How many miles of railroad track was there in 1900?

The mileage of U.S. railroads expanded rapidly during the latter-half of the nineteenth century and into the first few decades of the twentieth century. For instance, in 1880 there were 70,000 miles of railroad tracks, but by 1890 the number of miles increased by 84,000, and by 1900 had jumped to 193,000.



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The building boom peaked during the 1880's, during the height of the Gilded Age. As historian John F. Stover notes in his book, The Routledge Historical Atlas Of The American Railroads, a staggering 70,400 miles was laid down between 1880 and 1890 with total mileage growing from 93,200 to 163,600!

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By 1860, 30,000 miles (49,000 km) of railroad tracks had been laid, with 21,300 miles (34,000 km) concentrated in the northeast. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad was the first chartered railroad in the United States and was built to increase the flow of goods between Baltimore and Ohio.

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The immensity of the American rail system can be illustrated by one fact. The Civil War was fought between two sides that controlled the largest and third largest railroad system in the world. The largest was the Union at 21,000, miles followed by Britain at 10,000 miles and third was the Confederacy at 9,000 miles.

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Historic Strasburg takes pride in the fact that its railroad is the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in America.

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The industrialized Union possessed an enormous advantage over the Confederacy — they had 20,000 miles of railroad track, more than double the Confederacy's 9,000 miles.

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Soon joining the B & O as operating lines were the Mohawk and Hudson, opened in September 1830, the Saratoga, opened in July 1832, and the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, whose 136 miles of track, completed to Hamburg, constituted, in 1833, the longest steam railroad in the world.

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In 1870 it took approximately seven days and cost as little as $65 for a ticket on the transcontinental line from New York to San Francisco; $136 for first class in a Pullman sleeping car; $110 for second class; and $65 for a space on a third- or “emigrant”-class bench.

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The initial construction of Union Pacific grade traversed land owned by Durant. Durant's railroad was paid by the mile, and to further inflate its profits, the Union Pacific built oxbows of unneeded track, and by July 4, 1865, it had only reached 40 miles (64 km) from Omaha after 2½ years of construction.

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In 1840, the U.S. had almost 3,000 miles of track. By 1860, mileage had been multiplied ten-fold. A network of 30,000 miles linked most of the nation's major cities and towns.

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On straight and level track, they could go up to sixty miles per hour. Going up grade, or around curves would limit their speeds. Track conditions were the real limiting factor for wood fired steam locomotives.

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