How do you measure the gauge of plateways, both now and in the past? I am aware that one school of thought says that one measures from centre to centre of the actual track of the wheel on the plate, though given that plateway wagon wheels were free to slide on their axles, this could vary a lot! An example I came across recently by the German engineers Von Oeynhausen & Von Dechen, relating to the Tavistock Canal incline in 1827, seems to have been measured between the upright flanges of the L section plate rails. Thus when one measures between wheel centres, one gets a higher figure. Any answers please?
>
> From: JOHN BERRY <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri 27/Jun/2003 01:40 GMT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: mining-history Digest - 25 Jun 2003 to 26 Jun 2003 (#2003-159)
>
> Roger:
> I own one of these books, I think the Zupko one. I'm still in Oz but will be home on Monday and will check. From memory my opinion was that it was interesting but, for the purposes that I needed, not particularly useful. If you are interested let me know off list and I'll look at it to refresh my memory and give you my opinion. Same for anyone else with an interest in this topic. I don't know about bushels; I was interested in units used in mining.
>
> John
>
> Automatic digest processor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 7. British / English Weights and Measures
>
> Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 21:39:09 +0100
> From: roger gosling
> Subject: British / English Weights and Measures
>
> I came across references to these two books recently on the internet. I haven't seen them, but they
> look like they might solve the eternal argument about bushels (no - I doubt it really!)
>
> Does anyone have any opinions on these books; are they worth tracking down?
>
> The Weights and Measures of England
> by R D Connor
> H M S O, London, 1987 (422 pages)
> ISBN 0 460 86137 9
> A scholarly and detailed account of the history of the development of the
> British (Imperial) system of weights and measures from the earliest times.
>
> British Weights and Measures
> by R E Zupko
> A history from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century
> The University of Wisconsin Press, 1977 [248 pages]
> ISBN 0 299 07340 8
> The actual history occupies only 100 pages. There is then an extensive list
> of the various units used in commerce, tables of many pre-Imperial units, a
> long list of pre-metric measures used in Europe together with their British
> and metric equivalents, and nearly 40 pages giving other sources.
>
> All the best
> Roger
>
>
>
> John Berry Associates
> Geology & Remote Sensing
> 5000 Beverly Hills Drive
> AUSTIN, TX 78731, U.S.A.
> +1-512-452-8068 (Voice)
> +1-512-413-9270 (cell)
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>
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