Talk:Oldest railroads in North America

Category Portages
All of these railroads where not portages, but that is in my oppinion no reason not to include this in the Category:Portages. Wikipedia is not about classification but linking.

An other reason why I have included this article in the category, is that we do not yet have articles on inland navigation or pre-industrial travel. Also the Portage article is still a stub. All these articles could and maybe should link to this article. Now the category stands as a replacement or a precursor to the proper article. Once we have the links, maybe we can remove the category.

-- Petri Krohn 00:31, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

Queue to look at and possibly add
Pontchartrain Railroad (see Elysian Fields Avenue) —Preceding unsigned comment added by SPUI (talk • contribs)


 * I made a starter stub at Pontchartrain Rail-Road (as the name was presented in earliest original sources. -- Infrogmation 15:42, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
 * claims it was the "second completed" in the US. I presume "steam locomotive" is implied. What seems to be the validity of second completed? Were all but one other lines up before then still laying down additional track? Wondering, -- Infrogmation 16:46, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Former stub now substatially expanded. -- Infrogmation 00:54, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Mention was added with information and citations a couple years ago-- and recently removed, along with a large amount of info on other early railroads. As 1831 is quite early and some railroads later than that have been kept, what, please, is the justification? I think the below should be readded unless a reason it should not is provided.-- Infrogmation (talk) 19:31, 19 November 2008 (UTC)


 * 1831: The Pontchartrain Rail-Road, chartered the previous year, begins traffic between the Mississippi River front of New Orleans, Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain on 23 April.


 * As there as been no objection nor reason stated for the previous removal, I have put back the Pontchartrain with the above text. Other equally valid listings may have been removed at the same time as this; checking article history might be useful. -- Infrogmation (talk) 21:06, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

rewrite?
I think this page has become a bit of a mess.

The first paragraph which references various research articles should be removed and replaced with in-line references where appropriate because as the list gets edited it will become irrelevant.

There seems to be an inconstancy with the dates. Are the dates listed the charter date, the first run, extensions?

What defines a rail as experimental vs. some of the early short-lines and how is a full service train defined?

There is a list of early tunnels but no bridges? BaomoVW (talk) 01:51, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Illustration
I've put back in the illustration of the New Orleans & Carrollton Rail-Road. Not because it is a particularly splendid image, but because I was familiar with this image and the article supposedly about early railroads was completely lacking in any pre-20th century images. Photos of plaques and locations where something used to be more than 100 years earlier are well and good, but how about illustrating the article with some actual period images of the early railroads mentioned? Please take this as a challenge to find more relevent historic images that can be used! Cheers, -- Infrogmation (talk) 23:21, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Moved essay to the bottom
I have moved to the bottom of this article some 1,100 words that appear to be an essay on the vagaries of defining early railroads and their dates of inception. This was a bold move, and so I highlight it here for discussion. I would add that the passage stands out as far wordier and indirect than most Wikipedia articles; possible solutions include a hard rewrite to tighten it up or wholesale deletion. PRRfan (talk) 03:48, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

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I second this call for extensive revision or elimination of the essay. Walter422 (talk) 07:47, 19 January 2018 (UTC)

This essay, with its florid writing style and uncited statements, does not belong on Wikipedia. I'm in favor of deleting it; only the last paragraph and comparisons of railroads to canals are worth saving. Since the last comment about deletion was posted more than six months ago, I'm assuming few people have read this essay. If they had, I'm sure they would agree that it has to go. Kinkyturnip (talk) 18:11, 5 September 2018 (UTC)


 * This essay is still here?? It absolutely has to go. Clearly, nobody is interested in editing it into a proper format for wikipedia. Deleting. Kalethan (talk) 15:46, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

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I've been searching for information on the Locomotive used on Mobile and Cedar Point Railroad that was built in the 1830. The M&CP RR became insolvent the 1837 financial crash. Some aledge that part of the assets became part of the Mobile and New Orleans RR. Since the rails were purchased from an English company, the engine may have been also. Has anyone researched this?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.240.2.125 (talk) 23:38, 14 December 2018 (UTC)