| Horses Asses 14:26 - Sep 6 with 2319 views | hype313 |
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?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... |  |
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| Horses Asses on 14:42 - Sep 6 with 1970 views | Cotty |
I enjoyed that, thanks |  | | |
| Horses Asses on 14:44 - Sep 6 with 1960 views | JakeITFC |
This is a lovely throwback to the days when the Internet was almost exclusively stories like this. |  | | |
| Horses Asses on 14:49 - Sep 6 with 1938 views | Keno |
| Horses Asses on 14:44 - Sep 6 by JakeITFC |
This is a lovely throwback to the days when the Internet was almost exclusively stories like this. |
I liked the interweb highway back then
before the days of TWTD logins and loads of porn |  |
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| Horses Asses on 14:53 - Sep 6 with 1926 views | hype313 |
Always raining on our parades Phil. | |
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| Horses Asses on 15:10 - Sep 6 with 1866 views | Cotty |
Still enjoyed it! | | | |
| Horses Asses on 15:44 - Sep 6 with 1809 views | Swansea_Blue |
Hmm, I've seen better proof dubunking a theory. That article seems to confirm that the widths were borrowed from old carts and that imported English technology and expertise was formative in determining US gauge size. |  |
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| Horses Asses on 15:45 - Sep 6 with 1804 views | hype313 |
| Horses Asses on 15:44 - Sep 6 by Swansea_Blue |
Hmm, I've seen better proof dubunking a theory. That article seems to confirm that the widths were borrowed from old carts and that imported English technology and expertise was formative in determining US gauge size. |
Also, who facts check snopes.. | |
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| Horses Asses on 15:49 - Sep 6 with 1788 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Horses Asses on 15:45 - Sep 6 by hype313 |
Also, who facts check snopes.. |
Good point. Or maybe I just like a good story and this is how all conspiracies start? Maybe I'm on the path to becoming a internet nutter. | |
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| Horses Asses on 16:38 - Sep 6 with 1706 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Horses Asses on 16:24 - Sep 6 by factual_blue |
Culi rumpenda
p.s. 'Facters'. |
We don't want to hear about your rump end | |
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| Horses Asses on 16:42 - Sep 6 with 1703 views | Ryorry |
| Horses Asses on 15:09 - Sep 6 by PhilTWTD |
Factus as he was known in those days. |
Factotum? ... recently (by his time frame) featuring in the well known film -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417658/
"This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling." [Post edited 6 Sep 2021 16:44]
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| Horses Asses on 16:47 - Sep 6 with 1682 views | StNeotsBlue |
Arse rather than ass, which is something entirely different. |  | | |
| Horses Asses on 16:59 - Sep 6 with 1658 views | Ryorry |
| Horses Asses on 15:49 - Sep 6 by Swansea_Blue |
Good point. Or maybe I just like a good story and this is how all conspiracies start? Maybe I'm on the path to becoming a internet nutter. |
"On the path to" ..? 🤔 | |
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| Horses Asses on 19:05 - Sep 6 with 1584 views | factual_blue |
| Horses Asses on 15:09 - Sep 6 by PhilTWTD |
Factus as he was known in those days. |
WHY HASN'T THIS AGEIST AND ABUSIVE POST BEEN REMOVED?
Age-baiting is clearly tolerated on here. |  |
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| Horses Asses on 19:26 - Sep 6 with 1546 views | Ewan_Oozami |
| Horses Asses on 15:09 - Sep 6 by PhilTWTD |
Factus as he was known in those days. |
Did he have a " vewy gweat fwiend in Rome"..? |  |
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| Horses Asses on 21:50 - Sep 6 with 1450 views | factual_blue |
| Horses Asses on 16:42 - Sep 6 by Ryorry |
Factotum? ... recently (by his time frame) featuring in the well known film -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417658/
"This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling." [Post edited 6 Sep 2021 16:44]
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Factorum - genitive plural.
You're welcome. | |
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| Horses Asses on 23:23 - Sep 6 with 1405 views | Ryorry |
| Horses Asses on 21:50 - Sep 6 by factual_blue |
Factorum - genitive plural.
You're welcome. |
Well I'll give you that one, as Latin's obvs your first language, & my last ever exam score in it was 16% ... | |
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| Horses Asses on 23:40 - Sep 6 with 1396 views | King_ding_a_lin_g |
All this article seems to do is confirm the point they are attempting to deny?
The standard US railway gauge is indeed borrowed from the UK's eventual standard gauge, which in turn was probably borrowed from the gauge used by Roman chariots... but, had the civil war gone another way, which it didn't, standard gauge in the US might not have been 4ft 8 1/2 inches.
But it is.
(there were many gauges being tried out in different parts of the UK at that time and Stevenson's was the one that stuck because it was the locomotive that was successful, and possibly not because of the gauge). [Post edited 6 Sep 2021 23:42]
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| Horses Asses on 02:04 - Sep 7 with 1294 views | StNeotsBlue |
What a load of arse. | | | |
| Horses Asses on 14:44 - Sep 7 with 1092 views | Oldsmoker |
| Horses Asses on 23:40 - Sep 6 by King_ding_a_lin_g |
All this article seems to do is confirm the point they are attempting to deny?
The standard US railway gauge is indeed borrowed from the UK's eventual standard gauge, which in turn was probably borrowed from the gauge used by Roman chariots... but, had the civil war gone another way, which it didn't, standard gauge in the US might not have been 4ft 8 1/2 inches.
But it is.
(there were many gauges being tried out in different parts of the UK at that time and Stevenson's was the one that stuck because it was the locomotive that was successful, and possibly not because of the gauge). [Post edited 6 Sep 2021 23:42]
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Now hang on there.
Brunels Broad Guage was faster, more comfortable and more spacious.
Curves in the track were not so tight and inclines avoided which is why GWR was known as the Great Way Round. Brunel built the route to London from Bristol as flat as possible. Early Locomotives were slowed to a crawl trying to climb steep inclines.
Stephensons guage was adopted nationally in the UK because there was more of it than Brunels broad guage. |  |
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| Horses Asses on 15:54 - Sep 7 with 1042 views | Ewan_Oozami |
| Horses Asses on 14:44 - Sep 7 by Oldsmoker |
Now hang on there.
Brunels Broad Guage was faster, more comfortable and more spacious.
Curves in the track were not so tight and inclines avoided which is why GWR was known as the Great Way Round. Brunel built the route to London from Bristol as flat as possible. Early Locomotives were slowed to a crawl trying to climb steep inclines.
Stephensons guage was adopted nationally in the UK because there was more of it than Brunels broad guage. |
Can still see the impact of Brunel's broad gauge on the underground between Farringdon and Paddington... | |
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