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Why Why Analysis

The document explores the historical reasons behind the US standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches, tracing it back to Roman war chariots and the wheel spacing used in ancient England. It illustrates how specifications and processes can have unexpected origins, highlighting the influence of historical practices on modern engineering. The narrative concludes with a humorous observation on how this ancient measurement affects contemporary technology, such as the design of Space Shuttle booster rockets.

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jakirshaikh
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6 views13 pages

Why Why Analysis

The document explores the historical reasons behind the US standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches, tracing it back to Roman war chariots and the wheel spacing used in ancient England. It illustrates how specifications and processes can have unexpected origins, highlighting the influence of historical practices on modern engineering. The narrative concludes with a humorous observation on how this ancient measurement affects contemporary technology, such as the design of Space Shuttle booster rockets.

Uploaded by

jakirshaikh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Why why analysis - a case study

This is about
the Railroad tracks in
USA

The US standard
railroad gauge
(distance between the
rails)
is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.

That's an exceedingly
odd number.

Do you know the


reason/ why?Why?

[email protected] Page 1
Because that's the way
they built them in
England,
and
English expatriates
designed
the US railroads.

[email protected] Page 2
Why did the English build
them like that?

Because the first rail lines


were built by the same
people
who built the pre-railroad
tramways,

and that's the gauge they


used.

[email protected] Page 3
Why why analysis - a case study

Why did 'they' use that


gauge then?

Because the people who


built the tramways used
the same jigs and tools
that they had used for
building wagons, which
used that wheel spacing.

[email protected] Page 4
Why did the wagons have
that particular odd wheel
spacing?

Well, if they tried to use


any other spacing,
the wagon wheels would
break on some of the old,
long distance roads
in England,

because
that's the spacing of the
wheel ruts.

[email protected] Page 5
So who built those old
rutted roads?

Imperial Rome
built the first long distance
roads in Europe
(including England ) for
their legions.

Those roads have been


used ever since.

[email protected] Page 6
And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots


formed the initial ruts,
which everyone else had to
match for fear of
destroying their wagon
wheels.

[email protected] Page 7
Since the chariots were
made for Imperial Rome,
they were all alike in the
matter of wheel spacing.

Therefore
the United States standard
railroad gauge of
4 feet, 8.5 inches is
derived from
the original specifications
for an Imperial Roman war
chariot.

Bureaucracies live forever.

[email protected] Page 8
So the next time you are
handed a specification/
procedure/ process and
wonder 'What horse's ass
came up with this?' ,
you may be exactly right.

Imperial Roman army


chariots were made just
wide enough to
accommodate the rear
ends of two war horses.

(Two horses' asses.)

[email protected] Page 9
Why why analysis - a case Study

Now, the twist to the


story:

When you see a Space


Shuttle sitting on its
launch pad, there are two
big booster rockets
attached to the sides of the
main fuel tank.
These are solid rocket
boosters, or SRBs. The
SRBs are made by Thiokol
at their factory in Utah

[email protected] Page 10
The engineers who
designed the SRBs would
have preferred to make
them a bit fatter, but the
SRBs had to be shipped by
train from the factory to
the launch site.
The railroad line from the
factory happens to run
through a tunnel in the
mountains, and the SRBs
had to fit through that
tunnel. The tunnel is
slightly wider than the
railroad track, and the
railroad track, as you now
know, is about as wide as
two horses' behinds.
[email protected] Page 11
So, a major Space Shuttle
design feature of what is
arguably the world's most
advanced transportation
system
was determined over two
thousand years ago by the
width of a horse's ass.

And you thought being a


horse's ass wasn't
important?

Ancient horse's asses


control almost everything..

[email protected] Page 12
Contact
sigmaguru at gmail.com
or
Vidyut Bapat at +91 94235 07631

to share your experience

[email protected] Page 13

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