Re: [OT] US Rail Guage...

["Jeff Melvaine" <jeffm52@rivernet.com.au>]

James Shugg <jshugg@westpac.com.au> wrote in message
c4c98596.0106072356.4a074a15@posting.google.com">news:c4c98596.0106072356.4a074a15@posting.google.com...
...
>
> Bringing this back on topic, does anyone know why the Irish went for
> 5'3"? Just think of all the angst and inefficiency that could have
> been avoided in Oz over the past 100 years if 4'8.5" really was a
> standard gauge.

I read somewhere that the Irish had their own problem of incompatible
gauges, and solved it by taking the average of all the existing gauges as
the standard.  (Very impartial as in equally inconvenient for all to
convert?)

Jeff
>
> Cheers, James