Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

118 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. son and other railway pioneers should have selected for the iron horse the gauge of the stage-coach which it supplanted. An increase by a few inches in the gauge would, if it were feasible, be of the utmost help for economical running and rapid transit. But bridges and tunnels suited to the 4 feet 8| inches gauge are already in existence, and the cost of alter- ing them would be so enormous as to be quite prohibitive. Therefore, while railways of the present type endure, the gauge for our trunk lines must remain what it is. Tn this country we are additionally handicapped by the re- stricted loading gauge—this also imposed by the tunnels—which compels us to keep our rolling stock within narrower limits than pre- vail in the United States and elsewhere. Had Brunel appeared on the scene a few decades sooner, a more generous gauge might have been adopted generally in the British Isles. Even if it had erred on the broad side in the first instance, the error could have been corrected ; whereas, as things stand, any alteration is impossible. Note.—Most of the photographs illustrating this article were kindly supplied by the Great Western Railway Company. AN EARLY BROAD GAUGE ENGINE LEAVING BOX TUNNEL.