Category Archives: Railways and Tramways Blog

The Mother of All Inventions. …

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Why were railways created?

What were the circumstances which brought about their existence?

History does not make it easy to take out one example from a steady continuum of change. …

David Wilson writes: “There have been track or plateways since Roman times. You might say that these could be brought within the term railway and therefore the Romans invented the railway.” [1: p61]

Except there were railways of a sort, at least as far back at 600 BCE, possibly going back even further, maybe as far back as 1000 BCE. The clearest example being the Diolkos Trackway. [2] This was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth.

David Wilson continues: “For most people, however, the railways began with the Stockton and Darlington (S&D), though I’m sure many people already appreciate that history is not always what it seems.” [1: p61]

David Wilson tells us that if one wished to take the view that the first ever railway was the first to have been authorised by Parliament, then the first railway was built in Leeds – The Middleton Railway. “The Middleton Railway was given Parliamentary Assent in 1758 and began using steam traction in 1812, two years before the advent of Mr Stephenson’s first locomotive, ‘Blucher’, and 13 years before the opening of the S&D.” [1: p61]

But there is more to consider. … The Lake Lock Rail Road opened in 1798 (arguably the world’s first public railway). It carried coal from the Outwood area to the Aire and Calder navigation canal at Lake Lock near Wakefield. [3][4] The Surrey Iron Railway was the first railway to be authorised by the UK Parliament (21st May 1801).  It was a horse-drawn railway which ran between Wandsworth and Croydon. [5][6][7][8][9] It was followed by The Carmarthenshire Railway or Tramroad (authorised by Act pf Parliament on 3rd June 1802). It was a horse-drawn goods line, located in Southwest Wales, the first public railway first authorised by Act of Parliament in Wales.[3][10][11][12]

The Low Moor Furnace Waggonway was constructed in 1802. It connected Barnby Furnace Colliery to Barnby Basin on the Barnsley Canal. It was replaced in 1809 by The Silkstone Waggonway which operated until 1870. [19][20] The Merthyr Tramroad, between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon, also opened in 1802. [5][13][14][15][16][17][18] The Lancaster Canal Tramroad (also known as the Walton Summit Tramway or the Old Tram Road), was completed in 1803. It linked the north and south ends of the Lancaster Canal across the Ribble valley. [21][22]

The first steam locomotive to pull a commercial load on rails was Penydarren (or Pen-y-Darren) was built by Richard Trevithick. It was used to haul iron from Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon, Wales. The first train carried a load of 10 tons of iron. On one occasion it successfully hauled 25 tons. However, as the weight of the locomotive was about 5 tons the locomotive’s weight broke many of the cast iron plate rails. [5][13][14][15][16][17]

We could go on to mention:

  • The Croydon, Merstham & Godstone Goods Railway opened in 1805; [23]
  • The Sirhowy Tramroad opened in 1805; [24]
  • The Ruabon Brook Tramway (also known as Jessop’s Tramway or the Shropshire Union Tramway) also opened in 1805; [25][26][27][28]
  • The Middlebere Plateway (or Middlebere Tramway) opened on the Isle of Purbeck in 1806; [29][30][31][32]
  • The Monmouthshire Canal Tramway, open by 1806; [33][34]
  • The Oystermouth Railway, opened in 1806; [35][36] and
  • The Doctor’s Tramroad, Treforest which opened in 1809. [37][38][39]
  • The Monmouth Railway authorised by the UK Parliament in 1811. [5][72][73]
  • The Kilmarnock & Troon Railway which opened in 1812. [5][74][75][76][77]
  • The Killingworth Waggonway of which a first stretch opened in 1762 and which was extended in 1802, 1808 and 1820. [78][79][80][81][82][83]
  • The Haytor Granite Railway of 1820 which not only transported granite from Dartmoor as freight but ran on granite rails. [84]

The drawing of the locomotive Blücher (below) was done by Clement E. Stretton, © Public Domain. Blücher was built by George Stephenson for the Killingworth Waggonway. It was the first of a series of locomotives which established his reputation as an engine designer and eventually “Father of the Railways”.

We could list other railways opening before the S&D in 1825. The use of steam power at The Merthyr Tramroad and The Middleton Railway preceded its use on the S&D. A very strong claim to be the most significant development in the early 1800s could be made on behalf of The Middleton Railway. But it is the Stockton & Darlington (S&D) Railway which has caught the imagination and it is the 200th anniversary of the S&D which is being celebrated in 2025 as the beginning of the railway age.

Why is this?

It is clear that the claim to fame of the Stockton and Darlington (S&D) is lessened, at least, by the prior claim of the Middleton Railway both as first to be sanctioned by Parliament and first to make commercial use of steam power. The claims associated with other railways which preceded the S&D also must be significant. However, there is one important and fundamental difference between it and them. David Wilson says that, unlike the Middleton Railway, “the S&D was constructed with a view to carrying other companies’ goods and, to a lesser extent, to carry people.” [1: p61]

In addition, he says, “Bear in mind the distinction between the carriage of goods and people, and between carrying one’s own goods and those of others. In many ways this type of division is what distinguishes the modern concept of the railway as a system for the transport of goods and passengers on a hire and reward basis from the early plateways and railways such as the Middleton, which were not essentially built to carry anything other than goods, typically coal, for their owners.” [1: p61]

Perhaps, though, there are more grounds for the place taken in history by the S&D. Rather than just running between a pithead and a coal wharf on a canal, river or road and serving specific industrial concerns, the S&D also was built by public subscription and linked one town to another.

