Why was there not a standard gauge in Canada, in the 1800's ?

Question

plz nswer in at least 2- 4 sentences

Answer 1

I assume you are referring to railroads. Since Canada was part of the British Commonwealth, it would have been the norm for them to use technology from the mother country. Hence the use of British railroad dimensions, rather than the one being used in the U.S.

Answer 2

Because there wasn't in Britain, where steam railways originated.

Not all the early railways were to 4 ft 8½ in by any means.

It wasn't till 1845 that the gauge commission ruled that all future railways in the UK should be to 4ft 8 1/2 inches, from then on "standard" gauge, and the Great Western Railway did not give up its (superior) broad gauge until 1892.

Narrow gauge railways, however are generally cheaper, so in many parts of the world 3ft to 3ft 6 in gauge lines were preferred as better meeting immediate local needs, with no particular view to what the best choice would be for a unified national system, either in the UK or Canada.

If there was a standard gauge for Canada, it was initially 5 ft 6 in!

Answer 3

Different rail roads were run, and owned by, different companies. Sometimes these companies used unique rail guages to prevent competitors from using their tracks. This allowed them to gain a localized monopoly. If another company want to provide rail service to a region, they'd have to lay their own track.

In today's economy rail road tracks are more standardized for two reasons. It allows standard cars and locomotives which is cheaper to buy. It also means that you can buy or sell your tracks and they will still be useful to the new owner.

Answer 4

That would be because of competing interests I would think.That is a really big country and things just developed as thing went along.The problem shows up when one train system cannot run on another one.The tracks are already down,but they do not match.
It was OK as long as it worked in that area.But it would not tie into another area.They just learned as the went along and they learned the hard way.
In contrast Russia never did learn.The Soviet Union laid down its own gauge of track and it did not work on the European system.
They are still paying the price for that.Nothing Russian works in Europe or anywhere else.