3 ft 6 in gauge railways

;1795: One of the first railways to use {{RailGauge|3ft6in}} gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, constructed as a horse-drawn wagonway in 1795. Other {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century.

;1809: The Silkstone Waggonway was opened, connecting the Barnsley Canal to collieries including the Huskar Pit.

;1860: The Severn and Wye Railway introduces a steam locomotive on its {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge plateway.{{cite book|first=E. T. |last=MacDermot |title=History of the Great Western Railway. Volume II: 1963–1921 |publisher=Great Western Railway |location=London |date=1931}}

;1862: The Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge railway in Norway, the Røros Line.

;1865: The Queensland Railways were constructed. Its {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon and consulting engineer Charles Fox.

;1867: The construction of the railroad from the Castillo de Buitrón mine to the pier of San Juan del Puerto, Huelva, Spain, began. The width was {{RailGauge|3ft6in}}.

;1868: In 1868 Charles Fox asked civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a Rail transport in Costa Rica#History.

;1870: The {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} was adopted by New Zealand to expedite the development of transport under Julius Vogel's Great Public Works Policy; see The Vogel Era.

;1871: Nicolaas Henket and J.C Schölmann recommended that the Dutch East Indies government use {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1|addcat=no}} gauge for railways in Java. The line between Batavia NIS and Koningsplein Station opened on 15 September 1871.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

;1871: The Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway were opened, promoted by Pihl and Fitzgibbon and surveyed by Wragge as an engineer of Fox. The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island began building its {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} network.

;1872: In January Robert Fairlie advocated the use of {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways: Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/railwaysornorai01fairgoog#page/n8/mode/2up|title=Railways Or No Railways: Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency. V. Broad Gauge, Costliness with ...|website=archive.org|date=1872 }}

: The first {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge railway opened in Japan. It had been proposed by the British civil engineer Edmund Morel based on his experience building railways in New Zealand.{{cite book | last = Semmens | first = Peter | title = High Speed in Japan: Shinkansen - The World's Busiest High-speed Railway | publisher = Platform 5 | year = 1997 | location = Sheffield, UK | page = 1| isbn = 1-872524-88-5}}

;1873

: On 1 January, the Rail transport in New Zealand#Provincial period was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built {{RailGauge|4ft8.5in|al=off|allk=off}} and broad gauge railways were soon converted to the narrower gauge.

: The Cape Colony adopted the {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge.{{cite book |title=Narrow Gauge Steam |last=Ransom |first=P.J.G. |publisher=Oxford Publishing Co. |year=1996 |isbn=0-86093-533-7 |page=107}}{{cite book |title=The Atlas of African Affairs |author=Griffiths, Ieuan Ll |last2=Rowland |first2=Susan |page=[https://archive.org/details/atlasofafricanaf00ieua/page/168 168] |year=1994 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-05488-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofafricanaf00ieua/page/168 }} After conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges.{{cite book |title=They were South Africans |url=https://archive.org/details/theyweresouthafr0000bond |url-access=registration |last=Bond |first=John |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1956 |chapter=Chapter 19, The Makers of Railways: John Molteno |page=[https://archive.org/details/theyweresouthafr0000bond/page/170 170]}} Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger,{{cite web|url=http://www.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/heritagereports/9-2-110-0075-19980601-ACO_0.pdf|title=Cultural, historical assessment of the Hex Pass Railway, Worcester to de Doorns|access-date=6 March 2014|archive-date=6 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306220053/https://www.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/heritagereports/9-2-110-0075-19980601-ACO_0.pdf|url-status=dead}} the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa.Burman, Jose (1984), Early Railways at the Cape, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, {{ISBN|0-7981-1760-5}}Davenport, D.E. A Railway Sketch of South Africa. 1882. Cape Town.

;1876: Natal also converted its short {{convert|10|km|abbr=off}} long Durban network from {{track gauge|4ft8.5in}} standard gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the entire colony in 1876.{{cite book|title = Natal and the Zulu Country|first1 = TV|last1 = Bulpin|author-link = T. V. Bulpin|publisher = T.V. Bulpin Publications Ltd|orig-year = 1966|year = 1977|edition = 3rd|location = Cape Town|pages = 224–227}} Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, the Rhodesias, Nyasaland and Angola, were also constructed in {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge during that time.

