The Design Requirements of Railway Track and The Code for Quality Acceptance Standard of Railway Engineering Construction.

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Rail Gauge Rods Classification

The rail gauge rod is divided into the ordinary rail gauge rod and the insulated rail gauge rod by different materials.

The ordinary gauge tie rod is usually used in a turning corner or switch section. Through the pulling force, it can avoid the outward diffusion of the rails as the locomotive is running through. According to the effects on rails by the rod, it can ensure that the locomotive and the train pass the section safely. For some railway lines with track electro-circuits, the insulated parts must be designed in the rod to separate two rails. Therefore, railway engineers invented the insulated gauge tie rods. The largest effect of the insulated gauge rod is to make its middle part get the insulation in order to achieve the purpose of track insulation. To play a role in blocking the circuit between the two rails, the insulating materials are with high insulation nylon resistance materials with standard size, high lateral stiffness, good insulation properties, tensile strength and other advantages.

The materials of track insulation used for the rail gauge rod include:

• The winding insulation glass pipe
• The pultruded fiberglass pipe

The insulated rail gauge rods include the following types:

• The threaded connection
• The casing connection
• The folding connection

The insulated gauge tie rod is a special tool for railway rail drilling. It is applicable to a wide range including the maintenance operations. When the card is installed, the installation is accurate and the detachment is quick and fast, which can guarantee the safety of the train driving. It can be processed by the high-speed alloy steel hollow drill. The drilling is short in time with the features of high precision and long service life. The manufacturing machine adopts the spindle cooling structure equipped with high-pressure cooling pot.

In accordance with the different gauge distances, the gauge rods can be divided into 762 gauge distance, 900 gauge distance, gauge distance, Diameter 20, Diameter22, Diameter32, Diameter 36. The other shaped gauge rods can be custom-made. Usually, the rod is mainly used in switch areas. Its biggest role is to reduce the rail longitudinal stretch to maintain the product gauge. It is a whole rod connecting the two rails. It can do mainly the lateral stability increase of rails and increase to keep the gauge-keeping function of the track.

The rail gauge rods include the following types in China: 18×870 type, 20×870 type, 22×880 type, 22× type, 24× type, 24× type, 28 x type, 28× type.

According to the different track types, the gauge tie rods can be divided into: 8kg/m type, 12kg/m type, 15kg/m type, 18kg/m type, 22kg/m type, 24kg/m type, 30kg/m type, 38kg/m type, 43kg/m type, 50kg/m type, 60kg/m type used for switch rails According to the different turnout numbers, the gauge tie rods can be divided into: No. 2 type, No. 3 type, No. 4 type, No. 5 type, No. 6 type, No. 7 type, No. 8 type, No.9 type, No. 12 type used for the turnouts.

The Function Mechanism of Rail Gauge Rod

The gauge tie rod is an important part of railway lines. If the rail gauge rod is lack, the gauge will arouse the deviation. The train on the track will cause the train derailment possibly. The consequence will be unbearable to the imagination. In order to ensure the track gauge has no errors, we should use the gauge rod to fix the rails. This is the function of the gauge tie rod.

The rail gauge rod can apply a pair of equal and opposite forces along the axis of the rod shaft, and then the rod will get the axial elongation (or shortened) deformation. This deformation is called axial tension. The axial tension or compression of the rod is called pulling rod or pressing rod. At the rod joints every certain distance the special-shaped reinforced steel bar shall be laid on the central board. Its role is to prevent the expansion of the rail tie plate and the longitudinal seam gap. For the middle part of the gauge tie rod shall be done anti-rusty treatment in the range of 10cm. The size of the rod and its spacing can be selected according to the provisions of the outside distance. The rod joints or the free edge distance is generally 25-35cm.

AGICO Group owns rich experience and advanced equipments in manufacture industry of rail gauge tie rod. Now we have manufactured many rail gauge rods for foreign clients. In addition, we can make various customized rail gauge rods in strict accord with different standards or according to the drawings and requirements of clients.

They are exported all over the world. Depending on more than ten years export experience, we can offer the most competitive price and highest quality for our customers all over the world because we are factory. In the other side, we can deal with the international business freely because we have an experience team in international department. They can offer the best service for our customers. We sincerely seek for reliable cooperators abroad to market the world. Welcome to contact us!