3 ft 6 in gauge railways

Railways with a track gauge of were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. The first intercity passenger railway to use the 3 ft 6 in gauge was constructed in Norway by Carl Abraham Pihl. From the mid-nineteenth century, the gauge became widespread in the British Empire. In Africa it became known as the Cape gauge as it was adopted as the standard gauge for the Cape Government Railways in 1873, even though it had already been established in Australia and New Zealand before that. It was adopted as a standard in New Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Queensland (which has the second largest narrow gauge network in the world) in Australia.

There are approximately of gauge track in the world, which are classified as narrow-gauge railways.

History 1795 One of the first railways to use gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, constructed as a horse-drawn wagonway in 1795. Other gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century. 1809 The Silkstone Waggonway was opened, connecting the Barnsley Canal to collieries including the Huskar Pit. 1860 The Severn and Wye Railway introduces a steam locomotive on its gauge plateway. 1862 The Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first gauge railway in Norway, the Røros Line. 1865 The Queensland Railways were constructed. Its gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon and consulting engineer Charles Fox. 1867 The construction of the railroad from the Castillo de Buitrón mine to the pier of San Juan del Puerto, Huelva, Spain, began. The width was . 1868 In 1868 Charles Fox asked civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a railway in Costa Rica. 1870 The was adopted by New Zealand to expedite the development of transport under Julius Vogel's Great Public Works Policy; see The Vogel Era. 1871 On September 16th 1871, The Dutch East Indies Railway Company open and operated Batavia-Koningsplein(Gambir) section on Batavia-Buitenzorg Railway. This railway line was using 3ft 6in (1067mm) and the third country that installed these railway gauge after Queensland and Norwegia. The Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway were opened, promoted by Pihl and Fitzgibbon and surveyed by Wragge as an engineer of Fox. The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island began building its network. 1872 In January Robert Fairlie advocated the use of gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways: Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance. The first gauge railway opened in Japan. It had been proposed by the British civil engineer Edmund Morel based on his experience building railways in New Zealand. 1873 On 1 January, the first gauge railway was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built and broad gauge railways were soon converted to the narrower gauge. The Cape Colony adopted the gauge. After conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges. Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger, the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa.Burman, Jose (1984), Early Railways at the Cape, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, Davenport, D.E. A Railway Sketch of South Africa. 1882. Cape Town. 1876 Natal also converted its short long Durban network from standard gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the entire colony in 1876. Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, the Rhodesias, Nyasaland and Angola, were also constructed in gauge during that time. After 1876 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Newfoundland began its Cape gauge network in 1881.

Nomenclature This gauge is sometimes called Cape gauge, named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, which adopted it in 1873. "Cape gauge" was used in several English-speaking countries. The equivalent of Cape gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as instead of 1067 mm.South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610 mm and 1065 mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended

In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge.

Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand.

In Australia, this gauge is typically referred to as narrow gauge in comparison to standard gauge or broad gauge. In some instances, simply 3 foot 6 inch — or in rarer cases medium gauge — is used to distinguish it from other narrow gauges.

In Dutch East Indies now. Indonesia this gauge called as Indische Normaalspoor because this gauge used widely as Standard Gauge for railway system. This gauge was match with the geography condition of Indonesia especially Java and Sumatra Islands.

In Japan the gauge, along with other narrow gauges, is referred to as to differentiate it from the standard gauge Shinkansen lines. It is also commonly referred to as , which is derived from the 3 ft 6 in width.

Similar gauges Similar, but incompatible without wheelset adjustment, rail gauges in respect of aspects such as cost of construction, practical minimum radius curves and the maximum physical dimensions of rolling stock are: , , , , and .

Dual gauge between gauge and another similar gauge can make these bonus gauges. , , (4 ft 6 in gauge railway) and

(The maximum bonus gauge from meter gauge gauntlet tracks).

