RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hallo Mick ,I cannot help with the track gauges of France and Germany through 1939/1945 but the Track gauge of the UK, France and German Railways today are the same "Standard Gauge" Which is 1.435mm---4 Feet 8 1/2 inches, I hope that helps.
Shaun.

Mick, I am sorry but you are mistaken, Standard Gauge is universal on all British Railway lines with the obvious exceptions of the Specialist lines, Romney Hythe and Dymchurch, is Narrow Gauge, the Bleanau FFestiniog is a combination Rack and narrow Gauge and certain industrial railways,
But the reason you cannot get a direct train from one particular part of the UK to another is basically historic,
The original Railway companies were private companies and Western was Broad Gauge for instance,
As London was the Hub for all English Mainline railways and other hubs such as York and Crewe existed it was not considered by any of the private companies worthwhile connecting to other companies systems Which would not gain them a penny profit if they did make the connection especially when a simple cab ride from one London (or in the case of York and Crewe changing Platform/Train) terminus to another would do the same job,
Now there is a greater level of connectivity,
It is possible by changing trains at the same station to travel on one ticket from for instance Birmingham, Formerly LMS to London Gatwick, Formerly Southern,
And with Crossrail the final connection of Railways in the West will be able to run straight through to East Anglia. It is possible because even though the present Railway is operated by private companies the Infrastructure, Rails , Signalling etc is state owned so that the intergration of the whole system is possible,
It wasn't done in the days of British Railways simply because of a lack of Funds combined with the change in the Governments transport priority's from Rail to Motorways.
Trust me all British railway lines and signalling because it is owned by one State owned company is all Standard Gauge,
The trouble with it is that as with so many other things we invented the "Railway" so we had no pattern to follow and anyone with a few quid and a plan could lay out their own system,
Because it didn't meld with a competitor was simply Tough, And the Railway Traveller has had to suffer ever since.
Dr Beeching tried to sort it out but the uproar when his cuts were revealed frightened the Government away from further investment.
Shaun.

Son of a gun-ner wrote:Bugger, forgot to ask, is that measurement between the rails?

Mick.

It is from the Centre of one Railway line to the Centre of the other Railway line.
Shaun..

Hi Mick, so gauge is 1435mm running edge to running edge (not rail centres as Shaun is suggesting (apologies Shaun if I've misunderstood)). The head width of cen56 is 65mm and cen60 is 70mm. The width of the foot is wider for flat bottom (modern) rail, where traditional bullhead rail the foot is the same width as the head.

Also the festiniog is narrow gauge but is not rack and pinion, only the Snowdon mountain railway is.

The problem with Southern was not the Gauge but that it was the ONLY Three rail all electric system in the country all though of course London Transports Underground Railway is Three Rail but everything about that system is incompatible with the Mainline Standard Gauge of the rest of the UK.
Shaun.

jarndice wrote:The problem with Southern was not the Gauge but that it was the ONLY Three rail all electric system in the country all though of course London Transports Underground Railway is Three Rail but everything about that system is incompatible with the Mainline Standard Gauge of the rest of the UK.
Shaun.

Incorrect, mersey rail is 3rd rail and the manchester Victoria - bury line was also 3rd rail (although side contact, which was unique)

Son of a gun-ner wrote:

tomhugill wrote:Hi Mick, so gauge is 1435mm running edge to running edge. The head width of cen56 is 65mm and cen60 is 70mm. The width of the foot is wider for flat bottom (modern) rail, where traditional bullhead rail the foot is the same width as the head.

So, that's between the rails (running edge to running edge) what's cen 56 and 60 all about lol, is that different rail types?

Thanks for that Tom

Mick.

Hey Mick, CEN56 and CEN60 are the two most common rail profiles on the network, the 56 and 60 refer to the weight per standard (60ft) length. CEN60 is slightly heavier with larger profile and is used on the high speed/high tonnage lines such as west coast main line, east coast main line etc.

Son of a gun-ner wrote:

jarndice wrote:The problem with Southern was not the Gauge but that it was the ONLY Three rail all electric system in the country all though of course London Transports Underground Railway is Three Rail but everything about that system is incompatible with the Mainline Standard Gauge of the rest of the UK.
Shaun.

Now you're just complicating the issue lol. . . . Didn't think they had electric rails back in the day of the first trains?

Mick.

Electrification started to come in quite early on, pre wwi, however in Europe they've always favoured overhead line electrification, rather than 3rd rail.

And now we get back to Tanks With Road Tracks and Transport Tracks to allow for Tanks to be transported by Rail.
There are Transport tracks available in !/16 if you search around.
Shaun.

Mick I am sorry I think I am confusing you,
I meant that you can buy 1/16 scale metal tank tracks that are a copy of the Tracks specially fitted to German Heavy's such as the Tiger 1 and 2 when they were being moved on the railways because the regular Road tracks were too wide when on a railway flatcar.
Shaun.