Minimum Gauge Railway
Minimum gauge railways have a gauge of less than 2 ft (610 mm) or 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in), most commonly 15 in (381 mm), 400 mm (15 3⁄4 in), 18 in (457 mm) or 500 mm (19 3⁄4 in). The notion of minimum gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and by the French company of Decauville for industrial railways.
The term was originally conceived by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood who used it in 1874 to describe the principle behind his Duffield Bank Railway, distinguishing it from a "Narrow Gauge" railway. Having previously built a small railway of 9 in (229 mm) gauge, he settled on 15 in (381 mm) as the minimum that he felt was practical. An important feature was that it was intended to be easy to lay on, for instance, a battlefield.
The major distinction between a miniature railway (USA: 'riding railroad' or 'grand scale railroad') and a minimum gauge railway is that miniature lines use models of full-sized prototypes. There are miniature railways that run on gauges as wide as 2 ft (610 mm), for example the Wicksteed Park Railway. There are also minimum gauge railways running on extremely narrow track as small as 10 1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge, for example the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway. Generally minimum gauge railways have a working function as estate railways, or industrial railways, or providers of public transport links; although most also have a distinct function in relation to tourism as well, and depend upon tourism for the revenue to support their working function.
A general aspect about minimum gauge railways is that the loading gauge is maximized, which is to say the dimension of the equipment is made as large as possible with respect to the track gauge, while still providing enough stability to keep it from tipping over.
During World War II, it was proposed to expedite the Yunnan Burma Railway using a tiny "toy" 400 mm (15 3⁄4 in) gauge, since such a small gauge can have the tightest of curves in difficult terrain.
Read more about Minimum Gauge Railway: List of Minimum Gauge Railways
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