Narrow Gauge Around the World
These galleries are in general a work in progress. Some are well along, reasonably complete with captions, others are little more than placeholders until I can add more pictures as well as captions. While I was pursuing steam not specifically narrow gauge, many of the steam powered railroads I visited around the world were narrow gauge. Most likely this was because the inefficiency of narrow gauge made them less attractive for investment in new diesels. In any event they provided some interesting images. The pictures cover a period from the late 1960's to the present day.
I suppose one question is what is "narrow gauge". I have adopted a fairly simple definition....anything narrower than the U.S. and European "standard gauge" of 4 feet 8-1/2 inches. By this definitiion, some "narrow gauge" systems, such as the "Cape Gauge" South African Railways were both extensive and technically sophisticated. So the railways included here range from primitive link-n-pin logging lines to modern mainline railways.
For the record: Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009 by John B. West, all rights reserved. However I encourage your reproduction of the photographs for personal use, and photographs may be used in the electronic or print media so long as credit is given to the photographer.
