3 ft gauge railways in the United Kingdom

A list of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom.

Track gauge
By transport mode
Tram Rapid transit Miniature Scale model
By size (list)
Minimum   Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in) Narrow   600 mm Two foot 600 mm 610 mm (1 ft ​11 5⁄8 in) (2 ft)   750 mm Bosnian gauge Two foot six inch 750 mm 760 mm 762 mm (2 ft ​5 1⁄2 in) (2 ft ​5 15⁄16 in) (2 ft 6 in)   Swedish three foot 900 mm Three foot 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)   1520 mm Five foot 1,520 mm 1,524 mm (4 ft ​11 7⁄8 in) (5 ft)   Pennsylvania gauge Pennsylvania gauge Five foot three inch 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)   Iberian gauge Five foot six inch 1,668 mm 1,676 mm (5 ft ​5 21⁄32 in) (5 ft 6 in)
Change of gauge
Break-of-gauge Dual gauge Conversion (list) Bogie exchange Variable gauge
By location
North America South America Europe Australia

A diesel passenger train built by Severn Lamb running on the Southend Pier Railway in England.

The worldwide usage of locomotives on railways, including 3 ft (914 mm) gauge railways, has its origins in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century during the Industrial Revolution. In fact, in 1802, a 3 ft gauge plateway-type railway owned by the Coalbrookdale Company in England became the first railway in the world to have a locomotive designed and built for it. The locomotive's designer, Richard Trevithick, is credited with making the first recorded successful demonstration of a locomotive on rails (in 1804 on a different railway in Wales). 3 ft gauge locomotive-powered railways, along with other narrow-gauge railways of varying widths, would later become one of the most common railway gauges chosen for short-distance lines in the British Isles, such as those found in mines and industrial sites (see table below).