the.com/rail
two parallel lines that carried entire empires faster than anyone thought possible
means A bar of metal, wood, or other material laid as a barrier or track — or, as a verb, to complain or protest bitterly.
from The noun comes from Old French 'reille' (a bar or rod), from Latin 'regula,' a straight stick or rule — the same root that gives us 'regulate' and 'rule.' The verb 'to rail' is a separate arrival, from Old French 'railler,' to mock or jest, which is why you can rail against something and stand on something with the same four letters and no shared blood.
- gauge origin
- Standard width traces roughly to Roman cart axles
- steel beats iron
- Switch to steel rails ended constant cracking
- thermal stretch
- Long rails buckle in heat, called sun kinks
- welded ride
- Continuous welded rail killed the classic clackety-clack
- animal escape
- Rail birds run rather than fly to flee
trans-siberian railway — longest railway line in world at 9,289 km, connects moscow to vladivostok
orient express — luxury passenger train from paris to istanbul, operated since 1883
japanese shinkansen — high-speed rail network in japan, first opened 1964, reaches 320 km/h
indian railways — world's largest railway network by number of stations with 7,325 stations across india