Factoid of the day, space shuttles are designed to the width of a roman horse: Shuttle rockets are limited in width to a rail tunnel between their factory in Utah and the launch site. US rail widths are identical to and inherited from British rail engineers. UK rail widths derive from Stephenson designing locomotion for Killingworth Waggonway which for 200 years had gone with the size of standard wagons. Such mining wagons were made by the same wheelwrights and with the same jigs as those that made road going wagons which were made to fit the existing ruts in old roads. The ruts originated from roman roads built for roman legions and their many chariots. The wheels on these were just wide enough to fit two roman horses.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:46:30 +0000
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