Transportation Economics in the 21st Century - Rail Data

1.  U.S. Railroad Network Shapefiles, 1826-1911

Data from the Department of Transportation’s National Atlas Database, in combination with the U.S. Geological Survey’s historical topographical maps. Shapefiles show miles of railroad linkage between points.

Provided by Jeremy Atack.

• Data

As used in: Atack, Jeremy and Robert Margo (2011) “The Impact of Access to Rail Transportation on Agricultural Improvement: The American Midwest as a Test Case, 1850–1860,” Journal of Transportation and Land Use, 4(2).

2.  U.S. Railroad Network, 1830-1920

Decadal shapefiles containing networks for navigable rivers, constructed and proposed canals, sea/lake routes, railroads, and other transportation components, as well as historical county-county transportation costs. Built upon original data from: Atack, Jeremy, ‘‘On the Use of Geographic Information Systems in Economic History: The American Transportation Revolution Revisited,’’ Journal of Economic History, 73 (2013), 313–338.

Provided by Richard Hornbeck and Dave Donaldson.

• Data

As used in: Donaldson, Dave and Richard Hornbeck (2016) “Railroads and American Economic Growth: A “Market Access” Approach,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(2), 799-858.