Minor Breaks of Gauge
Wherever there are narrow gauge lines that connect with a standard gauge line, there is technically a break-of-gauge. If the amount of traffic transferred between lines is small, this might be a small inconvenience only. In Austria and Switzerland there are numerous breaks-of-gauge between standard-gauge main lines and narrow-gauge railways.
Many internal Swiss railways that operate in the more mountainous regions are 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) Metre gauge and most are equipped for rack assistance to deal with the relatively steep gradients encountered. Through running of standard gauge trains on rack sections would not be possible, but dual gauge track exists in many places where the gradient is relatively flat to carry standard and metre gauge stock. There also exists 800 mm (2 ft 7 1⁄2 in) gauge railways which are entirely rack operated.
The effects of a minor break-of-gauge can be minimized by placing it at the point where a cargo must be removed from cars anyway. An example of this is the East Broad Top Railroad in the United States of America, which had a coal wash and preparation plant at its break-of-gauge in Mount Union, Pennsylvania. The coal was unloaded from narrow gauge cars of the EBT, and after processing was loaded into standard gauge cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
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