Railway Regulation (Gauge) ACT 1846 (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 introduced mandated standard gauges of 4 feet 8 inches for Great Britain, and 5 feet 3 inches for Ireland. This signalled the end for Brunel's broad gauge network. The standard gauge (also named the Stephenson gauge after George Stephenson, or Normal gauge) is a widely-used rail gauge. Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge (see the list of countries that use the standard gauge). The distance between the inside edges of the rails of standard gauge track is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in).