distance between "up" and "down" rail tacks.

manofsteel | 15:32 Thu 22nd Mar 2007 | How it Works

6 Answers

I know the standard gauge for each track is 4ft 8.5 inches, but what is the standard distance "in the middle" between the up and down track??

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tony1941

Hi
These days the gauge is usually quoted in metres (1.414 is often used in Network Rail standards, but I have seen it as 1.44 and 1.4 which are probably just typing errors. ).

Anyway, the space between the running rails is invariably referred to as "the four foot". The space between two sets of these is, again invariably, called " the six foot". If there are two sets, eg Up and Down Slow and Up and Down Fast (can be in any arrangement) then the space between the pairs of pairs is called "the ten foot".
These spaces are never the exact distance and sometimes a very wide "ten foot" is referred to as "the wideway", although I think this is not an official term as the six and ten names are. The important thing to remember, in extremis when all the safety precautions have failed and you are stuck with a train aiming for you is "Lie down in the six or ten foot - never, never in the six!!"

sddsddean

I've been searching for a cross section, but can't find one. From memory its 6ft from rail to rail.

manofsteel

Question Author

Thanks Tony. I worked in a large steelplant where movement of materials by rail was predominant until the eighties, the inter-rail distance was always known as "the four foot" to the older shunters, I now understand the rest!!

manofsteel

Question Author

And thanks sddsdd

brachiopod

I vaguly remember being told something about the distance between two sets of lines (not the gauge) in the Western (ex-GWR) Region can, in many places, be greater than in any other part of the network (well, at least where the lines run across some of the older engineering structures).

This was, apparently, a result of the change from the early-GWR broad gauge to standard gauge.

I don't know if anyone can advise if there is any truth in this?