5 ft 3 in gauge railway

Railways with a track gauge of fall within the category of broad-gauge railways. , they were extant in Australia, Brazil and on the island of Ireland.

History 600 BC The Diolkos (Δίολκος) across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece – a grooved paved trackway – was constructed with an average gauge of . 1840 The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway was constructed in 1840–1851 to gauge before being converted to in 1854–1855. 1843 The Board of Trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, after investigating a dispute caused by diverse gauges, recommended the use of in Ireland. 1846 The Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 made mandatory throughout all of Ireland. 1847 The Swiss Northern Railway was opened as a line and converted to in 1854. 1854 The first Australian railway to operate steam-powered freight and passenger services, Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, was built as a line. 1858 The first Brazilian railway was opened: the Companhia de Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II. 1863 The Canterbury Railway in New Zealand was built in . It was converted to in 1876.

Nomenclature In Great Britain and Ireland, the gauge is known as Irish gauge. In Ireland it is also common to hear it referred to as standard gauge or broad gauge when distinguishing it from the various 3 ft narrow-gauge railways of the island.McCormack, K. (2017). Irish Railways in the 1950s and 1960s: A Journey Through Two Decades. United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Books.Irish Builder and Engineer. (1881:58). Ireland: Howard MacGarvey & Sons.. In Australia, where the states of Victoria and South Australia have this gauge (as did Tasmania in the 19th century), it is known as broad gauge. In Brazil, the gauge is mainly known as broad gauge (), but occasionally as Irish gauge ().

Installations Country/region RailwayAustraliaCurrently, the suburban rail networks in Adelaide, Melbourne, and most regional lines in Victoria (including two lines that cross the border into New South Wales) use .

The long Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor linking South Australia and Victoria, and some associated branch lines, was converted to standard gauge in 1995. The final section of the North East line, Victoria and the long Oaklands railway line, which runs into New South Wales from Victoria, were converted to standard gauge in 2008–2010. The Mildura and Murrayville railway lines were converted to standard gauge in 2018.BrazilLines connecting the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais; E.F.Carajás in Pará and Maranhão states, and Ferronorte in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states. Used in older Metro systems. Although the metre-gauge network is almost five times longer,Rail_transport_in_Brazil Irish gauge is considered the standard by ABNT.Newer Metro systems use standard gauge. The current network is , 15% of the total Brazilian network.GermanyGrand Duchy of Baden State Railway 1840–1855IrelandFollowing proposed projects of the Ulster Railway and Dublin and Drogheda Railway companies (using and , respectively), and existing issues of competing gauges in Great Britain, in 1843 the Board of Trade (with the advice of engineers Charles Pasley and George Stephenson) introduced the gauge as a compromise. The Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 was passed to formalise the gauge used on the island of Ireland to 5 feet 3 inches (1600mm). the network totals over ( in the Republic of Ireland, and in Northern Ireland).New ZealandCanterbury Railways from 1863; all were routes converted to by 1876.SwitzerlandSwiss Northern Railway between 1847 and 1854, converted to . The long Fun'Ambule funicular in Neuchâtel, opened 27 April 2001.United StatesAltoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway

Similar gauges The Pennsylvania trolley gauges of and are similar to this gauge, but incompatible. There is also a gauge. See: Track gauge in Ireland.

Locomotives

Before the advent of diesel and electric traction, one of the advantages of the broader Irish gauge compared to was that more space between steam locomotive frames allows for a bigger firebox, enabling generation of more steam.

5 ft 3 in gauge railway

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