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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narrow gauge
monogusa_t (ながくら) Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:15:21 -0000
narrow gauge
@HeatherDesi Any particular reason you chose the North Conway railroad instead of Portland's narrow gauge?! Seems like a long haul!
dalaixerces (Ryan C. Meader) Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:01:54 -0000
@HeatherDesi Any particular reason you chose the North Conway railroad instead of Portland's narrow gauge?! Seems like a long haul!
@rachelbirder I almost lived in Durango in the 80's after college - beautiful there, Mesa Verde, narrow gauge, etc. I ended up in Alaska!
MargaretKinney (Margaret Kinney) Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:54:14 -0000
@rachelbirder I almost lived in Durango in the 80's after college - beautiful there, Mesa Verde, narrow gauge, etc. I ended up in Alaska!
@CustomTrains Usually Model Railroader has info on the various scales in the December issue. Those narrow gauge variations are tricky.
dufr01 (Frank Dutton) Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:04:45 -0000
@CustomTrains Usually Model Railroader has info on the various scales in the December issue. Those narrow gauge variations are tricky.
@dmrstwt Just got off the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Steam Train... Beautiful
tuBreal (tuBreal) Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:20:55 -0000
@dmrstwt Just got off the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Steam Train... Beautiful
@CustomTrains He's referring to O scale 30" narrow gauge.
dufr01 (Frank Dutton) Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:32:06 -0000
@CustomTrains He's referring to O scale 30" narrow gauge.

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