CHAPTER 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION:
A narrow-gauge railway (or narrow-gauge railroad) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than
the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways are
between 600 mm (1 ft 11 58 in) and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in).
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with smaller radius curves, smaller structure
gauges, lighter rails, etc., they can be substantially less costly to build, equip, and operate than
standard gauge or broad gauge railways, particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain. The
lower costs of narrow-gauge railways mean they are often built to serve industries and
communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of building a standard or broad
gauge line.

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Narrow-gauge railway

Track gauge
By transport mode
Tram Rapid transit
Miniature Scale model
By size (list)

Minimum
Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)

Narrow
597 mm (1 ft 11 12 in)
600 mm, 600 mm (1 ft 11 58 in)
Two foot 603 mm (1 ft 11 34 in)
610 mm (2 ft)
750 mm, 750 mm (2 ft 5 12 in)
Bosnian, 760 mm (2 ft 5 1516 in)
Two foot six inch, 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
800 mm 800 mm (2 ft 7 12 in)
Swedish three foot, 332 in)
891 mm (2 ft11
900 mm, 900 mm (2 ft 11 716)
Three foot 914 mm (3 ft)
Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in)
Three foot six inch,
1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Cape, CAP, Kyki
Four foot six inch 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)

Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in)

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 Broad
Russian, 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 2732 in)
Five foot 1,524 mm (5 ft)
Irish 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Iberian 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 2132 in)
Indian 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Six foot 1,829 mm (6 ft)
Brunel 2,140 mm (7 ft 14 in)
Change of gauge
Break-of-gauge Dual gauge
Conversion (list) Bogie exchange Variable gauge
By location
North America South America Europe Australia

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Narrow-gauge railways also have specialized use in mines and other environments where a very
small structure gauge makes a very small loading gauge necessary. Narrow-gauge railways also
have more general applications. Nonindustrial narrow-gauge mountain railways are or were
common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, in
Mexico, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, India, and Costa Rica. In some countries,
narrow gauge is the standard, like the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge in Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan,
New Zealand, South Africa, the Australian states of Queensland and Tasmania, and
the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in) metre gauge in Malaysia and Thailand.

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Many narrow-gauge street tramways are used, particularly in Europe,
where 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in) metre gauge tramways are common.

Comparison of 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) (blue) and 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) (red) width:

The difference is 14.5 in (370 mm), or about 26% of standard gauge.

1.2. History:

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Woodcut from De re metallica showing narrow gauge railway in mine, 1556

A train at Bad Bubendorf station on the 750 mm (2 ft 5 12 in) gauge Waldenburg

railway between Liestal and Waldenburg in Switzerland [2]

The earliest recorded railway is shown in the De re metallica of 1556, which shows a mine in
Bohemia with a railway of about 2 ft (610 mm) gauge. During the 16th century, railways were
mainly restricted to hand-pushed narrow gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. During the
17th century, mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines
were industrial, connecting mines with nearby transportation points, usually canals or other
waterways. These railways were usually built to the same narrow gauge as the mine railways
from which they developed.

The world's first steam locomotive on rails, built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick for the
Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a 3 ft (914 mm) plateway. During the 1820s and 1830s, a
number of industrial narrow gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In
1842, the first narrow gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for
the 1,100 mm (3 ft 7 516 in) gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium. The first use of steam

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locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow gauge railway came in 1865 when
the Ffestiniog Railway introduced its passenger service, after receiving its first locomotives two
years prior.

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 narrow gauge networks were constructed in
many parts of the world for these purposes. For example, mountain logging operations in the
19th century often used narrow gauge railways to transport logs from mill sites to market.
Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland.
Narrow gauge railway equipment remains in common use for the construction of tunnels.

Extensive narrow gauge railway systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World
War I. They were a short-lived military application, and after the end of the war, the surplus
equipment from these created a small boom in narrow gauge railway building in Europe.

CHAPTER 2

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2.1. Advantages:

Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are usually lighter in construction,
using smaller cars and locomotives (smaller loading gauge), as well as smaller bridges,
smaller tunnels (smaller structure gauge) and tighter curves. Narrow gauge is thus often used in
mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. It is also
used in sparsely populated areas where the potential demand is too low for broader gauge
railways to be economically viable. This is the case in some of Australia and most of Southern
Africa, where extremely poor soils have led to population densities too low for standard gauge to
be viable.

For temporary railways that will be removed after short-term use, such as for construction, the
logging industry, the mining industry, or large-scale construction projects, especially in confined
spaces, such as the Channel Tunnel, a narrow gauge railway is substantially cheaper and easier to
install and remove. The use of such railways has almost vanished due to the capabilities of
modern trucks.

In many countries, narrow gauge railways were built as "feeder" or "branch" lines to feed traffic
to more important standard gauge lines, due to their lower construction costs. The choice was
often not between a narrow gauge railway and a standard gauge one, but between a narrow gauge
railway and none at all.

