History
Historically, the choice of gauge was partly arbitrary and partly a response to local conditions. Narrow-gauge railways are cheaper to build and can negotiate sharper curves but broad-gauge railways give greater stability and permit higher speeds.
Sometimes railway companies chose their own gauge, such as the Great Western Railway choosing 7 ft ¼in (2,140mm).
Other times, statutes required railways to use a particular gauge, such as the Thomasville, Tallahassee and Gulf Railroad having to use standard gauge.
Read more about this topic: Track Gauge
Famous quotes containing the word history:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
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—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)