Three foot six inch gauge railways in the United States

Last updated August 08, 2024

A list of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge railways in the United States. Apart from historical railways, it is commonly used in underground coal mines.^[1]^[2] Also, in the past, this gauge had been a popular choice for urban mass transit systems (see table below).

Railroads

State/territory	Railway
Arkansas	Arkansas Midland Railroad (1872-1883, then converted to 3 ft gauge)(defunct) Brinkley, Helena and Indian Bay Railway (1889 to 1900, then converted to standard gauge)(defunct)
California	Los Angeles Railway (dual gauge lines with standard gauge track also present) (all dual gauge lines shared with Pacific Electric) (defunct) Mount Lowe Railway (partially converted to standard gauge) (U.S. National Register of Historic Places status) (defunct) Pacific Electric (standard gauge lines and dual gauge lines with standard gauge track also present) (all 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge trackage was dual-gauged with standard gauge trackage) (all dual gauge lines shared with Los Angeles Railway) (defunct) Poway–Midland Railroad (operating) San Diego Electric Railway (converted to standard gauge) (defunct) San Francisco cable car system (U.S. National Historic Landmark status) (operating) Southern California Railway Museum (standard gauge lines, 3 ft (914 mm) gauge lines, and dual gauge lines with standard gauge track and 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge track also present) (operating)
Colorado	Denver Tramway (defunct) Henderson molybdenum mine (mostly defunct)
Maine	New Brunswick Railway (crossed into New Brunswick, Canada) (converted to standard gauge) (defunct)
Nebraska	Covington, Columbus and Black Hills Railroad (defunct)
New Jersey	Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railroad (converted to standard gauge) (defunct) Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway (defunct) Pleasantville & Ocean City Railroad (converted to standard gauge) (defunct)
New York	City Island Railroad (defunct) Pelham Park Railroad Company (converted to a monorail) (defunct)
Oregon	Former Portland, Oregon city streetcar system (operated by various companies at different times, including the Portland Street Railway Company; the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company; and the Portland Traction Company), last lines closed 1950. Except for the line to Vancouver, Washington (3 ft 6 in or 1,067 mm), the interurban lines of the same companies were standard gauge,^[3] as were a few of the city lines (in the southeast part of the city).^[4]
Pennsylvania	Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway (U.S. National Register of Historic Places status) (defunct) Pioneer Tunnel ^[5] (operating)

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The Nevada Central Railroad was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad completed in 1880 between Battle Mountain and Austin, Nevada. The railroad was constructed to connect Austin, the center of a rich silver mining area, with the Southern Pacific transcontinental railroad, at Battle Mountain.

The Bridgton and Saco River Railroad (B&SR) was a 2 ft narrow gauge railroad that operated in the vicinity of Bridgton and Harrison, Maine. It connected with the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad from Portland, Maine, to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, near the town of Hiram on the Saco River.

The Uintah Railway was a small 3 ft narrow gauge railroad company in Utah and Colorado in the United States. It was constructed to carry Gilsonite which provided most of its operating revenues; but it operated as a common carrier from 1904 to 1939, also carrying passengers, mail, express, and other cargoes including sheep and wool. When a public library was built in Dragon in 1910, the Uintah Railway agreed to deliver library books free of charge to and from any borrower along its route. Many area ranchers and miners took advantage of the opportunity.

The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was purchased by the Western Maryland Railway (WM) in 1944.

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The Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 2 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates seasonal tourist trains between Cripple Creek and the city's outskirts to the south. The railroad uses a revitalized section of the original Midland Terminal Railway and the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad. The railroad's one station and around half of its route is located within the Cripple Creek Historic District, a National Historic Landmark.

The Otavi Mining and Railway Company was a railway and mining company in German South West Africa. It was founded on 6 April 1900 in Berlin with the Disconto-Gesellschaft and the South West Africa Company as major shareholders.

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The Ligonier Valley Railroad connected the communities of Latrobe and Ligonier, Pennsylvania, approximately 10 miles (16 km) apart, between 1877 and 1952. For much of its length, the railroad ran parallel to Loyalhanna Creek in a scenic mountain gorge. In addition to the Latrobe-Ligonier line, there was an extension to the coal mining communities of Wilpen and Fort Palmer to the north of Ligonier, as well as several shorter spurs serving coal mines.

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Some industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man were primarily built to serve quarrying, mining, and similar industries. Some of these narrow-gauge railways offered passenger services for employees or workmen, but they did not run public passenger trains. They are listed by the primary industry they served.

The Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company was a bituminous coal mining company based in Pittsburgh and controlled by the Mellon family. It operated mines in the Pittsburgh Coalfield, including mines in Becks Run and Horning, Pennsylvania. Unusually for that time in Pennsylvania, it hired African-American miners for some of its work.

