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Each railroad was free to choose its own gauge, although the availability of British-built locomotives encouraged some railroads to be built to standard gauge. When American railroad tracks extended to the point that they began to interconnect, it became clear that a single nationwide gauge would be beneficial.
The first American locomotive at Castle Point in Hoboken, New Jersey, c. 1826 The Canton Viaduct, built in 1834, is still in use today on the Northeast Corridor.. Between 1762 and 1764 a gravity railroad (mechanized tramway) (Montresor's Tramway) was built by British Army engineers up the steep riverside terrain near the Niagara River waterfall's escarpment at the Niagara Portage in Lewiston ...
About 700 railroads operate common carrier freight service in the United States. There are about 160,141 mi (257,722 km) of railroad track in the United States, nearly all standard gauge . Reporting marks are listed in parentheses.
The vast majority of North American railroads are standard gauge (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in / 1,435 mm).Exceptions include some streetcar, subway and rapid transit systems, mining and tunneling operations, and some narrow-gauge lines particularly in the west, e.g. the isolated White Pass and Yukon Route system, and the former Newfoundland Railway.
Early forms of American railroad signaling and communication were virtually non-existent; the railroads initially managed their train operations using timetables. However, there was no means of timely communication between engineers and dispatchers, and occasionally two trains inadvertently would be sent on a collision course, or "cornfield meet."
As of 2023 there are just four American owned Class I freight railroad companies and one passenger railroad company (Amtrak). The list also includes two Canadian-owned Class I freight railroads, both of which have trackage in the US, and one, CPKC, has trackage in Mexico.
Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, Erie Railroad until June 22, 1880, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad March–May 1876, Predominant gauge used by railroads along southern tier of New York State that connected to the pioneering Erie Railroad. Most lines converted to standard gauge 1876-1880, along with the Erie. 1,850 mm 6 ft 27 ⁄ 32 in
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has defined the lower bound as 350 miles (560 km) of track or $40 million in annual operating revenue. [1] The Class I threshold is $250 million, adjusted for inflation since 1991. [ 2 ] ).