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2.2. Disadvantages:

2.2.1. Interchangability:

Narrow gauge railways cannot interchange rolling stock such as freight and passenger cars freely
with the standard gauge or broad gauge railways with which they link, and the transfers of
passengers and freight require time-consuming manual labour or substantial capital expenditure.
Some bulk commodities, such as coal, ore, and gravel, can be mechanically transshipped, but this
still incurs time penalties and the equipment required for the transfer is often complex to
maintain.

If there are rail lines with other gauges coexist in the network, in times of peak demand, it is very
difficult to move rolling stock to where it is needed when a break of gauge exists, so enough
rolling stock must be available to meet a narrow gauge railways' own peak demand, which might
be much more than needed when compare to a network with only one gauge, and the surplus
equipment would generate no cash flow during periods of low demand. In regions where narrow
gauge form only a small part of their rail network like Sakhalin railway in Soviet Russia, extra
cost is needed to specifically design, produce or import narrow gauge equipment which would
increase the cost of narrow gauge vehicle compare to regular vehicle.

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2.2.2. Growth Potential:

Another problem commonly faced by narrow gauge railways was that they lacked the physical
space to grow: their cheap construction meant they were engineered only for their initial traffic
demands. While a standard or broad gauge railway could more easily be upgraded[citation needed] to
handle heavier, faster traffic, many narrow gauge railways were impractical to improve. Speeds
and loads hauled could not increase, so traffic density was significantly limited. In the case
of Queensland, Australia, the Queensland Rail passenger network has nearly reached its capacity
due to the narrow gauge and an ever increasing population, as such, new lines are to be built,
thus negating the original cost savings. In Japan, a few narrow gauge lines have been upgraded to
standard gauge mini-shinkansen to allow through service by standard gauge high speed vehicles,
but due to the alignment of those lines and minimum curve radius of those lines, the maximum
speed of those through service is still the same as the original narrow gauge rail line.

If a narrow gauge line is built to higher standard like the proposed Super Tokky concept in
Japan, its problem can be reduced.

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 CHAPTER 3

3.1. Solutions to disadvantages:

3.1.1.Interchangability:

Solutions to interchangability problems of transshipment are bogie exchange between cars,

a rollbock system, variable gauge, dual gauge, or even gauge conversion. European standard
gauge trains normally use buffers and chain couplers, which do not allow such tight curves, a
main reason to have narrow gauge. Therefore, narrow gauge trains normally use other couplers,
which makes bogie exchange meaningless.

Alternatively, a rail network comprises of only narrow gauge network could also eliminate the
interchangability problem.

3.1.2. Growth Potential:

If narrow gauge rails are designed with potential growth in mind, or with same standard as
standard gauge rails, then the obstacles to be faced in future growth of those rail lines would be
similar to other rail gauge.

For those lines constructed to a lower standard, speed can be increased via nimerous methods
including realigning rail lines to increase the minimum curve radius, reduce the number of
intersection, introducing tilting trains to improve the speed of trains running on those lines.

CHAPTER 4

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4.1. Successful railways:

The heavy duty 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railways in Australia (e.g. Queensland), South
Africa, and New Zealand show that if the track is built to a heavy-duty standard, performance
almost as good as a standard gauge line is possible. Some 200-car trains operate on the Sishen-
Saldanha railway in South Africa, and high-speed tilt-trains in Queensland. Another example of a
heavy-duty narrow gauge line is EFVM in Brazil. 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in) gauge, it has over-100-
pound rail (100 lb/yd or 49.6 kg/m) and a loading gauge almost as large as US non excess-height
lines. It has multiple 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) locomotives and 200+ car trains. In South Africa and
New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge, and in New
Zealand some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz
Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service),
and Transdev Auckland (Auckland suburban services).

4.1.1. Fastest trains:

The reduced stability of narrow gauge means its trains cannot run at the same high speeds as on
broader gauges. For instance, if a curve with standard gauge rail can allow speed up to 145 km/h
(90 mph), the same curve with narrow gauge rail can only allow speed up to 130 km/h (81 mph).

In Japan and Queensland, recent permanent way improvements have allowed trains
on 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tracks to run at 160 km/h (99 mph) and faster. Queensland
Rail's tilt train is currently the fastest train in Australia and the fastest 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge
train in the world, setting a record at 210 km/h.[4] The current speed record
for 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge rail is 245km/h, set in South Africa, 1978.

A special 2 ft (610 mm) gauge railcar was built for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company with
a design speed of 137 km/h.

Curve radius is also important for high speeds: narrow gauge railways allow sharper curves,
which limits the speed at which a vehicle can safely proceed along the track.

CHAPTER 5

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5.1. Costs:

Many engineers considered the cost of a railway varies with some power of the gauge, so the
narrower gauge the cheaper it might be. This applied also to different narrow gauges, such as a
proposed line in Papua using either 610 mm (2 ft) or 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in).[9]

Nomenclature:

In general, a narrow gauge railway has a track gauge less than standard gauge. However, due to
historical and local circumstances, the definition of a narrow gauge railway can be different.

