Train journeys - the Swiss raise the bar again.

Railway track gauges of the world...

Good engineering - I guess we should have had these guys in Australia over the years.

From Wiki:

In 1921, a royal commission into rail gauge was delivered, recommending gauge conversion of large areas of the country. It stated "that the gauge of 4-ft. 8.5-in. be adopted as the standard for Australia; that no mechanical, third rail, or other device would meet the situation, and that uniformity could be secured by one means only, viz., by conversion of the gauges other than 4-ft. 8.5-in."^[29] Following the royal commission, agreements were made for the standard gauge NSW North Coast line to be extended from Kyogle to South Brisbane (completed in 1930) and for the Trans-Australian Railway to be extended from Port Augusta to Port Pirie (completed 1937).^[28]

By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, there were 13 break-of-gauge locations, with upwards of 1,600 service personnel and many more civilians employed to transfer 1.8 million tons of freight during the period. The breaks of gauge were at:^[28]

• Hamley Bridge ceased to be a break of gauge point in 1927 when the broad gauge was extended to Gladstone^[30]
• South Brisbane ceased to be a break of gauge point when the NSW North Coast line was extended over the Merivale Bridge to Roma Street in 1986
• Acacia Ridge was developed as a break-of-gauge yard in Brisbane in the 1970s to relieve overcrowding at Clapham goods station, which is opposite the Moorooka passenger station.
• The NSW North Coast line from Acacia Ridge to Bromelton was dual gauged in 2009 as part of the Nucleus Transmodal Hub to relieve overcrowding at Acacia Ridge^[31]

Break-of-gauge devices[edit]

In 1922, 273 inventions to solve the break-of-gauge had been proposed, and none adopted.^[32] In 1933, as many as 140 devices were proposed by inventors to solve the break-of-gauge problem, none of which were adopted.^[33]

Even dual gauge with a third rail for combining Irish gauge and standard gauge was rejected as too reckless, as the gap between these gauges of 6.5 inches (165 mm) was considered to be too small.^[34] Dual gauge combining Irish gauge and narrow gauge where the gap was 21 in (530 mm) was also rejected.