Talk:4 ft 6 in gauge railway

Not what I expected
Am I alone in being surprised to find that the article isn't about whiskey measures? Probably :)-- Timberframe (talk) 16:18, 12 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Do you buy your Scotch in gauges or in measures? I used to buy mine in quarter-Gills before metrication took hold. Pyrotec (talk) 18:30, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Is this really a present-day term?
In many of the Wikipedia pages about Scottish mineral railways, we see fairly high up that it was "built to the Scotch gauge". Did this terminology ever find widespread use (other than as a simple description, when the word "Scotch" was used by Englishmen to mean "Scottish"? If so I think this should be stated clearly in the article, otherwise, to a neutral observer seeking information here, it just looks whimsical.

Even if it was used on a widespread basis at the time, it's pretty unhelpful to this neutral observer seeking information if we insiders use a term that is completely unknown to outsiders. Of course there is always a link to this page from articles that quote the term; but that means that my neutral observer has got to leave the page he is on to ascertain the meaning of the obscure term, and then return. I would prefer to make life easier for them, not harder. Afterbrunel (talk) 21:05, 20 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Were these comments made before the article was read or perhaps more to the point has the article even been read? Scotch gauge was an attempt to construct early railway lines to a standardised gauge in Scotland, one of such several standards proposed and implemented in Scotland (the other main one being 5 ft 6 in gauge), both by the same contractor (partnership), who were Scottish. England also had several standards: perhaps you've hear of Brunel and his gauge? The Scotch gauge became obsolete in Scotland due to two factors: legislation, i.e. Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846, (no new lines could be built in Britain to Scotch gauge after 1846), and by the early 1840s Scotland and England were joined together by Standard gauge track.


 * Are you really an neutral observer, your neutral observer seems to be both an insider and an outsider? If you are an outsider, "gauge" and "standard gauge" are obscure terms. Perhaps Standard gauge should be called "English gauge", or "British gauge", since Parliament did not adopt the same gauge in Ireland, or even "British majority gauge". The choice by Parliament of the two gauges one for Britain and one for Ireland appears to have been made on the pragmatic decision of "let's adopt the gauge that's got the most track mileage"? Perhaps your neutral observer has read some Wikipedia pages about English mineral railways and has read the terms standard gauge and broad gauge: if he is an insider pretending to be an outside were these terms not obscure, even ill defined? I'm more than happy to expand the article: however I've never seen a reliable source on railway track gauges that states: the word "Scotch" was used by Englishmen to mean "Scottish", but I am aware that English men did sometimes refer to Scotland as "North Britain" and Scotland, did get a railway company of that name the North British Railway. Scotland did not like being called that, and the response is rather obvious, but shall I spell it out for your neutral observer? Pyrotec (talk) 20:33, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Moved: 'Scotch gauge' into '4 ft 6 in gauge railway'
I have moved this page from 'Scotch gauge' into '4 ft 6 in gauge railway'. Tha name "Scotch gauge" is not universal. For example, Japanese tramways use this gauge (today!) but do not use the name "Scotch". As for the spelling, I choose a correct option (for the adjective form), and singular for WP:SINGULAR. In the future, all rail gauge articles may be spelled in a similar fashion wrt the adjective - this move does not preclude (prevent) that. -DePiep (talk) 08:57, 23 June 2014 (UTC)