After the Civil War, the economic recovery of the southern United States hinged on trade with the North and moving goods westward via the railroad. But there was a problem. Tracks in the South had been built with a gauge (or track width) of 5 feet but the majority of tracks in the North had a 4-foot 9-inch gauge (more or less).
So after much planning, over a concentrated two-day period in the summer of 1886, the width of thousands of miles of railroad track (and the wheels on thousands of rail cars) in the South was reduced by three inches.
Rolling stock, too, was being prepared for rapid conversion. Contemporary accounts indicate that dish shaped wheels were provided on new locomotives so that on the day of the change, reversing the position of the wheel on the axle would make the locomotive conform to the new gauge. On some equipment, axles were machined to the new gauge and a special ring positioned inside the wheel to hold it to the 5-foot width until the day of the gauge change. Then the wheel was pulled, the ring removed, and the wheel replaced.
To shorten the axles of rolling stock and motive power that could not be prepared in advance, lathes and crews were stationed at various points throughout the South to accomplish the work concurrently with the change in track gauge.
Answer:
its from the book I had read few years ago
The confederates had many more soldiers than the Union
<span>He streamlined the bureaucracy and increased the sales of federal land.</span>
Buddhism Originated in India, where Gautama Buddha gained his Enlightement under a tree.
Their major principles was to always speak Truth, never harm any creature, try to help others.
<span>In the US it is unlikely that Buddhism alone had any direct influence on laws, but because many of it's teachings about living a moral life i.e. not killing, stealing, etc. are the same as other more dominant religions it could be said that religious convictions (Buddhist ones included) in general have influenced lawmakers in making decisions.
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Buddhism also affected other societies as many Hindu followers who were from lower casts joined it immidiately due to discrimination in their own religion.
Hope this helps!
