Why the lack of railroads in Imperial Russia?

[stremba]

Originally Posted by Troyfan

Germany had more railroads that any European country in the 1860's even though it was agrarian. They were built for the army. (Prussia and then the North German Confederation)

Also, someone posted the US was mostly industrial by the 1850's. I don't think that is right. In 1860 about 60% of the labor force worked on farms.

Russia and the US are both big countries. It would seem both needed fast end-to-end transportation. Maybe in America, the westward migration and the riches of the west coast created the demand, while in Russia there was nothing in eastern Siberia worth shipping west.

I still think it had a lot to do with the backward ways of the Romanovs and Russian nobility vs. the industrial go-getters of America when it comes to those two.

The Prussian case is exceptional. This is a case of government-built rail vs. private lines. Private lines were the rule; government building was the exception. In order to generate a demand for rail use, and hence a sufficient profit to build an extensive rail network privately, industrialization is necessary. An agrarian society will usually not generate sufficient demand for rail use to permit a private firm (or combination of firms) to build an extensive network.

Regarding the US, the country at that time was essentially two separate countries economically. The North and South had little in common in terms of economic activity (but rather had complementary economies). The South primarily was agrarian with cotton being its key export. The North was, if not in terms of a majority of the work force, a primarily industrial economy. Most of the wealth generated in the North was from industry. Even if there were more people who worked on small farms than in factories, industry was the driving force of the Northern economy. The rail network in the North was far more expansive than that of the South, and again industrialization is the explanation.

[BugsyPal]

Originally Posted by stremba

The Prussian case is exceptional. This is a case of government-built rail vs. private lines. Private lines were the rule; government building was the exception. In order to generate a demand for rail use, and hence a sufficient profit to build an extensive rail network privately, industrialization is necessary. An agrarian society will usually not generate sufficient demand for rail use to permit a private firm (or combination of firms) to build an extensive network.

Regarding the US, the country at that time was essentially two separate countries economically. The North and South had little in common in terms of economic activity (but rather had complementary economies). The South primarily was agrarian with cotton being its key export. The North was, if not in terms of a majority of the work force, a primarily industrial economy. Most of the wealth generated in the North was from industry. Even if there were more people who worked on small farms than in factories, industry was the driving force of the Northern economy. The rail network in the North was far more expansive than that of the South, and again industrialization is the explanation.

Exactly!


This can be verified by how much abandoned, not used or otherwise surplus to requirements railroad ROW there is scattered all over the northeast.


From Main right through Pennsylvania and really deep into Rust Belt states like Michigan you've got tons of former ROW that simply had nil to no use once the industry or industries served either moved south (or overseas), and or simply went out of business.


Other prime freight for NE railroads was coal. Taken from the mines in parts of Appalachia, and shipped by train to points east, north, south, etc... railroads made their money hauling the stuff. Post WWII as coal died out for heating, and various motive power (ships and locomotives) moved away from coal to oil for steam, then all together to diesel, the subsequent collapse of coal markets meant there wasn't a need for that rail ROW either.


This is playing out again as one of the last major uses for coal (power generation) is slowly dying. CSX and the rest of freight railroads are getting rid of ROW that basically was used to haul coal.