Every culture has its urban legends. While myths, fairy tales, folklore,
and traditional legends are generally considered fictional, allegorical, or
exaggerations of the truth, urban legends are reported as fact and are
widely believed to be factual among the masses. Urban legends are extremely
difficult to combat even when evidence exists to disprove them because they
seem reasonable, they fit comfortably into an individual's personal beliefs,
and most people are not inclined to go in search of "the truth."
The world of standards and standardization also has its share of urban
legends, which seem to be on the increase because of the Internet and email.
One standardization urban legend that has been making the rounds over the
last seven years or so deals with the connection between Roman chariots,
railroad tracks, and MilSpecs. The story begins with a question asking why
the U.S. standard railroad gauge (the distance between rails) is 4 feet
8-1/2 inches, which seems an odd number. The answer given is that English
ex-patriots built U.S. railroads, and 4 feet 8-1/2 inches was the standard
railroad track gauge in England because the railroad tracks were built on
top of road ruts created by the Romans to accommodate their war chariots.
Supposedly, the Romans had a MilSpec that set the wheel spacing at 4 feet
8-1/2 inches for their war chariots and all Roman rut roads. Eventually,
railroad tracks were laid on top of the road ruts. The final punch line is
that the U.S. standard railroad gauge derives from the original MilSpec for
an Imperial Roman army war chariot proving that MilSpecs and bureaucracies
live forever. The only problem with this story is that none of it is true,
except the fact that the standard U.S. railroad track gauge today is indeed
4 feet 8-1/2 inches.
For starters, the Roman army did not use chariots for warfare. Chariots
were technologically obsolete by 600 BCE, centuries before the rise of Rome.
While chariots were a technological leap when they came into use around 1800
BCE, they were far from the ideal weapon portrayed by Hollywood. Chariots
were unstable and restricted in use to open and flat terrain. They were
also expensive and difficult to make and maintain. The armies of the
ancient world used chariots because the horses available to them were too
small to carry a mounted soldier in armor and with weapons. Once horses
were introduced that were large enough to carry a fully equipped soldier,
cavalry quickly replaced charioteers. Cavalry was far more mobile, easier
to maintain, and made more effective use of manpower since a chariot
required a driver and fighter, whereas a single soldier could ride and fight
on horseback.
The Roman legions that conquered the ancient western world were made up
primarily of armored infantry supported by cavalry, light infantry, archers,
and engineers. The Roman legions never used the technologically inferior
chariot. Chariots were very popular in the Roman circus games and for
ceremonial processions, but they were not used militarily or commercially.
The suggestion that the Roman army developed a MilSpec for chariot wheel
spacing that necessitated the placement of road ruts at 4 feet 8-1/2 inches
is pure fiction.
The other aspect of this standardization urban legend that is pure fiction
is the suggestion that the standard track gauge in the U.S. has always been
4 feet 8-1/2 inches. At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861,
there were more than 20 different railroad track gauges in the U.S. ranging
from 3 feet to 6 feet.5 In fact, 5 feet was by far the most prevalent gauge
in the South6, so if the Confederacy had won the war, the standard size in
the U.S. might be different today. The table below shows some of the
variety of gauges in the U.S. and Canada at the beginning of 1861.
Track Gauge Miles of Railroad Track Percentage of Total Mileage
4' 8-1/2" 17,712 53.3
4' 10" 3,294 9.9
5' 0" 7,267 21.8
5' 6" 2,896 8.7
6' 0" 1,777 5.3
Others ------
1.0
Probably more than any other single event, the American Civil War is why the
U.S. has the one standard track gauge today. The Civil War was the first
war in which railroads played an important part in transporting troops,
equipment, and supplies. The variety of track gauges forced army units to
unload and then reload cargo at the junction point between lines with
different gauges. Such delays were inconvenient, expensive, and annoying
for civilians during peacetime, but for an army to experience such delays
sometimes meant the difference between victory and defeat.
While the U.S. government did not mandate conversion to a standard track
gauge, it did take steps that accelerated standardization towards the 4 foot
8-1/2 inch gauge. In 1862, the United States Military Railroad organization
was created to address a number of rail transportation issues, including
standardization of track gauges. Since the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch track gauge
accounted for more than half the track in the U.S., it made sense from a
military and economic viewpoint to promote this as the standard gauge. More
than 4,000 miles of new track was laid down in the North during the war,
most of which conformed to the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch track gauge. In some
cases, the Union forces altered the track gauges of captured Confederate
rails. For example, the 5-foot gauge of the Norfolk & Petersburg rail was
changed to 4 foot 8-1/2 inch gauge. In other cases, the government
succeeded in convincing nonstandard Northern railroads, such as the New York
Central, to change their track gauge.10 Finally, the Pacific Railway Act of
1864 mandated the standard 4 foot 8-1/2 inch gauge for the Transcontinental
Railroad.
The most significant contribution of the government for standardizing track
gauges, however, was to serve as a catalyst in bringing together industry to
promote railroad cooperation during the Civil War. In February of 1862,
Secretary of War Stanton and other government leaders met with the owners of
the major railroads to discuss a number of issues, including standardization
of track gauges. These meetings continued throughout the Civil War.
Following the war, industry continued to meet, and on September 18, 1867,
representatives from twenty-nine railroads formed the Master Car Builders
Association. At the top of their agenda was the standardization of track
gauge in the U.S. It would take another nineteen years, but through the
cooperative efforts of industry brought together initially by government,
commercial railroad track gauges in the U.S. were at last standardized to 4
feet 8-1/2 inches in 1886.
The original question of just how did such an odd track size of 4 feet 8-1/2
inches still remains. The truthful answer is that no one really knows.
Some people believe that train tracks were merely laid on top of road ruts
left by wagons and that the width of the wagons were determined by the width
of two horses side by side hauling the wagon. While it does seem reasonable
that train tracks were often laid on top of wagon wheel ruts, the distance
between wagon wheel ruts was not universal.
Everyone seems to agree that this odd track size did originate in England
from a railway pioneer named George Stephenson who used the 4 feet 8-1/2
inch track gauge when building the first public rail line, the Liverpool &
Manchester Railway, in 1830. Why he chose this odd size is a matter of
conjecture. Some historians maintain that the rails were originally laid 5
feet apart on top of wagon wheel ruts, but because the early edge rails were
1.75 inches across the top and early trains ran on the inside edges,
Mr. Stephenson had to subtract 3-1/2 inches for the railroad car wheel
spacing making them 4 feet 8-1/2 inches. As railroad track technology
improved so that the train wheels ran on top of the tracks, the tracks were
moved closer to fit the rail car widths. Still others maintain that Mr.
Stephenson originally designed the track gauge to measure 4 feet 8 inches,
but during construction, he added in an extra half inch to allow for a
little more leeway between rails and wheel flanges.
How ever the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch track gauge happened, hopefully, I have
provided enough convincing argument to dispel the urban legend connecting it
with Roman chariots and MilSpecs. Many believe that once an urban legend
makes it to the Internet, it can never be undone. Perhaps. But if everyone
in the standards community would send back an email rebuttal to anyone who
sends this story to you, I think it could be discredited enough to fade. We
in the standards community have a reputation for requiring data to support
contentions, and then challenging the data. We do our reputations a
disservice if we don't challenge and put right these urban legends.
From: the August 2001 issue of the Defense Standardization Program Journal,
author: Steve Lowell.
Chris Zizzo
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