Posted by Mot at TNT: The width of that tunnel is just slightly…
(From Recaps archives)
TNT:
Mot: ....... And guess what? The width of that tunnel is just slightly
Did you know that the standard railroad gauge in the U.S.—the distance between the rails—is 4 feet, 8.5 inches? That might seem like an odd number, and there's a fascinating story behind it that stretches back thousands of years!
Why was that gauge used in the first place? Well, it's because the first U.S. railroads were designed by English engineers, and that’s how they built them in England. But why did the English use that particular gauge? It turns out that the first rail lines were constructed by the same people who built the old wagon tramways, and they used the same gauge.
But why did they use that specific wheel spacing for wagons? The reason goes even further back. If they tried to use a different spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on the old, long-distance roads in England. You see, the wheels had to match the spacing of the ruts in those roads. And who created those ruts?
The roads were originally built by Imperial Rome for their legions, and those roads have been used ever since. The ruts were made by Roman war chariots, which were all built to a standard width to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. So, the standard U.S. railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches actually originates from the specifications of an Imperial Roman war chariot!
Bureaucracies, it seems, have a knack for enduring the test of time. So, the next time you're handed a specification or process and wonder, "Who on earth came up with this?" you might just be right in thinking it dates back to a couple of horse's... well, you know!
Now, here’s the twist: When you see a Space Shuttle on its launch pad, there are two big solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These SRBs were made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah.
The engineers wanted to make them a bit wider, but there was one problem—the SRBs had to be shipped by train to the launch site. The railroad line passed through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel.
And guess what? The width of that tunnel is just slightly wider than the railroad track, which, as you now know, is determined by the width of two horses' behinds from ancient Rome.
So, a critical design feature of one of the most advanced transportation systems in the world was dictated by the width of two horses'... well, you get the idea.
Who knew that the influence of ancient horse's behinds could reach all the way into the Space Age?