Usage Country/territoryNotesAngolaRail transport in Angola, some converted from gauge and . Some isolated.Australia . New South Wales: the heritage Zig Zag Railway. Queensland: . South Australia: the isolated Eyre Peninsula Railway, BHP Whyalla Tramway, and the heritage Pichi Richi Railway. Victoria: the heritage Bellarine Railway line. Tasmania: . Western Australia: . Northern Territory (closed).BarbadosBarbados Railway (converted to gauge) (defunct)BotswanaThe Botswana Railways system consists of of gauge track.Canada Western New Brunswick until gauge conversion in the 1880s; the Newfoundland Railway until abandonment in September 1988; and the Prince Edward Island Railway until gauge conversion in 1930 following a car ferry connection with the main North America system.ChinaSouth Manchuria Railway — built to as part of the Chinese Eastern Railway, converted by advancing Japanese troops during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 to Japanese gauge, converted to standard gauge after the war by the new South Manchuria Railway Company.Railway and Locomotive Engineering, vol. 26 (1913), pp. 91–92Congo, Democratic Republic of3621 km gauge ( electrified). Some converted from and gauge.Congo, Republic ofThe Congo–Ocean Railway, long (operating).Costa RicaOperation of the national railway network was suspended in 1995 after an earthquake. As of 2013, some suburban lines are operational.DenmarkOnly export test tracksDominican RepublicSamaná to Santiago Railway, (later Ferrocarriles Unidos Dominicanos) , in operation from 1887 to 1976 (defunct)Dominican Republic public service railways, 1870–1990 (Los ferrocarriles de servicio público de República Dominicana, 1870–1990) by Antonio Santamaría García (1993), table 4 "Empresas ferroviarias de servicio público de República Dominicana", pp. 13EcuadorEmpresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos, EstoniaTallinn tram of , on all lines from the beginning in 1888, only on some lines in 1915–1931, and again on all lines from 1931.Eswatini, only for transportation of goods, not passengersGhanaThe national rail network of is undergoing major rehabilitation.HaitiSaint-Marc line (defunct)HondurasHong KongHong Kong TramwaysIndonesia as of 2014, with only operational. Most common gauge for main lines of Sumatra and Java. The first railway was actually built to standard gauge (the Semarang–Solo–Yogyakarta corridor), but later lines were built to cape-gauge size owing to economic feasibility. The remainder of standard gauge lines were regauged by Japanese army during World War II to gauge, with parts using standard gauge sleepers. The gauge is also used by KRL Commuterline, Jakarta MRT and Palembang LRT.IrelandIsle of ManSnaefell Mountain RailwayJapan. First track gauge introduced. All JR Group lines and some private railways use this gauge except for high-speed shinkansen lines and Jukkokutōge Cable Car which use standard gauge. Amanohashidate Cable Car Beppu Rakutenchi Cable Line Ikoma Cable Line Keifuku Cable Line Keihan Cable Line Kurobe Cable Car Mount Tsukuba Cable Car Nankai Cable Line Nishi-Shigi Cable Line Ōyama Cable Car Rokko Cable Line Sakamoto Cable Takaotozan Railway Tateyama Cable Car Yakuri CableJerseyJersey Railway (defunct). Partly converted from MalawiMalawi Railways has of gauge railways.MozambiqueMozambique Ports and Railways operates of gauge.NamibiaTransNamib operates of gauge, partly converted from gauge.NetherlandsSome tramway systems (all defunct)New Zealand, standardized by the Public Works Act 1870Nicaragua of track until closure of the national rail network in 1993. All lifted and scrapped.NigeriaNigerian Railway Corporation operates an isolated network of gauge single track lines.Norway The gauge was first used by C A Pihl on the Hamar-Grundset Line, opened 23 June 1862.Bjerke, T. & Holom, F. (2004) Banedata 2004. Hamar/Oslo: Norsk Jernbanemuseum & Norsk Jernbaneklubb. p. 98 Most lines were gauge lines built in the 19th century were rebuilt to standard gauge between 1904 and 1949. The Setesdal Line, a heritage railway line of about eight km remains gauge.PanamaPanama Tramways Company (1913–1917) and the Panama Electric Company (1917–1941).PhilippinesThe Philippine National Railways operates a Metro Manila–Laguna segment of its old network; Panay Railways had in Panay and Cebu. PNR will re-gauge its entire network to .Sierra LeoneThere are 84 kilometres of gauge private railways in Sierra Leone.South AfricaAbout 20,500 route-km.Spoornet (Transnet's predecessor), Manual for Track Maintenance, July 2000, http://www.spoornet.co.za/SpoornetWebContentSAP/documents/track_maintenance.pdf Transnet Annual Report 2010, Operational Review, http://www.overendstudio.co.za/online_reports/transnet_ar2011/op_freight.php Gautrain (80 km) is and there were several limited narrow gauge systems.South SudanIsolated, SpainThe line from Cartagena to Los Blancos was originally , but was converted to in 1976, at the same time as the line was extended to Los Nietos.Ferropedia - Ferrocarril Cartagena - Los Nietos, http://ferropedia.es/wiki/Ferrocarril_Cartagena_-_Los_Nietos SudanIsolated, SwedenSeveral during the 19th century, all closed or regauged.Taiwan (Taiwan Railway)TanzaniaDar es Salaam to Zambia (TAZARA Railway only, rest of the network is .TurkeyChemin de Fer Moudania BrousseUnited KingdomUnited StatesVenezuelaGreat Venezuela RailwayWales Great Orme Tramway Swansea Constitution Hill Incline TramwayZambiaZambia Railways, Mulobezi RailwayZimbabweNational Railways of Zimbabwe

3 ft 6 in gauge railways

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