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Railways with a track gauge of were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. From the mid-nineteenth century vast gauge networks emerged in the British colonies and Japan. At the turn of the twentieth century numerous gauge tram networks saw the light of day. There are approximately of gauge track in the world. ==History== ;1795 One of the first railways to use gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, constructed as a horse-drawn wagonway in 1795. Other gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century. ;1862 In 1862 the Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first gauge railway in Norway, the Røros Line. ;1865 In 1865 the Queensland Railways were constructed. Its gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon and consulting engineer Charles Fox. ;1868 In 1868 Charles Fox asks civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a . ;1871 In 1871 the Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway were opened, promoted by Pihl and Fitzgibbon and surveyed by Wragge as an engineer of Fox. ;1872 In January 1872 Robert Fairlie advocated the use of gauge in his book ''Railways Or No Railways: Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance''.〔(Robert Fairlie - Railways Or No Railways: Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency V. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance )〕 1872 also saw the opening of the first gauge railway in Japan, proposed by the British civil engineer Edmund Morel based on his experience of building railways in New Zealand. ;1873 On 1 January 1873, the was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built and broad gauge railways were soon converted to the narrower gauge. Also in 1873 the Cape Colony adopted the gauge. After conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges. Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger,〔(Cultural, historical assessment of the Hex Pass Railway, Worcester to de Doorns )〕 the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa.〔Burman, Jose (1984), ''Early Railways at the Cape'', Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, ISBN 0-7981-1760-5〕〔Davenport, D.E. ''A Railway Sketch of South Africa.'' 1882. Cape Town.〕 ;1876 Natal also converted its short long Durban network from broad gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the entire colony in 1876. Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, the Rhodesias, Nyasaland and Angola, were also constructed in gauge during that time. ;After 1876 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「3 ft 6 in gauge railways」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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