This discussion of the gantlet has become the gauntlet, and vice versa, as each are simply variants of the word meaning ordeal. Or, glove. And either way plainly in English, including m'rican English (American Heritage Dictionary @ 2.5 inches).
This discussion would have traveled a different course, I think, if engaged by vintage train nuts versus bicycle whackos: gantlet, or gauntlet, is a section of overlapping but independent railroad track where two sets of track are overlapped to afford passage at a narrow place without switching (perhaps from Old Swedish 'gatlulop' meaning passageway.
If the gantlet fits, we must acquit, or just quit.
JB Froke, Pebble Beach CA