Narrow-gauge railways are railways or railroads where the distance between the two parallel rails constituting the railway track (the track gauge) is less than the of standard gauge railways. In practice, most presently existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of or less. The rationale for the use of a narrower gauge is that a railway using such a gauge can be substantially cheaper to build, equip, and operate than one employing standard gauge. This allows railways to be built in mountainous regions, and other places where heavy rail trains would need tunnels or bridges. Narrow gauge railways also have specialized use in mines and other environments where their smaller size is an advantage. On the other hand, standard gauge railways have a greater haulage capacity and allow greater train speeds than narrow gauge systems.

Historically, many narrow gauge railways were built as part of specific industrial enterprises and were primarily industrial railways rather than general carriers. Some common uses for these industrial narrow gauge railways were mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and the conveying of agricultural products. Extensive networks were constructed in many parts of the world for logging or for transporting agricultural products. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in places such as Cuba, Fiji, Java, and Queensland in Australia, while narrow gauge railway equipment remains in common use for the construction of tunnels. The other significant reason for narrow gauge railways to be constructed was to take advantage of reduced construction costs in mountainous or difficult terrain, hence the national railway systems of countries such as Japan and New Zealand are primarily or solely narrow gauge. Non-industrial narrow gauge mountain railways are or were also common in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the USA, in Mexico, in Switzerland, in the former Yugoslavia, in Greece, in India, and in Costa Rica. Another country with a notable national railway built to narrow gauge is South Africa.

Advantages of narrow gauge

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Narrow gauge railways cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels and tighter curves. Narrow gauge is thus often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in heavy civil engineering work can be substantial.

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Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes is featured in the Maine Narrow Gauge Collection Vol. 2. Now playing in two parts,... http://bit.ly/FlmnB
Pastagirl22 (debbie limoges) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:03:55 -0000
Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes is featured in the Maine Narrow Gauge Collection Vol. 2. Now playing in two parts,... http://bit.ly/FlmnB
Buy Milwaukee 7155-21 3/8-inch to 1-1/2-inch 18-gauge Narrow Crown Stapler: This finishing stapler .. http://tinyurl.com/yj9tna9 On Sale
emmetthowell (Emmet Thowell) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:50:11 -0000
Buy Milwaukee 7155-21 3/8-inch to 1-1/2-inch 18-gauge Narrow Crown Stapler: This finishing stapler .. http://tinyurl.com/yj9tna9 On Sale
Buy Milwaukee 7155-21 3/8-inch to 1-1/2-inch 18-gauge Narrow Crown Stapler: This finishing stapler i.. http://ping.fm/i9ruI On Sale
nathanmolina (Nathan Molina) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:49:37 -0000
Buy Milwaukee 7155-21 3/8-inch to 1-1/2-inch 18-gauge Narrow Crown Stapler: This finishing stapler i.. http://ping.fm/i9ruI On Sale
@BeadinPath Here's the website for the narrow gauge museum http://www.mngrr.org/ tons of info :)
burnsy06 (FKA kpbslu06) Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:10:24 -0000
@BeadinPath Here's the website for the narrow gauge museum http://www.mngrr.org/ tons of info :)
@BeadinPath There used to be a train show at the narrow gauge museum every year round abouts memorial day. I used to love going with my dad.
burnsy06 (FKA kpbslu06) Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:06:04 -0000
@BeadinPath There used to be a train show at the narrow gauge museum every year round abouts memorial day. I used to love going with my dad.
@hcurrier Agreed, BUT if they had narrow gauge boxcars, they'd have to be dwarf hobos.
DJNoRequest (greg daly) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:19:40 -0000
@hcurrier Agreed, BUT if they had narrow gauge boxcars, they'd have to be dwarf hobos.

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