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Did you ever wonder how things got to be the way they are? Sometimes you have to go way back into antiquity for the reason. Here's an example: > The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, > 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? > Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads > were built by English expatriates. > > Why did the English people 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. > > Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried > to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long > distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts. > > So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in > Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The > roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which > everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were > first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by > Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. > > Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States > standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original > specification (Military Spec) for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. > > MilSpecs and Bureaucracies live forever. Or, > "Why did you do that?" "Because we have always done it that way!" > So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's > a** came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial > Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the > back-ends of two war horses. >