Some statistics from an 1887 issue of the Railroad & Engineering Journal:
Number of railroads - 383
Total miles - 2286
Number of locos in use - 428
Number of cars in use - 5182
There were a lot of additional statistics but the points of interest are that many of these roads were very small and of various gauges. Some even used wood rails and animal power instead of locos. Many of the roads were temporary affairs with the track being ripped up and moved when the timber ran out. Some of the roads even became permanent general purpose roads.
wow. that's a big number of railroads out there.
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