April 17 2001
Doug
I have appreciated your posting! As you know, I also am a fan of railways
(including Military Railways!), please, see my comments:
At 21.25 16/04/01 +0930, DOUG wrote:
>Courtesy of NASA of all people!
>
>Chariots to the Space Shuttle
>
>Does the expression, "We've always done it that way!" ring any bells?
>
>The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is
>4 feet, 8.5 inches.
. ... snip ...
>This is because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough
to accommodate the back ends of two war-horses.
Well, it also accomodated two Romans, a driver and a fighter...
>but the SRB had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch
>site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a
>tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel.
>The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad
track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
>
>So, a major design feature of what is arguably the world's most
>advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand
>years ago by the width of a horse's ass.
>
>
>Howard Winsett
>NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
>661-276-2262
>P.O. Box 273
>Edwards, CA 93523
>
>What he didn't mention was the reason why we drive on the left of the
road. ... snip ...
>horse. Also, if you kept to the left you protected your vulnerable
>side and should you encounter someone nasty, they were already on
... snip ...
>I have been told that it was one of the French Kings
>that decreed the change of side of the road either to make it >harder for
someone to attack his bodyguards or as an indication >of peacefull intent?
The rest of Europe were forced to follow >suit so this may have been the
Napoleonic era.
YES! AFAIK, it was Napoleone Bonaparte, who also "invented" (read
"adopted"!) metrication instead of the inches/foots to oppose (???) the
British... However, here in Italy our trains STILL run on the LEFT
rails... Perhaps, because our very first steam loco - The Bayard - was
manufactured in 1839 in England together with another one, The Vesuvius.
They connected Naples to Portici, a little town some 6 miles south of
Naples along the sea.
The King of Naples coming back by ship to Portici, did take the train to
come back to the Royal Palace in Naples, faster than by coach!
Now the circle is complete: the "left" drive come, in a certain sense!,
from Imperial Rome, went to England and come back to Rome (Italy)!
"Il Duce", in 1939, for the Centenary of the first Italian loco, arranged
to build a faithful replica of the Bayard and, lucky enough!, it survived
the Allied bombing in WWII and today it has been preserved in a Museum, in
Portici, in the former Royal Repair/Maintenance buildings of 1839.
> The Americans didn't want to conform to
>British methods and thus used the RHS of the road, not out of any
>desire to copy the Europeans.
>Regards
>Doug
Mandatory Mil. Veh content: Now I have a garage to recover a Mil. Veh. and
I am looking for a WWII Jeep in good condition with correct
title/documents. Before I forget... I am in Napoli, Italy...
Keep Them Rolling!
Raimondo - MVPA 15878 & IMPS 2320
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