7-1/4 vs 7-1/2 Gauge: Difference between revisions

From IBLS
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Created page with " '''Question:''' Someone once told me that the break in gauge between 7 ¼ and 7 ½" gauge started when Carl Purinton wrote a letter to your grandfather in the 1950's and acci...")
 
No edit summary
Line 11: Line 11:


: In September of 1957 it was announced that 7 1/2" gauge had taken hold as the standard gauge on the West Coast and that would be the gauge that the club would use at Redwood Park. That adoption has led to many conflicts over the years. Obviously one cannot travel from coast to coast (or overseas ) with a large scale engine and expect to be able to run on all of the tracks belonging to all live steam clubs. In fact, only for the two smallest, passenger hauling, gauges can one find facilities everywhere on which to run.
: In September of 1957 it was announced that 7 1/2" gauge had taken hold as the standard gauge on the West Coast and that would be the gauge that the club would use at Redwood Park. That adoption has led to many conflicts over the years. Obviously one cannot travel from coast to coast (or overseas ) with a large scale engine and expect to be able to run on all of the tracks belonging to all live steam clubs. In fact, only for the two smallest, passenger hauling, gauges can one find facilities everywhere on which to run.
I forgot to mention that for the real "Purist" out there in rail land, the correct gauge is really supposed to be 7 1/16-inches.

Revision as of 23:59, 24 March 2013

Question: Someone once told me that the break in gauge between 7 ¼ and 7 ½" gauge started when Carl Purinton wrote a letter to your grandfather in the 1950's and accidentally typed 7 ½" as the standard instead of 7 ¼". This seems to be the most plausible story out of all I've heard (including some conspiracy theories) and I wonder: is there any truth to this or is it just another urban legend?

Answer: From Ken Shattock, 23 March 2013

In regards to your question about the 7 1/2 vs. 7 1/4 inch gauge controversy, I don't recall anything about a "letter" between Carl Purinton and my grandfather, Vic Shattock. However, just this evening (March 23rd) while going thru old records of our GGLS club history, I cut out the notation from the GGLS secretary, in the 1956-1957 time period which mentions this gauge problem.

By August of 1956 discussion was underway as to whether a planned ground track at Redwood Park should be 7 1/4" gauge or 7 1/2". It was in this month too that Vic Shattock was asked to write a history of the club. A few months later, in November of that same year, Vic celebrated his 50th. wedding anniversary.
It is easy to forget that as well as being the oldest live steam club in the country GGLS has other notable attributes to be proud of. The August 1957 issue of the Callboy noted that the club had the longest 2 1/2" gauge track in the world!
In September of 1957 it was announced that 7 1/2" gauge had taken hold as the standard gauge on the West Coast and that would be the gauge that the club would use at Redwood Park. That adoption has led to many conflicts over the years. Obviously one cannot travel from coast to coast (or overseas ) with a large scale engine and expect to be able to run on all of the tracks belonging to all live steam clubs. In fact, only for the two smallest, passenger hauling, gauges can one find facilities everywhere on which to run.

I forgot to mention that for the real "Purist" out there in rail land, the correct gauge is really supposed to be 7 1/16-inches.