The standardization of track gauge on North American railways, 1830-1890

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Puffert, DJ
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 933-960
• 关键词: lock-in

摘要

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 distinct common-gauge regions by the 1860s. Growing demand for interregional traffic and increasing cooperation among railways yielded incentives to resolve this diversity, and the specific regional pattern of gauges led to selection of 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.