Misplaced Pages

#732267

78-465: The railway line is standard gauge and single track , and the distance from Hillerød to Helsingør is 20.8 kilometres (12.9 mi). The railway opened in 1864 as part of the North Line between Copenhagen and Helsingør by way of Hillerød. The line now constitutes the northernmost section of the original North Line which has not been electrified to form part of Copenhagen's commuter rail network,

156-556: A hybrid of a donkey and a female onager , named Kunga in the city of Nagar which was famous for breeding them. The hybrids were used by the Eblaite , early Sumerian , Akkadian and Ur III armies. Although sometimes carrying a spearman with the charioteer (driver), such heavy wagons, borne on solid wooden wheels and covered with skins, may have been part of the baggage train (e.g., during royal funeral processions) rather than vehicles of battle in themselves. The Sumerians had

234-674: A two-wheeled spoked cart that does not fit the definition of the ancient Near Eastern chariot . Before these discoveries can help answer the question of where the chariot originated, thorough studies of the spoked wheeled vehicles and horse gear of the steppes, as well as of interconnections and transfer of knowledge, are necessary (cf. Epimachov and Korjakova in Fansa and Burmeister 2004). Chariots figure prominently in Indo-Iranian and early European mythology. Chariots are also an important part of both Hindu and Persian mythology , with most of

312-420: A chariot or coach, especially at a reckless or dangerous speed. Plato , in his Chariot Allegory , depicted a chariot drawn by two horses, one well behaved and the other troublesome, representing opposite impulses of human nature; the task of the charioteer, representing reason, was to stop the horses from going different ways and to guide them towards enlightenment. The Greek word for chariot, ἅρμα, hárma ,

390-549: A chariot to fetch the bride home. Herodotus ( Histories , 5. 9) Reports that chariots were widely used in the Pontic – Caspian steppe by the Sigynnae . Greek chariots were made to be drawn by two horses attached to a central pole. If two additional horses were added, they were attached on each side of the main pair by a single bar or trace fastened to the front or prow of the chariot, as may be seen on two prize vases in

468-649: A country (for example, 1,440 mm or 4 ft  8 + 11 ⁄ 16  in to 1,445 mm or 4 ft  8 + 7 ⁄ 8  in in France). The first tracks in Austria and in the Netherlands had other gauges ( 1,000 mm or 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in in Austria for the Donau Moldau line and 1,945 mm or 6 ft  4 + 9 ⁄ 16  in in

546-531: A fairly intensive timetable on the Little North Line with light DMUs working a fixed 30-minute frequency most in the day time (until 19:00) and every hour in the evening. 55°58′29″N 12°24′01″E  /  55.9748°N 12.4002°E  / 55.9748; 12.4002 Standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ). The standard gauge

624-799: A lighter, two-wheeled type of cart , pulled by four asses , and with solid wheels. The spoked wheel did not appear in Mesopotamia until the mid second millennium BCE. Chariot use made its way into Egypt around 1650 BCE during the Hyksos invasion of Egypt and establishment of the Fourteenth Dynasty . In 1659 BCE the Indo-European Hittites sacked Babylon , which demonstrated the superiority of chariots in antiquity. The chariot and horse were used extensively in Egypt by

702-514: A sled that rests on wooden rollers or wheels have been found. They date from about the same time as the early wheel discoveries in Europe and may indicate knowledge of the wheel. The earliest depiction of vehicles in the context of warfare is on the Standard of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, c.  2500 BCE . These are more properly called wagons which were double-axled and pulled by oxen or

780-510: A standard gauge of 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ), and those in Ireland to a new standard gauge of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ). In Great Britain, Stephenson's gauge was chosen on the grounds that existing lines of this gauge were eight times longer than those of the rival 7 ft or 2,134 mm (later 7 ft  1 ⁄ 4  in or 2,140 mm ) gauge adopted principally by

858-601: Is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson ), international gauge , UIC gauge , uniform gauge , normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with about 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia , Finland , Uzbekistan , and some line sections in Spain . The distance between

