ISBN: 025207114X 9780252071140

Category: Business & Economics / Industries / Transportation

Page count: 113

Rapid population growth in the Great Plains and the American West after the Civil War was the result not only of railroad expansion but of a collaboration among competing railroads to adopt a uniform width for track. <i>The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890</i> shows how the consolidation of smaller railroads and the growth of capitalism worked to unify the fragmented railroad industry through standardization. <br> <br> George Rogers Taylor and Irene D. Neu cover the emergence of railroads before and during the Civil War, their expansions westward, the gradual adoption of a national rail gauge, and the development of standardized equipment and car interchange rules that set examples for American industry in general. <br> <br> A pioneering work first published in 1956, <i>The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890</i> provides a framework for understanding how advancements in technology are both impeded and fostered by political processes and commercial pressures. This paperback edition features three full-color fold-out maps and a new introduction by <i>Railroad History</i> editor Mark Reutter.<br> <br>