During the second half of the nineteenth century Latin American countries were engaged in a railroad expansion program that drastically altered the role of the state, modified the organization of social and economic institutions, and required massive inflows of foreign investment. Although scholars have analyzed some of these issues, little attention has been paid to the difficulties involved in the adaptation of large modern railroad corporations to the conditions characteristic of less-developed countries. The purpose of this article is to portray the experience of the largest American enterprise that operated in Mexico during the nineteenth century. This experience will also allow us to illustrate some important peculiarities of railroad development in Mexico with respect to other Latin American countries.
The period from 1850 to 1880 is generally considered to be the first stage of railroad construction in Latin America1; however, Mexico lacked the material as well as the...