SECTION 10

#1732766157733

936-452: Is also used nowadays to denote a tank , properly called άρμα μάχης, árma mákhēs , literally a "combat chariot". The Trundholm sun chariot is dated to c. 1500-1300 BCE (see: Nordic Bronze Age ). The horse drawing the solar disk runs on four wheels, and the Sun itself on two. All wheels have four spokes. The "chariot" comprises the solar disk, the axle, and the wheels, and it is unclear whether

1014-635: Is armed with a bow and arrow, threatens the right flank. It has been suggested (speculated) that the drawings record a story, most probably dating to the early centuries BCE, from some center in the area of the Ganges – Yamuna plain into the territory of still Neolithic hunting tribes. The very realistic chariots carved into the Sanchi stupas are dated to roughly the 1st century. Bronze Age solid-disk wheel carts were found in 2018 at Sinauli , which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled "chariots," predating

1092-526: Is attributed to Kikkuli the Mitanni (15th century BCE). The Hittites were renowned charioteers. They developed a new chariot design that had lighter wheels, with four spokes rather than eight, and that held three rather than two warriors. It could hold three warriors because the wheel was placed in the middle of the chariot and not at the back as in Egyptian chariots. Typically one Hittite warrior steered

1170-766: Is currently operated by the Ghana Railway Company Limited . Kojokrom-Sekondi Railway Line (The Kojokrom-Sekondi line is a branch line that joins the Western Railway Line at Kojokrom ) Indian nationwide rail system ( Indian Railways ) uses 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) broad gauge. 96% of the broad gauge network is electrified. The railway tracks of Java and Sumatra use 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Planned and under construction high-speed railways to use 1,668 mm ( 5 ft  5 + 21 ⁄ 32  in ) to maintain interoperability with

1248-602: Is no evidence. It is from the wheel track measurements and the dimensions and positions of the wheels alone that we may legitimately draw conclusions and these are alone sufficient to establish that the Sintashta-Petrovka vehicles would not be manoeuverable enough for use either in warfare or in racing. Peter Raulwing and Stefan Burmeister consider the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero finds from the steppe to be carts rather than chariots. However, recent discoveries in

1326-548: Is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel ( c.  3150 BCE ). The later Greeks of the first millennium BCE had a (still not very effective) cavalry arm (indeed, it has been argued that these early horseback riding soldiers may have given rise to the development of the later, heavily armed foot-soldiers known as hoplites ), and the rocky terrain of the Greek mainland was unsuited for wheeled vehicles. The chariot

1404-574: Is the Old Hittite Anitta text (18th century BCE), which mentions 40 teams of horses (in the original cuneiform spelling: 40 ṢÍ-IM-TI ANŠE.KUR.RA ) at the siege of Salatiwara . Since the text mentions teams rather than chariots , the existence of chariots in the 18th century BCE is uncertain. The first certain attestation of chariots in the Hittite empire dates to the late 17th century BCE ( Hattusili I ). A Hittite horse-training text

1482-575: The British Museum from the Panathenaic Games at Athens, Greece , in which the driver is seated with feet resting on a board hanging down in front close to the legs of the horses. The biga itself consists of a seat resting on the axle, with a rail at each side to protect the driver from the wheels. Greek chariots appear to have lacked any other attachment for the horses, which would have made turning difficult. The body or basket of

1560-806: The Canaanites and Israelites . 1 Samuel 13:5 mentions chariots of the Philistines , who are sometimes identified with the Sea Peoples or early Greeks . Examples from The Jewish Study Bible of the Tanakh ( Jewish Bible ) include: Examples from the King James Version of the Christian Bible include: Small domestic horses may have been present in the northern Negev before 3000 BCE. Jezreel (city) has been identified as

1638-655: The Gribskov Line , before curving east towards Helsingør. The most important town along the route is Fredensborg , home to Fredensborg Palace , one of the Danish Royal Family 's two main residences. The Little North Line joins the Coast Line in Snekkersten , one station before reaching Helsingør. Trains on the Little North Line is operated by the railway company Lokaltog . Lokaltog operates

