4 Feet 8½ Inches: In 1886, the South Moved One Rail on 11,500 Miles of Track in 36 Hours

Track gauge change of 1886: how the South moved one rail on 11,500 miles of track in 36 hours to 4 feet 8½ inches, the standard gauge of American railroads. This railroad history documentary tells the great gauge change of May 31 and June 1, 1886, when the Southern railroads narrowed the five foot gauge toward 4 feet 8.5 inches in a day and a half. Track gauge, railroad gauge and the break of gauge: why the South ran on a five foot gauge since Horatio Allen and the South Carolina Railroad, why every break of gauge cost the railroads money, and how the gauge change 1886 crews moved one rail of the track. The track gauge change on the Louisville and Nashville, the East Tennessee Virginia and Georgia, the Richmond and Danville and the Mobile and Ohio brought the Southern railroads to the standard gauge railroad width of the North, 4 feet 8½ inches. American railroad history of spike mauls, section gangs, car wheels, axles and locomotive tires, the Atlanta convention at the Kimball House, the Alabama rehearsal and 36 hours on the five foot gauge. Railroad history and train history of the 1886 gauge change: the day the South moved one rail on 11,500 miles of track. Thousands of men with spike mauls stood at the track before dawn on Monday, May 31, 1886. This film follows E. B. Thomas, John C. Gault and C. H. Hudson from the vote in Atlanta to the last spike, counts what the change cost, and ends at the locomotive General in Kennesaw, Georgia, which ran on both gauges. 0:00 Dawn, May 31, 1886: the track gauge change begins 0:22 Horatio Allen and the five foot gauge 1:25 Break of gauge: the war, the hoists and the Angola wreck 3:51 The Atlanta convention picks 4 feet 9 inches 6:51 Car wheels, axles and locomotive tires 9:03 Track work and the Alabama rehearsal 11:56 Thirty-six hours on the Southern railroads 14:58 What it cost, the last half inch and what is left today Sources: C. H. Hudson, paper to the Western Society of Engineers, 1887 Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 29 May 1886 The New York Times, 31 May 1886 Wilmington Morning Star, April 1886 Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1885–1887 #RailroadHistory #TrackGauge #StandardGauge