I stopped by the Schreiner building project this morning to measure the gap between the rails found there last week. A number of you have reported the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad was built on the standard scale -- so the rails should be 4 foot 8 1/2 inches apart. Earlier I reported the rails found were 5 foot apart, so I went back this morning to re-measure. The rails found are 5 foot apart. I have a theory as to why these rails are spread farther than expected. First, the rails were cut years ago when the foundation was poured for the expansion of the Schreiner department store, so the rails found last week are near that cut. They might have "fanned" out a bit near the cut. Secondly, a foundation of some type was poured nearly on top of the rails, which also might have caused them to spread a bit.
We'll know more soon, though; a workman there said more of the tracks should be uncovered soon, possibly as early as tomorrow, farther from the "cut" point, toward the corner of the lot. When these are exposed I will take another measurement.
I also took these two additional images for you -- to better show you what was found.
Click on any image to enlarge
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| This rail was pulled out of the ground before anyone realized what it was. |
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Three rails still in place. I measured the gap between the two parallel rails
and it measured 5 foot even. |
For more information about Joe's book, which has over 200 historic photographs
of Kerrville, please click here.
This is interesting!
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