Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Apparently the memory was a bit fusy. Not been really in to trains. Last time I reed about it was at elementary school and that's a couple of years ago
This is how they do it.
f
"As the train passes through the gauge changer, the wheels are unlocked, moved closer together, or further apart, and are then re-locked. Installed variable gauge systems exist within the internal network of Spain, and are installed on international links between Spain/France (Spanish train), Sweden/Finland (Swedish train), Poland/Lithuania (Polish train) and Poland/Ukraine (Polish train)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_gauge

OT
When Finland built there railway system they wanted it to be the same as Sweden so they asked for the width dimension. Just that Sweden to the inner width and Finland understood it as the outer width, or if it was the other way around. Anyway that's why Finland Rail road network don't match Neither Russia's or Sweden's, it's slap #### in the middle.

 

yep, in Ukraine we have russian gauge railways.

before switching to metric system russian gauge was 5' (1524mm), now it is 1520 mm.

In EU 4'8.5" gauge is used. Really in 19 century russians decided to use gauge to 5'' to avoud using of European steem engines on russian roads after Napoleon Wars. It was only defence thing.

 

In case someone wants to know what an Omafiets (more commonly known as Opoefiets these days) is, a picture of such a rather old fashioned bicycle:

 

To reduce the number of trucks on the road, and to save fuel, there are initiatives in Europe to use longer and heavier trucks. In the Netherlands certain truck combinations are allowed to be 25,25m (83 feet) long, and have a weight of 60.000kg (132.000lbs). However strict regulations are applied. Deze trucks are allowed on all high ways, and other important roads. On other roads only if these roads are cleared for by these trucks. The driver needs a special training, and obviously there are technical rules for these trucks, like a special braking system. So far there are no European regulations to allow these trucks in all EU countries, but studies to allow them are in progress.

This a diagram of possible truck combinations:

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You will not see types F and G on the road. Companies don't use them, most likely because they don't exploit the maximum possible length.

 

US Railroad gauge came about like this apparently.(Copy Paste)

Here is an interesting story that ties together 2000 plus years of technology development.

The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that is the way they built them in England, and the U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English people 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. Why did they use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagons would break on some of the old long-distance roads because that is the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

So, who built those old-rutted roads? The first long-distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. So, why did the Romans pick that spacing? Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the backends of two horses.

What's this got o do with the Space Shuttle? The engineers who designed the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, wanted 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 to the factory runs through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than a railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So,in summary, a major design feature of the world's most advanced transportation system was determined by the width of two horses' behinds!!

Just urban legend it turns out but worth a laugh.

 

hahaha made me laugh anyway

 

That one has been floating around for a while. Still makes me laugh.

 

Keeping that standard 1435mm gauge that was in use at the mines wasn't the brightest idea. There was one Briton who understood that very well, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This engineering genius (he was voted the second greatest Briton that ever lived) used a gauge of 7 feet ¼ inch (2140mm) for his Great Western Railway. However in 1846 a law was introduced that all railways should have the 1435mm gauge, so the GWR tracks were changed to the inferior 1435mm gauge.

When they started to use high speed trains on the UK railways, almost all tracks had to be rebuild. When two high speed trains pass each other they create a kind of vacuum between them, so the trains have the tendency to topple over when they pass each other. Only on the old GWR lines the tracks had so much distance between them that they didn't have to rebuild those.

 

Brunel wanted wide gauge railways so he could mount larger wheels outside the carriages and engine, large wheels means less friction so could go faster and run more efficiently , it also meant he could fit a larger boiler to the engine and he could keep the trains center of gravity lower making it more stable, he truly was a genius!

 

Do Americans like this kind of European trucks?

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It is the French Nicolas Tractomas D100 10x10 tractor, 900hp, weight 72t (with balast), and designed to pull 600t.
(I just don't understand why I see "attachment" instead of a picture)