From rodger@FISHNET.NETTue Oct 22 11:08:21 1996 Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 13:55:50 -0700 From: Rodger Morris Reply to: SCOUTS-L - Youth Groups Discussion List To: Multiple recipients of list SCOUTS-L Subject: Tradition This isn't about Scouting, per se. However, it provides an interesting look into how traditons and specifications (especially MILSPECS) get started and are perpetuated. I think you will enjoy if you have never seen it. > ************************************** > > > How Specs Live Forever > > The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 > feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that > gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, > and the US railroads were built by English expatriates. > Why did the English people build them like that? Because the > first rail lines were built by the same people who built the > pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. > > Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the > tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for > building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. > Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if > they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on > some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of > the old wheel ruts. > > So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance > roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of > their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the > ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear > of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war > chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome > they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. > > Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United > State standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the > original specification for an Imperial Roman > army war chariot. Specs and Bureaucracies live forever. > So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what > horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because > the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to > accommodate the back-ends of two war horses. > > > Professor Tom O'Hare Germanic Lanuages (512) 471-4123 > University of Texas at Austin tohare@mail.utexas.edu >> ----- End Included Message ----- Yours in Scouting, Rodger Rodger Morris Scoutmaster, Troop 852 Woodbadge 416-18 Ventura County Council Philmont, 1973 Camarillo, California, USA "I used to be a Beaver..."