SECTION 20

#1732766157733

1716-458: The Hyksos invaders from the 16th century BCE onwards, though discoveries announced in 2013 potentially place the earliest chariot use as early as Egypt's Old Kingdom ( c.  2686 –2181 BCE). In the remains of Egyptian and Assyrian art, there are numerous representations of chariots, which display rich ornamentation. The chariots of the Egyptians and Assyrians, with whom the bow was

1794-513: The Latin term carrus , a loanword from Gaulish karros . In ancient Rome a biga described a chariot requiring two horses, a triga three, and a quadriga four. The wheel may have been invented at several places, with early evidence found in Ukraine , Poland , Germany , and Slovenia . Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BC near-simultaneously in

1872-608: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway , authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The extra half inch was not regarded at first as very significant, and some early trains ran on both gauges daily without compromising safety. The success of this project led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Thus the 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) gauge became widespread and dominant in Britain. Robert

1950-612: The Northern Caucasus ( Maykop culture ), and in Central Europe. These earliest vehicles may have been ox carts . A necessary precursor to the invention of the chariot is the domestication of animals , and specifically domestication of horses – a major step in the development of civilization. Despite the large impact horse domestication has had in transport and communication, tracing its origins has been challenging. Evidence supports horses having been domesticated in

2028-461: The S-train . The railway is owned by Hovedstadens Lokalbaner and operated by the railway company Lokaltog which runs frequent local train services between Hillerød station and Helsingør station . The North Line opened in 1864 between Copenhagen and Elsinore by way of Hillerød. It was originally the main line to Elsinore before the more direct Coast Line opened in 1897. The North Line

2106-668: The Vedic period around 1750 BCE. Shortly after this, about 1700 BCE, evidence of chariots appears in Asia-Minor . The earliest fully developed spoke-wheeled horse chariots are from the chariot burials of the Andronovo (Timber-Grave) sites of the Sintashta-Petrovka Proto-Indo-Iranian culture in modern Russia and Kazakhstan from around 2000 BCE. This culture is at least partially derived from

2184-535: The petroglyphs in the sandstone of the Vindhya range. Two depictions of chariots are found in Morhana Pahar, Mirzapur district. One depicts a biga and the head of the driver. The second depicts a quadriga, with six-spoked wheels, and a driver standing up in a large chariot box. This chariot is being attacked. One figure, who is armed with a shield and a mace, stands in the chariot's path; another figure, who

2262-502: The 17(18)th–16th centuries BCE. Some scholars argue that the horse chariot was most likely a product of the ancient Near East early in the 2nd millennium BCE. Archaeologist Joost Crouwel writes that "Chariots were not sudden inventions, but developed out of earlier vehicles that were mounted on disk or cross-bar wheels. This development can best be traced in the Near East, where spoke-wheeled and horse-drawn chariots are first attested in

2340-690: The Eurasian Steppes, with studies suggesting the Botai culture in modern-day Kazakhstan were the first, about 3500 BCE. Others say horses were domesticated earlier than 3500 BCE in Eastern Europe (modern Ukraine and Western Kazakhstan ), 6000 years ago. The spread of spoke-wheeled chariots has been closely associated with early Indo-Iranian migrations. The earliest known chariots have been found in Sintashta culture burial sites, and

2418-533: The Eurasian steppe have provided fresh support to the claim that the chariot originated there, rather than in the Near East itself, and may be attributed to speakers of an Indo-Iranian (or Indo-Aryan) language. In particular, archaeological remains of horse gear and spoked wheeled vehicles have been found at the sites of Sintashta (Russia) and Krivoe Ozero (northern Kazakhstan), with calibrated radiocarbon dating to ca. 2000–1800. These finds, however, provide evidence of

Little North Line - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-913: The Great Western Railway. It allowed the broad-gauge companies in Great Britain to continue with their tracks and expand their networks within the "Limits of Deviation" and the exceptions defined in the Act. After an intervening period of mixed-gauge operation (tracks were laid with three rails), the Great Western Railway finally completed the conversion of its network to standard gauge in 1892. In North East England, some early lines in colliery ( coal mining ) areas were 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ), while in Scotland some early lines were 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm ). The British gauges converged starting from 1846 as

