In fact there is a direct lineage from the Roman chariot to the Space
shuttle.
The Romans had a very ordered existence and everything was controlled, like
the track of the chariot. In places like Pompeii you can still see the ruts
in the stone road surface where they ran between stepping stones for
pedestrians.
Britain was not so ordered, and each wagon maker had his own dimensions.
One benefit of this was that the wheels ran on different parts of the track
surface, which was generally just grass and mud, and so did not form deep
ruts.
When the Roman's came to Britain they brought their fixed track chariots,
which soon started making deep ruts in the soft tracks. Because the British
carts were different tracks if one wheel went into a rut the other probably
did not which tilted the cart, and in dry weather when the ground was hard
this tended to break the wheel in the rut. So the British cart makers
adopted the same track as the Romans and ran in the same ruts.
The first trains were developed from horse-drawn carts running on wooden
tracks, and this developed into the steam-drawn carriages and wagons we know
today. When a tunnel was constructed it was sized to accept the rolling
stock of the day.
The American rail system was developed from the British.
When the shuttle was designed it's booster rockets were built in one place
and shipped to another by rail. Because of the tunnels and rolling stock
this gave a maximum dimension for the rockets ... which was based on the
track of the Roman chariot.
Or so it is said.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul M." <rowman22001@yahoo.com>
> It turns out that the track measurement of a modern
> car can be linked very directly back to the original,
> road width-defining vehicle: The Roman Chariot.
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