5.2. Gauges used :

Many narrow gauges are in use or formerly used between 15 in (381 mm) gauge
and 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) gauge. They fall into several broad categories:

5.2.1. Scotch gauge:

Scotch gauge was the name given to a 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) track gauge, that was adopted by
early 19th-century railways mainly in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland.
Also 4 ft 6 12 in (1,384 mm) lines were constructed. Both gauges were eventually converted to
standard gauge.

5.2.2. Four foot and 1200 mm gauges:

4 ft (1,219 mm), Glasgow Subway, Padarn Railway

1,200 mm (3 ft 11 14 in), Central Funicular, Gardena Ronda Express, Zagreb

Funicular, RheineckWalzenhausen mountain railway, Schlossbergbahn (Freiburg)

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5.2.2. Three foot, six inch gauge railways:
Main article: 3 ft 6 in gauge railways

1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) between the inside of the rail heads. The name and classification varies
throughout the world. It has installations of around 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi).

Similar gauges are:

1,050 mm (3 ft 5 1132 in) for the Hejaz railway, constructed in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon,
Saudi Arabia and Syria. Only a few lines survive

1,055 mm (3 ft 5 12 in) only in Algeria

5.2.4. Meter gauge and Italian meter gauge railways:

Meter gauge is the system of narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge
of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in). It has installations of around 95,000 km (59,000 mi).

As a result of Italian law, track gauges in Italy were defined from the centers of each rail, rather
than the inside edges of the rails. This gauge was measured 950 mm (3 ft 1 38 in) between the
edges of the rails and is known as Italian meter gauge

5.2.5. Three foot, 900 mm, and Swedish three foot (891 mm) gauge railways:

The 3 ft (914 mm) gauge Disneyland Railroad in California.

Main articles: 3 ft gauge railways, 900 mm gauge railways, and Swedish three foot gauge
railways

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Three foot gauge railways have a track gauge of 3 ft (914 mm) and are generally found
throughout North and South America, as well as Ireland and the Isle of Man.

900 mm (2 ft 11 716 in) gauge railways are generally found in Europe. Swedish three foot gauge
railways (891 mm (2 ft 11 332 in)) can only be found in Sweden.

750 mm (2 ft 5 12 in), Bosnian gauge, and two foot six inch gauge railways:

A preserved 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge line in Sri Lanka.

Main articles: 750 mm gauge railways, Bosnian gauge, and 2 ft 6 in gauge railways

750 mm (2 ft 5 12 in) and Bosnian gauge (760 mm (2 ft 5 1516 in)) railways are predominantly
found in Russia and Eastern Europe.

The Imperial 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge railways were generally constructed in the former British
colonies, such as the Kelani Valley Line (now 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)) in Sri Lanka.

These lightweight lines can be built at a substantial cost saving over medium or standard gauge
railways, but are generally restricted in their carrying capacity. The majority of these lines were
built in mountainous areas, the majority for carrying mineral traffic from mines to ports or
standard gauge railways.

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5.2.6. Two foot (610 mm), 600 mm, and similar gauges:

The 1 ft 11 12 in (597 mm) gauge Ffestiniog Railway in Wales.

Main article: 2 ft and 600 mm gauge railways

Gauges: 2 ft (610 mm), 1 ft 11 34 in (603 mm), 600 mm (1 ft 11 58 in), and 1 ft 11 12 in (597 mm)

5.2.7. Minimum gauge railways:

Gauges below 1 ft 11 12 in (597 mm) were rare, but did exist. In Britain, Sir Arthur
Heywood developed 15 in (381 mm) gauge estate railways, while in France Decauville produced
a range of industrial railways running on 500 mm (19 34 in) and 400 mm (15 34 in) tracks, most
commonly in restricted environments such as underground mine railways, parks and farms.
Several 18 in (457 mm) gauge railways were built in Britain to serve ammunition depots and
other military facilities, particularly during World War I.

CONCLUSION:

Narrow gauges are the ones which are used in hilly areas and where there is congestion and
there is no reason for laying meter gauge and broad guage.

REFERENCES:

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 1. Whitehouse, Patrick & Snell, John B. (1984). Narrow Gauge Railways of the British
Isles. ISBN 0-7153-0196-9.

2. Quine, Dan (2013). The George England locomotives of the Ffestiniog Railway.
London: Flexiscale.

3. http://www.doro-chiba.org/nikkan_dc/n2005_07_12/n6145.htm

4. QR.com.au

5. "Speed Record Club". Speed Record Club. Retrieved 2012-02-10.

6. [1] Archived 15 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine.

7. "Pantograph testing in South Africa". Traintesting.com. Retrieved 2012-02-10.

8. Shaw, Frederic J. (1958). Little Railways of the World. Howell-North.

9. "A Papuan Railway.". The Northern Miner (Charters Towers, Qld. : 1874 1954).
Charters Towers, Qld.: National Library of Australia. 29 May 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 21
August 2012.

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