Irish Gauge

Track gauges

General concepts

Dual gauge · Conversion (list) ·
Bogie exchange · Variable gauge

By transport mode

Tram · Rapid transit · High-speed rail
Miniature · Scale model

By size (list)



Broad
Breitspurbahn	3,000 mm	(9 ft 10 ¹⁄₈ in)
Brunel	2,140 mm	(7 ft ¹⁄₄ in)
Indian	1,676 mm	(5 ft 6 in)
Iberian	1,668 mm	(5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in)
Irish	1,600 mm	(5 ft 3 in)
Pennsylvania	1,588 mm 1,581 mm	(5 ft 2 ¹⁄₂ in) (5 ft 2 ¹⁄₄ in)
Russian	1,524 mm 1,520 mm	(5 ft) (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂)

Standard	1,435 mm	(4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)

Narrow
Scotch	1,372 mm	(4 ft 6 in)
Cape	1,067 mm	(3 ft 6 in)
Metre	1,000 mm	(3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in)
Three foot	914 mm	(3 ft)
Imperial and Bosnian	762 mm 760 mm 750 mm	(2 ft 6 in) (2 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) (2 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in)
2 ft and 600mm	610 mm 600 mm 597 mm	(2 ft) (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) (1 ft 11 ¹⁄₂ in)

Minimum
Fifteen-inch	381 mm	(15 in)

By location

North America · South America · Europe

Irish gauge (also known as Victorian broad gauge) railways use a track gauge of . It is used in

Ireland (2,400 km or 1,491 mi).^[1]
Australia (4,017 km or 2,496 mi) where it is also known as Broad Gauge.^[2]
Brazil (4,057 km or 2,521 mi) where it is also known as Bitola larga.
Baden, Germany, between 1840 and 1855, by the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway, known as Breitspur.
Switzerland, until 1854, by the Swiss Northern Railway.

1 History
- 1.1 Timeline
2 Summary
3 Similar gauges
4 Locomotives
5 See also
6 References

History

Timeline

600 BCE: The Diolkos (Δίολκος) across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece – a grooved paved trackway – was constructed with an average gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in).^[3]

1840: The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway was constructed to 1600 mm gauge.

1843: The Board of Trade of the United Kingdom recommended the use of in Ireland, after investigating a dispute caused by diverse gauges in Ireland.

1846: An Act of Parliament, the Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846, made this gauge mandatory on the island of Ireland.^[4]

1854–55: The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway was converted to standard gauge.

1875: First narrow gauge ( in Ireland)

1982: December 5 - The Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway began public operation, the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland.^[5]

2009: The 125 km (77.7 mi) long Oaklands railway line, which runs into New South Wales from Victoria, was converted to standard gauge. The project was relatively easy because the line has wooden sleepers.; 200 km (124.3 mi) of the Albury-Wodonga railway line, Victoria was converted to standard gauge, meaning a double track standard gauge line was created between Seymour and Albury.

Summary

Country/region	Notes
Australia	States of South Australia, Victoria (Victorian broad gauge), New South Wales (a few lines built by, and connected to, the Victorian rail system) and Tasmania, Australia (one line, Deloraine to Launceston, opened in 1871, partly converted to dual gauge, and then converted to in 1888).
Brazil	Lines connecting the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais; E.F.Carajás in Pará and Maranhão states, and Ferronorte in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states. Used in older Metro systems.^[6]
Germany	Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway 1840 - 1855^[7]
Switzerland	Swiss Northern Railway until 1854, converted standard gauge.
Ireland	Irish broad gauge
New Zealand	Canterbury Provincial Railways (1863- ; All routes gauge converted to by 1876)
United Kingdom	Northern Ireland Railways - entire network

Similar gauges

The Pennsylvania trolley gauges ( and ) are similar. There is also , see track gauge in Ireland.

Locomotives

One of the supposed advantages of the broader Irish Gauge, compared to standard gauge, is that the greater space between the wheels allows for bigger cylinders. In practice, Ireland does not have any heavily-loaded or steeply-graded lines that would require especially powerful locomotives. The most powerful steam locomotives on systems of this gauge were:

Ireland - GSR Class 800 – Tractive effort: 155 kN (34,850 lbf)
Victoria - Victorian Railways H class - 245 kN (55,080 lbf); 23.6t axleload - 1 in 48 grade.

By comparison a non-articulated standard gauge locomotive in the same country was:

NSW D57 class locomotive of 286 kN (64,300 lbf) - 1 in 33 (3.333 %) grades

References

v t e Track gauge

General	Bogie exchange Break-of-gauge Dual gauge Gauge conversion Variable gauge

Broad gauge	Breitspurbahn Brunel Indian Iberian Irish Pennsylvanian , see track gauge in Ireland Five-foot Russian Toronto subway and Toronto streetcar Italian broad gauge

Standard gauge	(Stephenson gauge)

Narrow gauge	Scotch Cape Metre Italian meter gauge Three-foot Swedish three-foot Imperial Bosnian Italian narrow gauge and

Minimum gauge

Lists	track gauges gauge conversions

Categories	by country by imperial units by metric units by name

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Irish Gauge

Irish Gauge

Contents

History

Timeline

Summary

Similar gauges

Locomotives

See also

References

Suggestions

Rail transport in Ireland

Encyclopedia Article