Originally Posted by
PeteHski
Wherever you do get long-term standards they usually end up becoming a restrictive bottleneck for future development. A prime example would be the standard gauge rail network, determined by the width of your average Victorian horse and cart!
The standard (4 foot, 8 1/2 inches) gauge has not been a bottleneck for future development of RRs. It's the width George Stephenson chose to standardize production of locomotives as it was about a 1/2 inch wider than the wagonway rails he had been working on prior to steam, Odds are it coincides with the dimensions used by the wagonwright for that particular wagonway, not any particular "average".
https://mosaicprojects.com.au/Mag_Ar...e_Railways.pdf
This standard gauge has kept RR systems interoperable, and when needed, other gauges (usually narrower for mountains) continue to be used. Ironically, the BART system in the SF Bay Area uses a 5'6" gauge, and the biggest complaint about that is that it makes it impossible to adopt new technology built for standard gauge.