Railroad tracks.

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 Scotland , and Scottish expatriates designed the US railroads.

Why did the Scottish 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 had

Used for building wagons, which used that

Wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing ?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in Scotland ,

Because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads ? Imperial Rome built the first long distance

Roads in Europe (including Scotland ) for their legions. Those roads have been used

Ever since.

And the ruts in the roads ?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts,

Which everyone else had to match for fear

Of destroying their wagon wheels..

Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman

War chariot. Bureaucracies live forever....

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this ?' , you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.

These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs.

The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their

Factory in Utah .

The engineers who designed the SRBs

Would have preferred to make them a bit

Fatter, but the SRBs 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, and

The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track,

And the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature

Of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of two horses' asses. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important ? Ancient horses' asses control almost everything.. And current Horses' Asses in government are controlling everything else !__________________________________________________ ____________________________

AND HERE ENDETH THE LESSON!

Like it - saw that a while back and thought it 'clever'

You mean my life really has value? I'm all excited.

Originally Posted by ENGINETORQUE

Like it - saw that a while back and thought it 'clever'

Yeah, it came in an e-mail from one of my old "limey" buddies!

Don't you go admitting that you have 'Limey Buddies' - credibility is sure to suffer on here

Originally Posted by ENGINETORQUE

Don't you go admitting that you have 'Limey Buddies' - credibility is sure to suffer on here

LMAO! You could be right! Mums the word!

I spoze it's a perfectly round number in Roman numeral measurement of horsebutts.

I look at the tracks and think about romans every time I cross a set.

Why is it that there are more horses' asses in the world than there are horses ?.

Originally Posted by Usta Bee

Why is it that there are more horses' asses in the world than there are horses ?.

Because mules are half horse, half donkey, guess which half is horse.

I was going to say the wagons were that wide so you could fit a sheet of 4 x 8 plywood in the back.

Of course, tracks being an " unusual " 4 ft '8.5" between the tracks are a much more usual 5.0 ft wide on the outside.

Just saying,

Dean in Milwaukee

I'd like to have one of these nifty anvils:

Originally Posted by Treetop

I'd like to have one of these nifty anvils:

Is that a piece of rail? Pretty cool.

Originally Posted by plowboy1966

Is that a piece of rail? Pretty cool.

Yeah, the bottom looks altered though, or maybe it is some odd rail, like from a switch or something, don't know.

Amusing story, which is probably the main reason it stays alive

""""
The only problem with this story is that none of it is true, except the fact that the standard U.S. railroad track gauge today is indeed 4 feet 8-1/2 inches.
...
The Roman legions that conquered the ancient western world were made up primarily of armored infantry supported by cavalry, light infantry, archers, and engineers. The Roman legions never used the technologically inferior chariot.
...
The other aspect of this standardization urban legend that is pure fiction is the suggestion that the standard track gauge in the U.S. has always been 4 feet 8-1/2 inches.
""""
https://standards.nasa.gov/documents/RomanChariots.pdf

Also:
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp