break of gauge

plural breaks of gauge · alternative break-of-gauge

1. rail transportan occurrence where a railway with one track gauge meets another railway of a different gauge, thus requiring transhipment of goods and passengers, or a change of bogies on the train.

   1 more example

   The first through consignment ever to travel to Russia by way of the Eastern Region's Harwich-Zeebrugge train ferry - two tons of furniture and other household items - left London early in March on a 1,850-mile journey to Moscow; [...] being transferred to a Russian wagon at the Polish frontier because of the break of gauge.

   1960 May, “Talking of Trains: News in brief”, in Trains Illustrated, page 265