Hi all, Thanks for the answers, I've got the picture, now to sit down and explore :-) Something that Ben wrote reminded me of this, sorry if you have seen it before. Paul. > ---------- > From: Ben Parker > Sent: Wednesday, 1 July 1998 2:31 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [LSTOWN-L] DD syntax > > This goes back to the days of punch cards. Each 'line' was originally a > separate punch card in a stack. > > How Specs Live Forever > > The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the 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 the US railroads > were built by English expatriates. Why did the English people 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 tools that they used for building wagons, > which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd > wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons > would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the > spacing of the old wheel ruts. > > So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in > Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The > roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which > everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were > first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by > Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. > > Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United State > standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original > specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. Specs and > bureaucracies live forever. So, the next time you are handed a > specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be > exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just > wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war horses. > > O'Brien & Associates > Environmental Building Consultants > Portland General Electric Earth Smart program > Earth-Wise Builders > [log in to unmask] >