When we were having the Great Locomotive race event at our club I had access to a number of Images from the most horrible war in our countries history Here are some related to trains
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FYI: There is a current exhibit at the Met which has original photo prints and some very interesting paintings.
The Civil War and American Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhib...tm_campaign=civilwar
The Civil War and American Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhib...tm_campaign=civilwar
I suspect that mortar is a Union army item. The south didn't have an abundance of foundries that could turn out such items. Can't tell from the clothing of the artillery either. Thus, it's probably standard gauge, as the USMRR would regauge any Confederate RR's that were captured---so that the supplies could reach the front lines.
technically, there was not a 'standard' gauge (or gauge standard) in this country until President Lincoln set it, after the Civil War.
The northeast RR's were, with the exception of the Erie, all 4' 8'1/2". Most southern RR's were 5 ft gauge. Congress in 1863 decreed that the trancontinental RR would be 4' 8 1/2". The southern RR's kept the 5' gauge until the spring of 1886, when in a 2 day period virtually all the trackage was regauged to "standard".
I'll clarify my statement. Lincoln's decree and Congress' action were pertinent to the Pacific Railway expansion.
As for gauge standards in the Northeast (and elsewhere), they were hardly the same. A little light reading on the subject is available:
https://campus.fsu.edu/bbcsweb...%20Track%20Gauge.pdf
http://www.strategicstandards.com/files/Metrics.pdf
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/li...n=div1;view=fulltext
>>The southern RR's kept the 5' gauge until the spring of 1886, when in a 2 day period virtually all the trackage was regauged to "standard".<<
Re-gauging the track was easy - back then they didn't use tie plates.
But how long did it take to convert all the locomotives and rolling stock?