The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) was located in Northern California's Nevada County and Placer County, where it connected with the Central Pacific Railroad. The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Company incorporated on April 4, 1874, and was headquartered in Grass Valley, California. After two years of construction, passenger and commercial rail services began in 1876 and continued until 1943. The 22.53 mi (36.26 km) line ran from Colfax, north through Grass Valley to Nevada City. At one time, the railroad was notable for having the highest railroad bridge in California, the Bear River Bridge, built in 1908.

A mine railway, sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden. It is little remembered, but the mix of heavy and bulky materials which had to be hauled into and out of mines gave rise to the first several generations of railways, at first made of wooden rails, but eventually adding protective iron, steam locomotion by fixed engines and the earliest commercial steam locomotives, all in and around the works around mines.

Originally, various track gauges were used in the United States. Some railways, primarily in the northeast, used standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in ; others used gauges ranging from 2 ft to 6 ft. As a general rule, southern railroads were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft, while northern railroads that were not standard-gauge tended to be narrow-gauge. The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1863 specified standard gauge.

References

↑ Stoek, H. H.; Fleming, J. R.; Hoskin, A. J. (July 1922). A Study of Coal Mine Haulage in Illinois. Vol. 132. University of Illinois. pp. 102–103. Retrieved 22 June 2011.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
↑ Lowrie, Raymond L., ed. (2002). "Excavation, Loading, and Material Transport". SME Mining Reference Handbook. Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration. p. 232. ISBN 9780873351751 . Retrieved 9 Oct 2012.
↑ Labbe, John T. (1980). Fares, Please! Those Portland Trolley Years. Caldwell, Idaho (US): The Caxton Printers. ISBN 0-87004-287-4.
↑ Thompson, Richard M. (2010). Portland's Streetcar Lines. Arcadia Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-7385-8126-2.
↑ Pioneer Tunnel - official website

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[1] Stoek, H. H.; Fleming, J. R.; Hoskin, A. J. (July 1922). A Study of Coal Mine Haulage in Illinois. Vol. 132. University of Illinois. pp. 102–103. Retrieved 22 June 2011.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[2] Lowrie, Raymond L., ed. (2002). "Excavation, Loading, and Material Transport". SME Mining Reference Handbook. Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration. p. 232. ISBN 9780873351751 . Retrieved 9 Oct 2012.

[labbe-3] Labbe, John T. (1980). Fares, Please! Those Portland Trolley Years. Caldwell, Idaho (US): The Caxton Printers. ISBN 0-87004-287-4.

[thompson2010-4] Thompson, Richard M. (2010). Portland's Streetcar Lines. Arcadia Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-7385-8126-2.

[5] Pioneer Tunnel - official website

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v t e Track gauge (list)
Minimum-gauge Minimum-gauge railways	15 in (381 mm) 400 mm (15+3⁄4 in) 16 in (406 mm) 18 in (457 mm) 19 in (483 mm) 500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) 20 in (508 mm) 21 in (533 mm) 1 ft 10 in (559 mm)
Narrow gauge	2 foot and 600 mm 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in) 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) 800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in) 891 mm (2 ft 11+3⁄32 in) Swedish three foot 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) 3 ft (914 mm) 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) Italian metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge 1,050 mm (3 ft 5+11⁄32 in), 1,055 mm (3 ft 5+1⁄2 in), 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) 1,093 mm (3 ft 7 in), 1,100 mm (3 ft 7+5⁄16 in), 1,200 mm (3 ft 11+1⁄4 in) 4 ft (1,219 mm) 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm), Middleton Railway 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm), Scotch gauge 4 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1,384 mm), Scotch gauge 4 ft 7+3⁄4 in (1,416 mm) 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm), almost standard gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄4 in (1,429 mm) 1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in)
Standard gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in / 1,435 mm, Stephenson gauge
Broad gauge	1,440 mm (4 ft 8+11⁄16 in) 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in) 1,450 mm (4 ft 9+3⁄32 in) 4 ft 9+3⁄8 in (1,457 mm) 1,458 mm (4 ft 9+13⁄32 in) 4 ft 10+7⁄8 in (1,495 mm), Toronto gauge 5 ft / 1,524 mm and 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in), Russian gauge. 5 ft 2+1⁄4 in / 1,581 mm and 5 ft 2+1⁄2 in / 1,588 mm, Pennsylvania gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), Irish gauge 5 ft 4+1⁄2 in (1,638 mm), Baltimore gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in), Iberian gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), Indian gauge 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm), Brunel gauge 3,000 mm (9 ft 10+1⁄8 in), Breitspurbahn 8,200 mm (26 ft 10+27⁄32 in), Lärchwandschrägaufzug 9,000 mm (29 ft 6+5⁄16 in), Krasnoyarsk ship lift
List of track gauge articles	List of track gauges List of tram track gauges Miniature railways Minimum-gauge railways Large amusement railways
Gauge differences	Bogie exchange Break of gauge Dual gauge Gauge conversion list Variable gauge
Transport mode	Tram and light rail Rapid transit Miniature Scale model
Categories	by country by imperial units by metric units by name lists of track gauges

Three foot six inch gauge railways in the United States

Contents

Railroads

See also

Related Research Articles

References