Talk:Trams in Chemnitz

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Puzzling rail gauges

The lead now says: 'The network's gauge, originally [in the 1880's, DP] 915 mm (3 ft) (3 ft +1⁄32 in), was widened to 925 mm (3 ft 13⁄32 in) by the outbreak of World War I'. What is this 915 millimetres (3.00197 ft)? From the German de:Straßenbahn_Chemnitz (this page was translated from): " Die Strecke hatte eine Spurweite von 3 Englischen Fuß (knapp 915 mm)". That is: 3 feet (914.400 mm). A "915 mm" definition has not been mentioned for any other gauge. I can not check any paper sources. But there is the German phrasing (from the paper sources?), the fact that 915 mm was not defined anywhere as as a gauge, the plausibility that many European railways in the 1880's used imperial measures, and the minime convert difference (in practice, a neglectible difference given tolerances of that age). A definitive source can correct me, but I assume that the first gauge was defined to be 3 ft (that is a regular 3 ft (914 mm)). It may have slipped in in the translation into English. I'll edit the article.

Interestingly, in the 1910's the gauge was widened to 925mmm (+ ~10mm). A 10mm widening of gauges must have been within tolerance, as existing rolling stock would not have been discarded right? [1] shows the stock, named and of course after 1920 ordered to be "925 mm" not 915 mm. -DePiep (talk) 07:53, 9 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

When I created the article, I translated the original gauge as 914mm (3 ft), as per the de.wiki article. I'm not sure why it was later changed. I agree that the difference is negligible, but if the gauge was defined as 3 ft (914mm), we might as well describe it as such. Bahnfrend (talk) 10:37, 9 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, 914 mm is better because it's 914.4 exactly, when from feet. But now that we can assume best that it was defined in feet, we can use that 3ft definition (existing, widely used) easily. If there were a source or law saying "it is defined 915mm" (probably in German), we'd have it added to {{RailGauge}} and that would be the defining measure (with first mentioning). This page was on my issues-list for months. -DePiep (talk) 14:53, 9 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

915mm error is also present on the German list of track gauges. (de:Liste der Spurweiten#Spurweiten 900 bis 999 mm--Aaron-Tripel (talk) 17:52, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! We are OK now, right? Btw, today I changed the category from 915mm into 914mm. -DePiep (talk) 19:01, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't even know I could write German. BUt here it is. ;-) Note: our category should be good old 3ft, not 914 mm. -DePiep (talk) 19:26, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

All OK. There seem to be a lot more errors on that German wiki page, out of which I copied some track gauges to List of track gauges with this 915 mm category as a result. In the next days I will reassess my "German" contributions.--Aaron-Tripel (talk) 19:30, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Nice German contribution :-). I first didn't notice this new 914mm category. Did you forget about the existing category:3ft gauge railways or is this on (a metric) purpose?--Aaron-Tripel (talk) 19:53, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No, I forgot/didn't realise/didn't see. Cat:914mm can go (do if you like). Now the Germans say that "915 mm" is the official conversion back then (by the company), if I'm correct. Then it is official and per source. I think we here can declare that to be the same gauge as 3ft still, being a rounding difference. New word of the day: Dimensionales Messgerät (for a ruler...). -DePiep (talk) 21:56, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is better to list it in the 3ft category to avoid confusion--Aaron-Tripel (talk) 07:46, 22 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Is what I say. And the article should mention the sourced gauge "915 mm". -DePiep (talk) 09:24, 22 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Recap/rethink: I think we should keep Category:915 mm railways in Germany (or 915mm if this source is OK), and put that one in parent Category:3ft gauge railways. "Germany" should be "mm". -DePiep (talk) 20:51, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]