Narrow Gauge Railways

A Narrow Gauge Railroad is any railroad in which the distance between the two rails is less than the standard of 4 ft. 8 1/2 in. However within the context of this site we will only be looking at railroads that are three feet in gauge, and predominantly two foot gauge.

Breif History of Two Foot Gauge Railways (600-610mm)

The largest two foot (600mm) railway operation were those used during WWI in numerous fronts, as supply trains for soldiers, ammunitions, supplies and extracating the wounded. The main advantage narrow gauge railroads have are; reduced construction costs (lighter rail, smaller bridges and right of way, smaller equipment); can be portable; very tight radii allowing tracks to be used where not possible before. This allowed railroads to provide service in areas that were not feasable in the past. Some great examples of these are; The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, The South African two foot railways, The various railraods that were used in the state of Maine (Sandy River, Billerica and Bedford etc..). There are still numerous two foot gauge railways in use today in industry, Australia employing several large scale railroads in the sugar industry. Most today are now Museum operations that focus on restoring much of the remaining equipment and offering tourist ooperations.