2574-727: The Indo-Iranians, and horses and horse-drawn chariots were introduced in India by the Indo-Aryans. In Rigveda , Indra is described as strong willed, armed with a thunderbolt , riding a chariot: May the strong Heaven make thee the Strong wax stronger: Strong, for thou art borne by thy two strong Bay Horses. So, fair of cheek, with mighty chariot, mighty, uphold us, strong-willed, thunder armed, in battle. — RigVeda, Book 5, Hymn XXXVI: Griffith Among Rigvedic deities , notably

2652-512: The Mahabharata is around 1750 BCE ." According to Asko Parpola these finds were ox-pulled carts, indicating that these burials are related to an early Aryan migration of Proto-Indo-Iranian speaking people into the Indian subcontinent, "forming then the ruling elite of a major Late Harappan settlement." Horse-drawn chariots, as well as their cult and associated rituals, were spread by

2730-647: The Netherlands for the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij ), but for interoperability reasons (the first rail service between Paris and Berlin began in 1849, first Chaix timetable) Germany adopted standard gauges, as did most other European countries. The modern method of measuring rail gauge was agreed in the first Berne rail convention of 1886. Several lines were initially built as standard gauge but were later converted to another gauge for cost or for compatibility reasons. 2,295 km (1,426 mi) Victoria built

2808-410: The Sintashta culture vehicle finds are true chariots. In 1996 Joost Crouwel and Mary Aiken Littauer wrote Let us consider what is actually known of the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero vehicles. At Sintashta, there remained only the imprints of the lower parts of the wheels in their slots in the floor of the burial chamber; Krivoe Ozero also preserved imprints of parts of the axle and naves. At Sintashta,

2886-622: The Vedic Sun God Surya rides on a one spoked chariot driven by his charioteer Aruṇa . Ushas (the dawn) rides in a chariot, as well as Agni in his function as a messenger between gods and men. The Jain Bhagavi Sutra states that Indian troops used a chariot with a club or mace attached to it during the war against the Licchavis during the reign of Ajatashatru of Magadha . The Persians succeeded Elam in

2964-645: The advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. By the 1890s, the entire network was converted to standard gauge. The Royal Commission made no comment about small lines narrower than standard gauge (to be called "narrow gauge"), such as the Ffestiniog Railway . Thus it permitted a future multiplicity of narrow gauges in the UK. It also made no comments about future gauges in British colonies, which allowed various gauges to be adopted across

3042-636: The arrival of the horse-centered Indo-Aryans. They were ascribed by Sanjay Manjul, director of the excavations, to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (OCP)/ Copper Hoard Culture , which was contemporaneous with the Late Harappan culture, and interpreted by him as horse-pulled chariots. Majul further noted that "the rituals relating to the Sanauli burials showed close affinity with Vedic rituals, and stated that "the dating of

3120-488: The chariot base of King Ahab . And a decorated bronze tablet thought to be the head of a lynchpin of a Canaanite chariot was found at a site that may be Sisera 's fortress Harosheth Haggoyim . In Urartu (860–590 BCE), the chariot was used by both the nobility and the military. In Erebuni ( Yerevan ), King Argishti of Urartu is depicted riding on a chariot which is pulled by two horses. The chariot has two wheels and each wheel has about eight spokes. This type of chariot

3198-538: The chariot in Achaean art. This sculpture shows a single man driving a two-wheeled small box chariot. Later the vehicles were used in games and processions, notably for races at the Olympic and Panathenaic Games and other public festivals in ancient Greece, in hippodromes and in contests called agons . They were also used in ceremonial functions, as when a paranymph , or friend of a bridegroom, went with him in

Little North Line - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-417: The chariot rested directly on the axle (called beam ) connecting the two wheels. There was no suspension , making this an uncomfortable form of transport. At the front and sides of the basket was a semicircular guard about 3 ft (1 m) high, to give some protection from enemy attack. At the back the basket was open, making it easy to mount and dismount. There was no seat, and generally only enough room for

