The Day the Gauge Changed

Very cool and informative, what a job!

Fantastic Video, fascinating!!

Questions: 

Did anything similar happen in Europe?  (Russia and Spain are still broad gauge.)

Is there still a thru train between France and Spain that mechanically changes gauge en route?

This sort of thing was fairly common during that period.  Out here in the heartland, the Frisco did it and the MoPac actually did it twice.

Early gauge choices were made in response to business rivalries, unrealized predictions concerning future developments of the rail network, and political parochialism.  Some of the choices were actually wise--a wider gauge would have become useful in almost every case--but standardization became even more useful, an economic imperative.

Great video.  Thanks.

Thanks Jan!  Very interesting and informative.