La naissance d'un système technique à grande échelle. Le chemin de fer en France (1832-1870) - article ; n°4 ; vol.53, pg 859-885

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales - Année 1998 - Volume 53 - Numéro 4 - Pages 859-885
The birth of large scale technological system, le chemin de fer en France from the 1830s to 1870s. CARON. The birth and the development of railway in France, between the 1830s and 1870s, throws light upon the process of formation of large technological systems and upon some general important issues of history of technology. The initial choices were determined by technical legacies but also by chance decisions made in situation of uncertainty about the best solutions and/or by transfers of technologies from Great Britain. The technological path was determined by the lessons to be learnt from numerous and serious mishaps which occurred in the working of the system and by organizational models adopted. The development in France of six independent networks strenghtened the process of differentiation of railway technology.
27 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.