Queen Victoria changing trains at Gloucester, 1849. Sambaed Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) favoured the 7ft 1/4inch () broad

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Queen Victoria changing trains at Gloucester, 1849. Sambaed Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) favoured the 7ft 1/4inch () broad gauge and designed the Great Western Railway accordingly. However, in the Gauge Act of 1846 Parliament declared that all future railway track should be of the standard 4ft 8 1/2inch () gauge introduced by George Stephenson (1781-1848) on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. It was not until 1892 that the last broad gauge track was lifted. On her journey back to London from Balmoral the Queen changed from the standard gauge Midland Railway to the broad gauge Great Western Railway. From 'The Illustrated London News'. (London, 6 October 1849).

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Photo credit: © World History Archive / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: ., 1/2inch, 8, 1846, 4ft, act, broad, declared, designed, future, gauge, great, parliament, railway, standard, track, western