Railroad Tracks, fascinating !
The US. standard railroad gauge is 4 Ft. 8-5 inches. An exceedingly odd No.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built US. railroads.
Why, did the English build them that way ? Because the first rail tracks were built by the same people who laid the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'They' use that gauge? Because the people who built the Tramways used the same Jigs and Gauges used for building Wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did Wagons have that odd spacing ? Well if they used any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on the highways of Britain, because of the spacing of the wheel ruts in the roads.
So who built those old rutted roads ? Imperial Rome, for their Legions to traverse the Country, and have used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads ? Roman Chariots formed the initial ruts, so wagon makers had to match those ruts for fear of damaging their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Romans, they were all alike in wheel spacings Therefore the US. standard Gauge derives from the specification of a Roman Chariot
So the next time you are given a Specification/Procedure/Process and wonder 'What Horses A*** came up with it.'? you may be exactly right as chariots were made to the width of two horses arses. Now the twist to the story.
When you see a Space Shuttle on the launch pad, there are two Booster Rockets attached. These are made by Thiokol in Utah. They wanted to make them larger, but they have to be transported by rail, but the railroad goes through a Tunnel, which is slightly wider than the railtrack, which you know is as wide as two horses arses. So, a major Space Shuttle design of the Worlds most sophisticated transport, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horses A***. And you thought that being a Horse's A*** wasn't important.?