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>The predominant track gauge in the South was actually 5 feet. [...] had the Confederacy won the American Civil War the US would likely have adopted that as the

by bragr 2y ago

>The predominant track gauge in the South was actually 5 feet. [...] had the Confederacy won the American Civil War the US would likely have adopted that as their standard gauge. That is a weird assertion, considering a victory for the Confederacy would have likely meant their independence, not taking over the North. Wouldn't a Confederate victory make the remaining Union states' options on standardizing easier?

jcranmer 2y ago
The Pacific Railroad Act of 1863 established that the gauge of the first transcontinental railroad was to be 4'8½", which is I believe the first time the US actually legally established a particular gauge. Some states had established their own (non-4'8½") gauges before then, but it looks like by the eve of the Civil War, 4'8"-4'9" gauge (the various gauges in this range can be treated as identical for rolling stock purposes) was the plurality of track. By the Civil War, it looks like you have a Midwestern standard gauge, a Northeast standard gauge separated into two islands by a I think 5'6" New York/New Jersey gauge, and Ohio using a 4'10" gauge separating these two networks; the South's network--which is far less dense--is 5' gauge; and now you get transcontinental railroads being planned for a 4'8½" gauge. Now it is true that the Southern railroads largely switched to the 5' gauge as a result of connecting to the original few lines that connected isolated lines being 5', but a similar process in the North also broke up the non-standard gauge areas, and between the much smaller track area of the South and the fact that there were almost no 5' lines outside of the CSA, it is incredibly unlikely that the creeping 5' would ever have been adopted in the US. (From attempting to browse the Confederacy's laws, I don't think they ever fixed a gauge for the routes they authorized to be completed).

by bragr 2y ago

jcranmer 2y ago

The Pacific Railroad Act of 1863 established that the gauge of the first transcontinental railroad was to be 4'8½", which is I believe the first time the US actually legally established a particular gauge. Some states had established their own (non-4'8½") gauges before then, but it looks like by the eve of the Civil War, 4'8"-4'9" gauge (the various gauges in this range can be treated as identical for rolling stock purposes) was the plurality of track. By the Civil War, it looks like you have a Midwestern standard gauge, a Northeast standard gauge separated into two islands by a I think 5'6" New York/New Jersey gauge, and Ohio using a 4'10" gauge separating these two networks; the South's network--which is far less dense--is 5' gauge; and now you get transcontinental railroads being planned for a 4'8½" gauge. Now it is true that the Southern railroads largely switched to the 5' gauge as a result of connecting to the original few lines that connected isolated lines being 5', but a similar process in the North also broke up the non-standard gauge areas, and between the much smaller track area of the South and the fact that there were almost no 5' lines outside of the CSA, it is incredibly unlikely that the creeping 5' would ever have been adopted in the US. (From attempting to browse the Confederacy's laws, I don't think they ever fixed a gauge for the routes they authorized to be completed).