Scotch gauge
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- For other uses of Scotch, see Scotch (disambiguation), Scottish (disambiguation), and Scots (disambiguation).
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Scotch gauge was the name given to a 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) rail gauge, the distance between the inner sides of the rails, that was adopted by early 19th century railways mainly in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland.
It differed from the gauge of 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm) that was used on some early lines in England and from Standard gauge. It became obsolete in the early 1840s when Standard gauge lines began to be constructed in Scotland.
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[edit] Scottish railways built to Scotch gauge
A small number of early to mid 19th century passenger railways were built to Scotch gauge, they include:
- The Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway.[1]
- Length: 10 mile (16 km).[2] Authorised on 20 July 1806 and opened on 6 November 1810;[3]
- The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway.[4]
- Length: 10 mile (16 km).[2] Authorised on 17 May 1824 and opened on 1 October 1826.[3] The engineer was Thomas Grainger.[4]
- The Ballochney Railway.[1]
- Length: 6½ mile (10 km).[2] Incorporated on 19 May 1826 and opened on 8 August 1828.[3]
- The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway.[1]
- Authorised on 26 May 1826 and opened in part on 4 July 1831.[3]
- The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway.[1]
- Length: 8¼ mile (13 km).[2] Incorporated on 26 May 1826 and ceremonially opened on 27 September 1831 for both passengers and goods.[3] The engineers were Grainger and Miller from Edinburgh: (Thomas Grainger and John Miller).[1] [4]
- The Wishaw and Coltness Railway.[4]
- Length: 11 mile (18 km).[2] Incorporated on 21 June 1829 and partially opened on 21 March 1834.[3] The engineers were Grainger and Miller from Edinburgh: (Thomas Grainger and John Miller).[4]
- The Slamannan Railway.[1]
- Length: 12½ mile (20 km).[1][2] Incorporated on 3 July 1835 and opened on 31 August 1840.[3]
- The Paisley and Renfrew Railway.[1]
- Length: 3 mile (5 km).[2] Authorised on 21 July 1835 and opened on 3 April 1837 for both passengers and goods.[3] The engineer was Thomas Grainger.[4]
Interestingly Robert Stephenson and Company built a Scotch gauge locomotive, the St. Rollox, for the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway; which was later sold to the Paisley and Renfrew Railway.[1][3]
All the lines were later relaid in Standard gauge.[1][3]
[edit] Other early 19th century Scottish gauges
[edit] 4ft 6½in gauge
In addition to the above lines, there were three railways, authorised between 1822 and 1835, that were built in the Dundee area, to a gauge of 4ft 6½in (1385 mm). They were:
[edit] 5ft 6in gauge
Grainger and Miller built another two railway lines in the same area to a gauge of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm). Thomas Grainger is said to have chosen this gauge, since he regarded Standard gauge as being too narrow and Isambard Kingdom Brunel's 7 ft 0¼ in (2,140 mm) Broad Gauge as being too wide.[1] They were:
- The Dundee and Arbroath Railway;[1] [4]
- Length: 14½ mile (23 km).[2] Incorporated on 19 May 1836 and opened in part in October 1838.[3]
- The Arbroath and Forfar Railway.[1] [4]
- Length: 15 mile (24 km).[2] Incorporated on 19 May 1836 and opened in part on 24 November 1838.[3]
[edit] End of Scotch gauge
The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway and the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway, which both obtained Parliamentary Approval on 15 July 1837 and were later to become part of the Glasgow and South Western Railway and the Caledonian Railway, respectively, were built to Standard Gauge from the start.[1]
The Standard gauge of 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm), also known as the Stephenson gauge after George Stephenson, was adopted in Great Britain after 1846.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing.
- Robertson, C.J.A. (1983). The Origins of the Scottish Railway System: 1722-1844. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers. ISBN 0-85976-088-X.
- Thomas, John (1971). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Volume 6 Scotland: The Lowlands and the Borders. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5408-6.
- Popplewell, Lawrence (1989). A Gazetteer of the Railway Contractors and Engineers of Scotland 1831 - 1870. (Vol. 1: 1831 - 1870 and Vol. 2: 1871 - 1914). Bournmouth: Melledgen Press. ISBN 0-906637-14-7.
- Whishaw, Francis (1842). The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland practically described and illustrated. Second Edition. London: John Weale. Reprinted and republished 1969, Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4786-1.
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