Narrow gauge

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A narrow-gauge track, more rarely also a small-gauge track, is a track whose track gauge is smaller than that of the standard track of 1435 mm (4 feet 8.5 inches) introduced in 1822. This also applies in areas where the prevailing gauge is narrower than is usual worldwide, such as South Africa. The counterpart to the narrow gauge is the broad gauge which has a wider gauge than the standard gauge.

General

Narrow gauge railways are easier and cheaper to build than standard gauge railways. In the case of the smaller cars, the wheelbase is shorter, whereby narrower arc radii can be realized. The smaller and lighter vehicles allow a more economical dimensioning of the superstructure.

The two narrow-gauge gauges with the largest distribution – often also operated as main railways – are:
1000 mm gauge gauge on all continents except North America and Oceania
Cape gauge with 3.5 feet = 1067 mm gauge, common mainly in southern Africa, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia.

In Austria and the other successor states of the Habsburg Monarchy as well as in some other states of south-eastern Europe (such as Bulgaria, Serbia) the Bosnian gauge of 760 millimetres is usually used for narrow gauge railways.

Delimitation of small railway
In Germany, in colloquial language, the term narrow-gauge railway is often mistakenly equated with the term small railway. However, a small railway built and operated according to the Prussian Small Railway Act can also be built in standard gauge. In contrast, in many countries there are narrow-gauge main railways, for example in Switzerland, India, Thailand, Kenya or Tunisia.

History

The decisive factors for the narrow gauge were initially not technical-topographic reasons, but only the significantly lower costs for construction and operation. Only in this way could the company's earnings, which would not have been greater even in the case of a normal track due to a lack of local supply, be used to remunerate the investment capital and thus be worked economically. The construction costs for comparable standard gauge lines were not to be borne by those interested in railways and operators, nor would the operation have been affordable. In addition, the manufacturers of railway materials offered the narrow gauge inexpensively in order to revive the local railway construction, which has been predominantly abandoned since the early 1870s. The additional advantage of being able to develop topographically demanding areas cheaply or even sensibly through the narrow gauge came only as a second step and side effect.

At the beginning of the narrow gauge tracks, the speed was not faster on comparable standard gauge tracks. In 1902 the Bosnian-Herzegovinian State Railways carried the same quantity of goods as the Swiss Northeast Railway on its standard gauge network. Since the ratio of vehicle weight to payload is often more favorable than in the normal track and d