HOT RAM
Full Access Member
This is quite interesting :
The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet,8 1/2 inches.That is an exceedingly odd number.Why was that gauge used ? Because that's the way they built them in England,and English expatriates built the U.S. railroads.
Why did the English build them like that ? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways,and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then ? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons,which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular spacing ?Well, if they tried to use any other spacing,the wagon wheels would break on some of the old,long distance roads in England because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.So,who built those old rutted roads ?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their Legions.The roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads ? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts,which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome,they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet ,8 1/2 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
So ,the next time you are handed a Specification/Procedure/Process and wonder "What horse's ass came up with this ?",you may be exactly right.
Imperial Roman chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (two horse's backsides)
Now,the twist to the story : When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on it's launch pad,there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.These are solid rocket boosters or SRB's.The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah.
The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit bigger,but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel.The tunnel is slightly larger than the railroad track,and the railroad track ,as you know,is about as wide as two horses butts.
So,a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the worlds most advanced transportation system was determined over 2,000 years ago by the width of a horse's butt.
And you thought a horse's butt wasn't important ? Ancient horse's butts control almost everything............and CURRENT horse's butts are controlling everything else..........any questions ?
disclaimer : I just thought this was funny,not necessarily factual.I don't need any engineers or train men to slam me for inaccuracy.
The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet,8 1/2 inches.That is an exceedingly odd number.Why was that gauge used ? Because that's the way they built them in England,and English expatriates built the U.S. railroads.
Why did the English build them like that ? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways,and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then ? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons,which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular spacing ?Well, if they tried to use any other spacing,the wagon wheels would break on some of the old,long distance roads in England because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.So,who built those old rutted roads ?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their Legions.The roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads ? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts,which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome,they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet ,8 1/2 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
So ,the next time you are handed a Specification/Procedure/Process and wonder "What horse's ass came up with this ?",you may be exactly right.
Imperial Roman chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (two horse's backsides)
Now,the twist to the story : When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on it's launch pad,there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.These are solid rocket boosters or SRB's.The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah.
The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit bigger,but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel.The tunnel is slightly larger than the railroad track,and the railroad track ,as you know,is about as wide as two horses butts.
So,a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the worlds most advanced transportation system was determined over 2,000 years ago by the width of a horse's butt.
And you thought a horse's butt wasn't important ? Ancient horse's butts control almost everything............and CURRENT horse's butts are controlling everything else..........any questions ?
disclaimer : I just thought this was funny,not necessarily factual.I don't need any engineers or train men to slam me for inaccuracy.
