Meanings
plural mixed gauges
- countableuncountablerail transportA description of a railway track with (usually) three rails, which enables trains of two different track gauges to run over it.
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.
1940 May, “Pertinent Paragraphs: Old Time Permanent Way Devices”, in Railway Magazine, page 305Synonyms: dual gauge
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA description of a railway track with (usually) three rails, which enables trains of two different track gauges to run over it.
Cite this entry
mixed gauge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mixed%20gauge
“mixed gauge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mixed%20gauge. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mixed gauge,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mixed%20gauge.
Source: mixed gauge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.