3354-462: The chariot while the second man was usually the main archer; the third warrior would either wield a spear or sword when charging at enemies or hold up a large shield to protect himself and the others from enemy arrows. Hittite prosperity largely depended on their control of trade routes and natural resources, specifically metals. As the Hittites gained dominion over Mesopotamia, tensions flared among

3432-483: The coal mines of County Durham . He favoured 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham , and used it on his Killingworth line. The Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington railway (S&DR) was built primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees . Opening in 1825,

3510-597: The colonies. Parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. The American gauges converged, as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. Notably, all the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) over

3588-657: The construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel . The chariot was a fast, light, open, two- wheeled conveyance drawn by two or more equids (usually horses) that were hitched side by side, and was little more than a floor with a waist-high guard at the front and sides. It was initially used for ancient warfare during the Bronze and Iron Ages, but after its military capabilities had been superseded by light and heavy cavalries, chariots continued to be used for travel and transport, in processions , for games , and in races . The word "chariot" comes from

3666-459: The course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States . In continental Europe, France and Belgium adopted a 1,500 mm ( 4 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 16  in ) gauge (measured between the midpoints of each rail's profile ) for their early railways. The gauge between the interior edges of the rails (the measurement adopted from 1844) differed slightly between countries, and even between networks within

3744-807: The culture is considered a strong candidate for the origin of the technology, which spread throughout the Old World and played an important role in ancient warfare . It is also strongly associated with the ancestors of modern domestic horses, the DOM2 population (DOM2 horses originated from the Western Eurasia steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don, but not in Anatolia, during the late fourth and early third millennia BCE. Their genes may show selection for easier domestication and stronger backs). These Aryan people migrated southward into South Asia, ushering in

3822-515: The driver and one passenger. The reins were mostly the same as those in use in the 19th century, and were made of leather and ornamented with studs of ivory or metal. The reins were passed through rings attached to the collar bands or yoke, and were long enough to be tied round the waist of the charioteer to allow for defense. The wheels and basket of the chariot were usually of wood, strengthened in places with bronze or iron. The wheels had from four to eight spokes and tires of bronze or iron. Due to

3900-659: The earlier Yamna culture . It built heavily fortified settlements, engaged in bronze metallurgy on an industrial scale, and practiced complex burial rituals reminiscent of Hindu rituals known from the Rigveda and the Avesta . Over the next few centuries, the Andronovo culture spread across the steppes from the Urals to the Tien Shan , likely corresponding to the time of early Indo-Iranian cultures . Not everyone agrees that

3978-431: The earlier part of the second millennium BCE..." and were illustrated on a Syrian cylinder seal dated to either the 18th or 17th century BCE. According to Christoph Baumer , the earliest discoveries of wheels in Mesopotamia come from the first half of the third millennium BCE – more than half a millennium later than the first finds from the Kuban region. At the same time, in Mesopotamia, some intriguing early pictograms of

SECTION 50

#1732766157733

4056-684: The first railways to the 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) Irish broad gauge. New South Wales then built to the standard gauge, so trains had to stop on the border and passengers transferred, which was only rectified in the 1960s. Queensland still runs on a narrow gauge but there is a standard gauge line from NSW to Brisbane. NMBS/SNCB 3,619 km (2,249 mi) Brussels Metro 40 km (25 mi) Trams in Brussels 140 km (87 mi) 1,032 km (641 mi) The Toronto Transit Commission uses 4 ft  10 + 7 ⁄ 8  in ( 1,495 mm ) gauge on its streetcar and subway lines. Takoradi to Sekondi Route,

4134-445: The four specimens from the tomb of Tutankhamun . Chariots can be pulled by two or more horses. Chariots are frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Tanakh and the Greek Old Testament , respectively, particularly by the prophets, as instruments of war or as symbols of power or glory. First mentioned in the story of Joseph ( Genesis 50:9), "Iron chariots" are mentioned also in Joshua (17:16, 18) and Judges (1:19,4:3, 13) as weapons of

4212-477: The gods in their pantheon portrayed as riding them. The Sanskrit word for a chariot is rátha- ( m. ), which is cognate with Avestan raθa- (also m.), and in origin a substantiation of the adjective Proto-Indo-European *rot-h₂-ó- meaning "having wheels", with the characteristic accent shift found in Indo-Iranian substantivisations. This adjective is in turn derived from the collective noun *rot-eh₂- "wheels", continued in Latin rota , which belongs to

