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Doggydog123579 t1_iyj59ic wrote

Reply to comment by Bierbart12 in TIL that the southern United States converted all 11,500+ miles of its railroads from broad gauge (5 ft/1.524 m) to nearly-standard gauge (4 ft 9 in/​1.448 m) in just 36 hours, starting on May 31, 1886 by 1859

Atleqst for the UK, the outlets are diffrent because ring circuits are an abomination.

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ibw0trr t1_iykey35 wrote

I had never heard of this until tech connections did a bit on outlets.

Ring circuits seem like a great idea... Until one end gets broken and the other has to support the full potential amperage.

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nivlark t1_iylltpr wrote

They were always just an efficiency measure. Ring mains let you use less copper, which was in short supply in the UK during the post-war years when a lot of housing was being built to replace what had been lost to bombing.

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