;After 1876: In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous {{RailGauge|3ft6in|disp=1}} gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Newfoundland began its Cape gauge network in 1881.{{cite web| url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/railway.html| title=Railway| website=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage| publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland| access-date=5 November 2024| year=2001| first=Robert| last=Cuff }}

This gauge is sometimes called Cape gauge, named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, which adopted it in 1873. "Cape gauge" was used in several English-speaking countries.{{cite news |title=In German South-West Africa |page=4 |work=Westminster Gazette |date=1 October 1912}} The equivalent of Cape gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as {{Track gauge|1065 mm}} instead of 1067 mm.South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610 mm and 1065 mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended

In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge.{{cite web|url=http://magasin.kb.se:8080/searchinterface/page.jsp?issue_id=kb:82172|title=Kalmar, 29-03-1897 (Blekinge-spårvidd)|access-date=27 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427204123/http://magasin.kb.se:8080/searchinterface/page.jsp?issue_id=kb:82172|archive-date=27 April 2014|url-status=dead}}

Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand.{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP18740512.2.8|title=Papers Past - The Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 12,1874. (Evening Post, 1874-05-12)|first=National Library of New|last=Zealand|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{cite web|url=http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/11071/Track-Gauges-and-Railway-Construction-Part-1|title=CR4 - Blog Entry: Track Gauges and Railway Construction (Part 1)|website=cr4.globalspec.com|access-date=4 March 2014|archive-date=4 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304162522/http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/11071/Track-Gauges-and-Railway-Construction-Part-1|url-status=dead}}

In Australia, this gauge is typically referred to as narrow gauge in comparison to {{RailGauge|4ft8.5in|al=off|allk=off}} standard gauge or {{RailGauge|5ft3in|al=off|allk=off}} broad gauge. In some instances, simply 3 foot 6 inch — or in rarer cases medium gauge — is used to distinguish it from other narrow gauges.{{cite web|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:241160/s00855804_1983_11_4_113.pdf|title=Adoption of the 3ft. 6ins. gauge for Queensland railways|date=1983|last=Knowles|first=J.W.|publisher=Australian Railway Historical Society|url-status=live|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=2 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402232516/http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:241160/s00855804_1983_11_4_113.pdf}}

{{see|Rail gauge in Australia}}

In Japan the {{RailGauge|1067mm}} gauge, along with other narrow gauges, is referred to as {{Nihongo||狭軌|kyōki}}, which directly translates as narrow gauge, to differentiate it from the Shinkansen lines. It is defined in metric units. It is commonly referred to as {{Nihongo|三六軌間|36 gauge}}, which derives from the 3 ft 6 in.

Similar, but incompatible without wheelset adjustment, rail gauges in respect of aspects such as cost of construction, practical minimum radius curves and the maximum physical dimensions of rolling stock are:

• {{Track gauge|1100mm|lk=on}},
• {{Track gauge|1093mm|lk=on}},
• {{Track gauge|1055mm|lk=on}},
• {{Track gauge|1050mm|lk=on}}, and
• {{Track gauge|1000mm|allk=on}}.

Dual gauge between {{Track gauge|1067mm}} gauge and another similar gauge can make these bonus gauges.

• {{Track gauge|1435mm|allk=on}},
• {{Track gauge|1372mm|lk=on}}, (4 ft 6 in gauge railway) and
• {{Track gauge|1668mm|lk=on}}
• {{Track gauge|1676mm|lk=on}} (The maximum bonus gauge from {{Track gauge|1000mm}} meter gauge gauntlet tracks).

{{Portal|Trains}}

• Cape Government Railways
• Heritage railway
• List of track gauges
• Speed records

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724055755/http://grela.rrpicturearchives.net/ South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090605101002/http://www.jrtr.net/jrtr31/f33_sai.html Why Did Japan Choose the 3'6" Narrow Gauge?]

{{Navbox track gauge}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Gauge}}