@palallin posted:I have read several stories on this question, and I am professionally interested in the answer. All of them--including this one and its several variants (Army RR battalions in the war, etc.)--have the ring of of folk etymology, and none is likely responsible for the coinage. The versions that claim that the size of the rail (as opposed to "scale" rail) are perhaps a little more likely but depend upon the advent of widespread use of smaller rail, and the dates are pretty fuzzy.
I also thought it smacks of "folk etymology", but since this is a first hand account, Morgan would have had to been embellishing his own role, and he seems like a straight shooter, so it may well be true.
