The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890 (The Railroads) [Hardcover]

George Rogers Taylor (Author), Irene D. Neu (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0405138199 | ISBN-13: 978-0405138195 | Publication Date: February 1981

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. "The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890" shows how the consolidation of smaller railroads and the growth of capitalism worked to unify the fragmented railroad industry through standardization. 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. A pioneering work first published in 1956, "The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890" 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 Railroad History editor Mark Reutter.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

ADVANCE PRAISE "For those who have long puzzled over the extent and effectiveness of the nation's railroads on the eve of the Civil War, the maps and lucid text which they accompany will be worth their weight in gold." -- Mississippi Valley Historical Review "A model of concise, pointed scholarship." -- Journal of Political Economy "The definitive study." -- Business History Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 113 pages
• Publisher: Ayer Co Pub (February 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0405138199
• ISBN-13: 978-0405138195
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,549,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vast amount of organized data, May 26, 2009

By 

Mark W. Perkins - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890 (Paperback)

It is hard to imagine that any bit of data on the subject was missed. Most of it is presented "as is", so this is a compilation rather than an analysis. There are a lot of photos. They look like photocopies, so the clarity is not what might be hoped for. Still, this is a unique and information filled reference.

5.0 out of 5 stars Important part of railroad history, July 8, 2011

By 

Bruce E. Mccall "Bruce McCall" (Hagerstown, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890 (Paperback)

Everyone who studies American railroad history needs a copy of The American Railroad Network 1861-1890. I own an orriginal copy, without any photographs, but this doesn't dimininish the value of this great work.

Even a short railroad was an incretably expensive business, and so the early railroad builders didn't dream that it was possible for railroads to criss-cross the nation. So most of the early railroadds were built to help THEIR CITY trade goods with THEIR REGION. This resulted in a bunch of short lines that often deliberatly would not connect to a compettetors railroad. Yet, if someone wanted to ship goods across country, then the goods had to be unloaded, carted accross town, and reloaded. Sometimes goods would have to be unloaded and reladed many times.

This book is the story of railroads learning to cooperate with each other in order to speed up the flow of goods and passengers. There are chapters on the problems of the three main regions, standerizing the rail guage, and another on the express rail business.

The best part of the book are the three fold-out regional maps which clearly show all of the nation's railroads as of 1861. At that time, there were six different gauges (or widths between the rails) scattered about the nation. Each gauge is shown in a differnt color. This however, does not include the famous 3-foot Narrow Gauge that was so popular in the 1870s and 1880s.