4290-429: The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made, debuting around 1850, to the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge. The historic Mount Washington Cog Railway ,

4368-534: The inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge met – a " gauge break " – loads had to be unloaded from one set of rail cars and reloaded onto another, a time-consuming and expensive process. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a "standard gauge" of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ), allowing interconnectivity and interoperability. A popular legend that has circulated since at least 1937 traces

4446-400: The inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1,435 mm except in the United States, Canada, and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary / Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches", which is equivalent to 1,435.1   mm. As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between

4524-433: The mid 1st millennium. They may have been the first to yoke four horses to their chariots. They also used scythed chariots . Cyrus the Younger employed these chariots in large numbers at the Battle of Cunaxa . Herodotus mentions that the Ancient Libyan and the Ancient Indian ( Sattagydia , Gandhara and Hindush ) satrapies supplied cavalry and chariots to Xerxes the Great 's army. However, by this time, cavalry

4602-411: The mountings. According to Greek mythology, the chariot was invented by Erichthonius of Athens to conceal his feet, which were those of a dragon. The most notable appearance of the chariot in Greek mythology occurs when Phaëton , the son of Helios , in an attempt to drive the chariot of the sun, managed to set the earth on fire. This story led to the archaic meaning of a phaeton as one who drives

4680-733: The neighboring Assyrians , Hurrians , and Egyptians . Under Suppiluliuma I , the Hittites conquered Kadesh and, eventually, the whole of Syria . The Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE is likely to have been the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving over 5,000 chariots. Models of single axled, solid wheeled ox-drawn vehicles, have been found at several mature Indus Valley cites, such as Chanhudaro , Daimabad , Harappa , and Nausharo . Spoked-wheeled, horse-drawn chariots, often carrying an armed passenger, are depicted in second millennium BCE Chalcolithic period rock paintings, examples are known from Chibbar Nulla, Chhatur Bhoj Nath Nulla, and Kathotia. There are some depictions of chariots among

4758-405: The noun *rót-o- for "wheel" (from *ret- "to run") that is also found in Germanic, Celtic and Baltic ( Old High German rad n., Old Irish roth m., Lithuanian rãtas m.). Nomadic tribes of the Pontic steppes, like Scythians such as Hamaxobii , would travel in wagons , carts , and chariots during their migrations. The oldest testimony of chariot warfare in the ancient Near East

SECTION 60

#1732766157733

4836-445: The origin of the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge even further back than the coalfields of northern England, pointing to the evidence of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the Roman Empire . Snopes categorised this legend as "false", but commented that it "is perhaps more fairly labeled as 'Partly true, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons. ' " The historical tendency to place

4914-405: The outermost portions of the wheel rims, it became apparent that for vehicles travelling on rails, having main wheel flanges that fit inside the rails is better, thus the minimum distance between the wheels (and, by extension, the inside faces of the rail heads ) was the important one. A standard gauge for horse railways never existed, but rough groupings were used; in the north of England none

4992-454: The principal arm of attack, were richly mounted with quivers full of arrows. The Egyptians invented the yoke saddle for their chariot horses in c.  1500 BCE . As a general rule, the Egyptians used chariots as mobile archery platforms; chariots always had two men, with the driver steering the chariot with his reins while the main archer aimed his bow and arrow at any targets within range. The best preserved examples of Egyptian chariots are

5070-411: The rest of the network. All other railways use 1,668 mm ( 5 ft  5 + 21 ⁄ 32  in ) ( broad gauge ) and/or 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge . BLS , Rigi Railways (rack railway) 449 km Several states in the United States had laws requiring road vehicles to have a consistent gauge to allow them to follow ruts in

5148-480: The road. Those gauges were similar to railway standard gauge. Chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power . The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast , Russia , dated to c. 1950–1880 BCE and are depicted on cylinder seals from Central Anatolia in Kültepe dated to c. 1900 BCE. The critical invention that allowed

