[spacemanmatt]

On a related note, there is an episode of Connections that ties the width of the early railcar's wheelbase to pretty much all subsequent forms of transportation, ending with modern space exploration capability. Pretty awesome to observe the actual reach of decisions made long ago.

[ashtonkem]

Semi related: “How big should a railroad track be?” Is actually an extremely complicated question that took a long time for us to figure out. It wasn’t unusual for different states to have different gauges, often requiring that passengers change trains at state lines.

Also, Russia to this day uses its own gauge, because they’re terrified of being invaded via rail from Europe.

[sangnoir]

Wasn't it actually Roman carriage wheel spacing that determined rail gauges (and the rest)?