loading gauge

loading gauge (plural loading gauges)

1. (rail transport, UK) The maximum permitted height and width for a rail vehicle, governed by clearances in tunnels, under bridges and past lineside structures.
   • 1946 January and February, “The Why and The Wherefore: Condensing Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 62:

     In Russia, where experiments on a considerable scale have been made with condensing, the railways have the considerable advantage of a loading gauge 17 ft. high (the biggest in the world), as compared with the British 13 ft. or slightly over.

   • 1960 March, “Talking of Trains: London-Paris in four hours”, in Trains Illustrated, page 134:

     The total of wagons generally conforming to Continental standards but specially built to our loading gauge so that they are capable of use on the ferry routes is now 8,000.

   • 1962 December, “The Oxted Line diesel-electric multiple-units”, in Modern Railways, page 383:

     The coaches are similar to those of the Hampshire diesel-electric units, which went into service in September, 1957, but have 8ft 6in wide bodies, instead of 9ft, because of loading gauge limitations on the South Eastern Division.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 33:

     But there is a continuing distinction between the loading gauge (the size of the trains) of the deep-level Tube trains and the loading gauge of the cut-and-cover trains. The latter are bigger - as big as main-line trains.

2. (rail transport) A physical structure, often a metal frame above a railroad track, to check the maximum height and width of a vehicle.

• “loading gauge”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• loading gauge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia