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I thought Stephenson gauge was chosen because there were a lot more rail miles and rolling stock using that gauge than Brunel gauge.

In the end, it seems it's good enough. Both high speed trains as well as the heaviest freight trains ever work fine with standard gauge.

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> I thought Stephenson gauge was chosen because there were a lot more rail miles and rolling stock using that gauge than Brunel gauge.

That was key reason. The other was that 7ft gauge limits how tight your corners can be versus standard gauge. There are other minor disadvantages, such as that because trains are bigger, tunnels need to be wider.

The 7ft gauge trains were probably a lot more smooth though. And that extra ~3ft would make them feel much more spacious. Luxury was a big prestige element on the Great Western.

None of those reasons are political though, they're all very reasonable technical and logistical reasons.

From wikipedia: Stephenson's gauge was chosen on the grounds that existing lines of this gauge were eight times longer than those of the rival 7 ft or 2,134 mm (later 7 ft 1⁄4 in or 2,140 mm) gauge adopted principally by the Great Western Railway

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