Re: Two Questions

CBrito1690 Wrote:
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> My first question is where there any narrow gauge
> railroads around the same time of the Civil War
> (1861-1865)?


Some NG railroads existed before the Civil War, but mostly horse drawn or gravity. Here are some of the first.

From:
[cprr.org]


First, in 1795 on Boston's Beacon Hill, a wooden railway of about a two-foot gauge in the form of a double-track inclined plane..

Third, in 1809, Philadelphian Thomas Lieper, from Scotland, built a short, experimental horse-powered railroad in Philadelphia. The line, of a 4-foot gauge, ...

Fifteenth, in 1826 or, more probably, 1827, Abraham Potts built the first of many railroads in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.... The line had a gauge of 40 inches.

Sixteenth, during 1827 at Mauch Chunk (mountain of bears), Pennsylvania, construction began on a single-track railroad of 3 foot, 6-inch gauge...

Nineteenth, the Tuscarora, or Schuylkill Valley, Rail Road began construction and partially operated in 1829, as a horse-powered, double-track line having wooden strap rails, set to a 40-inch gauge.

Twentieth, the Union Canal Rail Road was the first in Schuylkill County to be chartered, on 3 March 1826. ... The track had a 40-inch gauge.