Re: [LUG] Re: today's meets and some observations etc.

[Mark Evans <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> DaveNull writes:
>
> > We used 56.5 inches for the same reason we use £, tradition, from the 
> > Romans, it was the width of a roman cart wheels.
> > The Romans came up with that dimension because it was about right for 
> > a cart pulled by two horses.
>
>
> I am fairly sure this is an urban legend though I can't track the
> reference right now.

The story may be correct up to about 200 years. But one of the early 
railway pioneers (possibly the Stephensons) used track a few inches 
wider than the standard for horse drawn wagon ways. So even what became 
"standard guage" is going to be wider than Roman chariots (the Romans 
probably nicked the design from the Egyptians, there being no patents 
around then.)

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