5226-405: The sun is depicted as the chariot or as the passenger. Nevertheless, the presence of a model of a horse-drawn vehicle on two spoked wheels in Northern Europe at such an early time is astonishing. In addition to the Trundholm chariot, there are numerous petroglyphs from the Nordic Bronze Age that depict chariots. One petroglyph, drawn on a stone slab in a double burial from c. 1000 BCE, depicts

5304-429: The term "narrow gauge" for gauges less than standard did not arise for many years, until the first such locomotive-hauled passenger railway, the Ffestiniog Railway , was built. In 1845, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , a Royal Commission on Railway Gauges reported in favour of a standard gauge. The subsequent Gauge Act ruled that new passenger-carrying railways in Great Britain should be built to

5382-420: The wheel tracks and their position relative to the walls of the tomb chamber limited the dimensions of the naves, hence the stability of the vehicle. Ancient naves were symmetrical, the part outside the spokes of equal length to that inside. The present reconstructions of the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero vehicles above the axle level raise many doubts and questions, but one cannot argue about something for which there

5460-434: The wheels of horse-drawn vehicles around 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Research, however, has been undertaken to support the hypothesis that "the origin of the standard gauge of the railway might result from an interval of wheel ruts of prehistoric ancient carriages". In addition, while road-travelling vehicles are typically measured from

5538-401: The widely spaced spokes, the rim of the chariot wheel was held in tension over comparatively large spans. Whilst this provided a small measure of shock absorption, it also necessitated the removal of the wheels when the chariot was not in use, to prevent warping from continued weight bearing. Most other nations of this time had chariots of similar design to the Greeks, the chief differences being

5616-426: The world's first mountain -climbing rack railway , is still in operation in the 21st century, and has used the earlier 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge since its inauguration in 1868. George Stephenson introduced the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge (including a belated extra 1 ⁄ 2  in (13 mm) of free movement to reduce binding on curves ) for

5694-565: Was far more effective and agile than the chariot, and the defeat of Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE), where the army of Alexander simply opened their lines and let the chariots pass and attacked them from behind, marked the end of the era of chariot warfare (barring the Seleucid and Pontic powers, India, China, and the Celtic peoples). Chariots were introduced in the Near East in

5772-407: Was gradually electrified to form part of Copenhagen's commuter rail network, the S-train , with electrification reaching Hillerød station in 1968. The Little North Line now constitutes the northernmost section of the original North Line which has not been converted into S-train. The line continues the North Line of the S-train network. It runs north from Hillerød station along the tracks of

5850-536: Was heavily used by the Mycaenean Greeks, most probably adopted from the Hittites, around 1600 BCE. Linear B tablets from Mycenaean palaces record large inventories of chariots, sometimes with specific details as to how many chariots were assembled or not (i.e. stored in modular form).On a gravestone from the royal Shaft-grave V in Mycenae dated LH II (about 1500 BCE) there is one of the earliest depiction of

5928-784: Was less than 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ). Wylam colliery's system, built before 1763, was 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), as was John Blenkinsop 's Middleton Railway ; the old 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ) plateway was relaid to 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) so that Blenkinsop's engine could be used. Others were 4 ft 4 in ( 1,321 mm ) (in Beamish ) or 4 ft  7 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,410 mm ) (in Bigges Main (in Wallsend ), Kenton , and Coxlodge ). English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for

6006-605: Was reported to have said that if he had had a second chance to choose a gauge, he would have chosen one wider than 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ). "I would take a few inches more, but a very few". During the " gauge war " with the Great Western Railway , standard gauge was called " narrow gauge ", in contrast to the Great Western's 7 ft  1 ⁄ 4  in ( 2,140 mm ) broad gauge . The modern use of

6084-689: Was used around 800 BCE. As David W. Anthony writes in his book The Horse, the Wheel, and Language , in Eastern Europe, the earliest well-dated depiction of a wheeled vehicle (a wagon with two axles and four wheels) is on the Bronocice pot ( c.  3500 BCE ). It is a clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker settlement in Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland. The oldest securely dated real wheel-axle combination in Eastern Europe

#732267