History of rail transport in Great Britain: Encyclopedia II - History of rail transport in Great Britain - Railed roads and tramways 1676 to 1825

History of rail transport in Great Britain - Railed roads and tramways 1676 to 1825

History of rail transport in Great Britain - Early rails

As early as 1676 railed roads were in use in Northumberland to ease the conveyance of coal from the mines to the banks of the river at Newcastle-on-Tyne. These were simply straight and parallel rails of timber on which carts with rollers drawn by horses enabled several wagons to be moved simultaneously. Called tramroads (the early coal wagons were called drams), these primitive rails were superseded in 1793 when the then superintendent of the Cromford Canal, Benjamin Outram constructed a tramway with L-shaped cast-iron rails: the tramway was a little over a mile in length and had a gauge of 3 ft 6 ins (1067 mm).

Although these rails were a huge step forward over the wooden "rails", they themselves were superseded when William Jessop (1745-1814) - who had been a pupil of John Smeaton - built and, with Outram, manufactured cast-iron rails without guiding ledges, where the edges of the wagon-wheels were flanged instead. Jessup first employed these rails in 1789 at the Loughborough Canal. Such rails could be manufactured in 3-ft (914-mm) lengths.

Cast-iron rails had a propensity of breaking easily, and gradually wrought-iron began to be used. In 1820 John Birkenshaw introduced a method of rolling rails in greater lengths; wrought-iron was used from then onwards.

See also Wagonway also History of rail transport

History of rail transport in Great Britain - Early public railways

These railways were built and paid for by the owners themselves. When longer lines were planned, inviting public subscription, as with many canals, an Act of Parliament became necessary to protect investors from unrealistic, or downright fraudulent, schemes. It could also be used to enforce the sale of wayleave on the part of landowners. The first line to obtain such an act, in 1758 was a private coal-owner's wagonway, the Middleton Railway into Leeds. The first, however, for public use, and on cast iron 'L' rails, was the Surrey Iron Railway incorporated in 1799 to run between Wandsworth and Croydon in south London. It was worked by horses. Although it survived only until 1845, and was for freight traffic only, it prefaced the projection of almost a score of others in different parts of the country. Meanwhile, the first passenger-carrying public railway, though horse-drawn, was the Oystermouth Railway, when it was authorised to do so in 1807.

Two of the railway engineers who pioneered the use of steam locomotives were Richard Trevithick and John Blenkinsop. At the time there was intense argument about the relative superiority of smooth wheels on smooth rails and the so-called rack and cog wheel: early locomotives did not possess sufficient adhesive weight for the tractive power required. Although it was soon discovered that the cog wheel was unnecessary on ordinary railways, it is still used on railways such as the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

History of rail transport in Great Britain - Stockton and Darlington Railway

The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) came into being because the proprietors of the Wylam Colliery, near Newcastle-on-Tyne wanted to abolish horse-drawn trains in favour of steam. One of Trevithick's locomotives was obtained in 1805, although the wooden track did not at first allow it to be used; in the event two of the Colliery's employees, William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth, designed a locomotive in 1813, which became known as Puffing Billy. A year later George Stephenson, another of Wylam's employees, improved on that design; and it was that design that convinced the backers of the proposed tramway between Stockton and Darlington, which had been given the go-ahead by Parliament in 1821, to appoint Stephenson, who had recently built the Hetton colliery railway, as engineer of the new line.

Traffic on the railway was originally intended to be horse-drawn, but Stephenson carried out a fresh survey of the route, and the Act was amended so that steam locomotives could also be used; it was also enabled to carry passengers in addition to coal and general merchandise. The line was 25 miles (40 km) in length: had a hundred loops along its single track, and four branch lines to collieries. The S&DR opened on 27 September 1825. It was initially operated like a public road, and it was a common occurrence for waggoners' trains to meet on the single track when arguments would ensue as to who should back up to a passing loop.

The first railway opened in Scotland was between Kilmarnock and Troon. At first it was operated by horses, but in 1817 locomotive haulage was introduced.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Railed roads and tramways 1676 to 1825", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki