CHAPTER V.

_THE BROAD GAUGE._

Origin of the Ordinary Gauge of Railways--Adoption by Mr. Brunel of the Broad Gauge on the Great Western Railway--Reasons for its Adoption--The Permanent Way--Reports of Mr. Nicholas Wood and Mr. John Hawkshaw, 1838--_Extract from Report of Directors of Great Western Railway Company_ (December 20, 1838)--Extension of the Broad Gauge System--Break of Gauge--Royal Commission on the Gauge of Railways, 1845--_Letter of Mr. Brunel on the Broad Gauge_ (August 6, 1845)--Gauge Act of 1846--The Mixed Gauge--Report of Railway Commissioners, 1847--Northern Extensions of the Great Western Railway--Advantages of the Broad Gauge--Partial Abandonment of the Broad Gauge.....99