Originally Posted by
Seat 2A
In the early 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges. As you might imagine, this made a transcontinental rail journey considerably more trying, especially for freight as each car had to be unloaded and reloaded onto a car from the new gauge
Similarly, the difference in gauge between Russia and the rest of Europe probably hindered the German invasion of the Soviet Union just sufficiently to tip the balance against the axis.