mixed gauge

English

Noun

mixed gauge (countable and uncountable, plural mixed gauges)

1. (rail transport) A description of a railway track with (usually) three rails, which enables trains of two different track gauges to run over it.
   • 1940 May, “Pertinent Paragraphs: Old Time Permanent Way Devices”, in Railway Magazine, page 305:

     An ingenious method was used in the early days of mixed gauges on the Great Western Railway, by which narrow gauge and broad gauge trains could be sent on diverging paths without the use of ordinary switches controlled from a signalbox.

Synonyms

• dual gauge