3 ft gauge railways

Three foot gauge railways have a track gauge of 3 ft (914 mm) or 1 yard. This gauge is a narrow gauge and is generally found throughout North, Central, and South America. In Ireland, many secondary and industrial lines were built to 3 ft gauge, and it is the dominant gauge on the Isle of Man, where it is known as the Manx Standard Gauge. Modern 3 ft gauge railways are most commonly found in isolated mountainous areas, on small islands, or in large-scale amusement parks and theme parks (see table below). This gauge is also popular in model railroading (particularly in G scale), and model prototypes of these railways have been made by several model train brands around the world, such as Accucraft Trains (US), Aristo-Craft Trains (US), Bachmann Industries (Hong Kong), Delton Locomotive Works (US), LGB (Germany),[1] and PIKO (Germany).

Track gauge
By transport mode
By size (list)
Minimum
  Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)
Narrow
 
  • 600 mm
  • 610 mm
  • (1 ft ​11 5⁄8 in)
  • (2 ft)
 
  • 750 mm
  • 760 mm
  • 762 mm
  • (2 ft ​5 1⁄2 in)
  • (2 ft ​5 15⁄16 in)
  • (2 ft 6 in)
 
  • 891 mm
  • 900 mm
  • 914 mm
  • (2 ft ​11 3⁄32 in)
  • (2 ft ​11 7⁄16 in)
  • (3 ft)
  Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft ​3 3⁄8 in)
  Three foot six inch 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft ​8 1⁄2 in)
Broad
  Dresden gauge 1,450 mm (4 ft ​9 3⁄32 in)
  Leipzig gauge 1,458 mm (4 ft ​9 13⁄32 in)
  Toronto gauge 1,495 mm (4 ft ​10 7⁄8 in)
 
  • 1,520 mm
  • 1,524 mm
  • (4 ft ​11 7⁄8 in)
  • (5 ft)
 
  • 1,581 mm
  • 1,588 mm
  • 1,600 mm
  • (5 ft ​2 1⁄4 in)
  • (5 ft ​2 1⁄2 in)
  • (5 ft 3 in)
  Baltimore gauge 1,638 mm (5 ft ​4 1⁄2 in)
 
  • 1,668 mm
  • 1,676 mm
  • (5 ft ​5 21⁄32 in)
  • (5 ft 6 in)
Change of gauge
By location
Fintown station on the trackbed of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDR) in County Donegal
A bridge of the defunct National Railroad of Mexico in 1883
A railbus on the Ferrocarril Santa Ana near Machu Picchu
An electric tram on the Tranvía de Sóller on the Spanish island of Majorca

Installations
Country/territory Railway
Australia
Belize
Main article: Rail transport in Belize
Brazil
Canada
Colombia
Main article: Rail transport in Colombia
Cuba
  • Ferrocarril Recreacional[2] (located in Parque Lenin) (closed - park still operating)
El Salvador
Main article: Rail transport in El Salvador
France
Germany
  • Santa Fé Express (located in Fort Fun Abenteuerland) (operating)
  • Trams in Chemnitz (converted to 925 mm (3 ft 13⁄32 in) gauge, then converted to standard gauge) (operating)
Guatemala
Main article: Rail transport in Guatemala
Guyana
Main article: Transport in Guyana
Honduras
Main article: Rail transport in Honduras
Hong Kong
Ireland
Main article: List of narrow gauge railways in Ireland
Iraq
  • Al Zawra’a Dream Park[3][4] (operating)
Isle of Man
Japan
Kuwait
Mexico
Nauru
Main article: Rail transport in Nauru
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Peru
Spain

The Ferrocarril de Sóller and the Tranvía de Sóller are located on Majorca in the Balearic Islands. The other railways of the Majorca rail network were also 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, but with expansion and reconstruction of the network in the early 2000s, they were converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge.

United Kingdom
Main article: 3 ft gauge railways in the United Kingdom
United States
Main article: 3 ft gauge railroads in the United States

See also

References
  1. 2006 LGB Catalog
  2. Steamlocomotive.info - Cuba
  3. Steamlocomotive.info - Al Zawra’a Dream Park
  4. "Al Zawra'a Dream Park - official website (in Arabic)". Archived from the original on 2014-02-05. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  5. Surviving Steam Locomotives in Aguascalientes
  6. Parque Héroes Mexicanos - official website (in Spanish)
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