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The Standardization of Track Gauge on North American Railways, 1830–1890

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

Douglas J. Puffert
Douglas J. Puffert
Affiliation:
Research and Teaching Fellow, Institute for Economic History, University of Munich, Ludwigster. 33 / IV, D-80539 Munich, Germany. E-mail: Douglas.Puffert@econhist.vwl.uni-muenchen.de.
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Abstract

Early North American railways chose different track gauges partly on the basis of differing engineering traditions and partly for mutual compatibility. The resulting dynamic process produced nine district common-guage regions by the 1860s. Growing demand for interregional traffic and increasing among railways yielded incentives to resolve this diversity, and the specific regional pattern of gauges led to selection pf 4'8.5” as the continental standard. The case offers support for aspects of differing views on the role of path dependence in determining features of the economy.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 933 - 960
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2000

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