Joke: Why?

[Eric Thelin <eric@generation-i.com>]

The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5
inches.

That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because  that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads
were built  by English expatriates.

Why did the English people build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the
pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the  tramways used the same jigs and tools that
they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some
of the old, long-distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel
ruts.

So who built these old rutted roads?

The first long-distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the
benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts?
The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying
their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Because the chariots
were made for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of
wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States
standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original
specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. Specs and
bureaucracies live forever.

So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass
came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman
chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of
two war horses.

Seems Fitting, doesn't it?