David Wilson continues: “To arrive at a description of what constitutes a railway we have to enlarge our definition to include not only Parliamentary Sanction, the use of rails or tracks, and the carriage of goods, but also the carriage of the public, the carriage of public goods and that one settlement be joined to another by the laying of a line paid for through the issue of shares. Thus … a railway is a set of tracks laid between two centres of habitation, which carries goods or people for commercial reward and has been authorised by Act of Parliament. It will have been built through the raising of public funds, either through the sale of shares in it or via government spending from the public purse.” [1: p61]

Let’s return to the era before the existence of the steam locomotive, the era of that list of lines highlighted above (and many more).

David Wilson comments: “The growth of the coal mining industry in the later part of the 17th and early 18th century had led to a growth in the plateway systems used to move the coal from the pit head to [a road], canal or river for shipment to the growing cities and the newly built mills. By as early as 1645 there were wagonways taking coal from the Durham coalfields down to the Tyne. By 1800 there were more than 100 miles of these plateways in the Tyneside area alone.” [1: p61]

Similar developments were taking place elsewhere in the UK:

  • The first overground railway line in England may have been a wooden-railed, horse-drawn tramroad which was built at Prescot, near Liverpool, around 1600 and possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away. [40]
  • The Wollaton Waggonway in Nottinghamshire was in use by 1604. [5]
  • In East Shropshire and around the Severn Gorge; [41][42] A railway was made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1605 to carry coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. It is possible that Clifford’s ‘railway’ was in use as early as 1570 and a similar line may well have been constructed by William Brooke near Madeley, again down to the River Severn. [43: p21] By 1775, there were a number of both short and long tramroads in the area around the Severn Gorge.
  • The Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway was built by the York Buildings Company of London, to transport coal from the Tranent pits to the salt pans at Cockenzie and the Harbour at Port Seton, in Haddingtonshire, now East Lothian. [5][44]
  • The Alloa Wagon Way was constructed in 1768 by the Erskines of Mar in Alloa, to carry coal from the Clackmannanshire coalfields of central Scotland to the Port of Alloa. [45]
  • The Halbeath Railway opened in 1783, from the colliery at Halbeath to the harbour at Inverkeithing. [46][47]
  • The Charnwood Forest Canal, sometimes known as the ‘Forest Line of the Leicester Navigation’ was, under the guidance of William Jessop, using railways to supplement the canal between Nanpantan and Loughborough wharf, Leicestershire by 1789. [5][48]
  • The Butterley Gangroad (or Crich Rail-way) was built by Benjamin Outram in 1793. [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]
  • The Earl of Carlisle’s Waggonway opened in 1799 from coal pits owned by George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle around Lambley to Brampton, Cumbria. [51][58] There is some confusion over dates. The earliest opening date quoted is 1774, the latest 1799. [59] Dendy Marshall says that it was built in 1775. [60] C.E. Lee says it was constructed in 1798. [59][61]

It is perhaps easy to loose sight of the scale of these industrial undertakings. The rapid expansion of mining, plateways and railways “led to an increase in the numbers of horses in use … and a growth in the amount of horse feed needed. By 1727 The Tanfield Waggonway, in Co. Durham, carried 830 wagon loads of coal daily that’s a lot of horses.” [1: p61][5][62][63] “In 1804, the Middleton Colliery line was carrying 194 loads per day. Each wagon held about 2.5 tons and required the use of one horse and driver.” [1: p61]

A crisis in the use of horses and wagons occurred early in the 19th century with the advent of the Napoleonic Wars. The conflict became a significant drain on both horse and horse feed availability. The resulting inflation in the price of horses and feed lowered the profitability of each wagon load of coal. David Wilson says that, “The more visionary (or greedy, depending on your point of view) pit owners started to search for alternatives to the horse to move their goods to market. They provided their pit engineers with money and materials to experiment with steam power to replace horse power.” [1: p61]

Of course, steam power wasn’t new. Knowledge of the power of steam had been around since before the Common Era in Greek society [64][65][66] and the pits themselves had steam engines for pumping out the water and for lifting coal to the surface, or as winding engines on rope-worked inclines. [66][67] Newcomen’s first engine was installed for pumping in a mine in 1712 at Dudley Castle in Staffordshire. [66][68] What was new was first, the expiry of Boulton & Watt’s patent for a high-pressure steam engine, [5][69] and second, the idea of making the steam engine mobile, thus creating the steam locomotive. What eventually became even more revolutionary was the idea of creating a network of railways to serve the whole country. [1: p61]

We sometimes talk of a ‘perfect storm’ (a particularly violent storm arising from a rare combination of adverse meteorological factors), when we are talking about a series of adverse conditions occurring at the same time – a situation caused by a combination of unfavourable circumstances. The opposite of a ‘perfect storm’ is usually assumed to be a period of calm. However, the true opposite of a perfect storm is the occurrence (co-occurence) of a series of positive factors which combine to produce something significantly valuable. Wilson says that “as with almost anything man-made, there must be certain ingredients present. To bake a cake you need eggs, flour, milk etc. and in creating a railway you need, metalworking skills, engineering expertise, labour, capital and an incentive.” [1: 61]

The early years of the 19th century saw a timely co-incidence of these and other factors:

  • growing shortages of horse and feed coupled to the rising prices of both;
  • poor road conditions;
  • a rapidly developing understanding of engineering – Wilson suggests that this was “as a consequence of the more theoretical works of philosophers such as Newton, Descartes and Leibniz. … Such men have a reputation as creators or exponents of the mechanistic world view. Prior to the works of these men many had thought, and indeed some still do think, that the earth was a living entity. However, the views espoused by Newton, Descartes and Leibniz came to be accepted, the world was made up of dead, lifeless and inert matter, here to benefit mankind;” [1: p62]
  • the availability of skilled and unskilled labour – particularly the ‘navigators’ who were skilled in the techniques of earthworks, tunneling and bridge building – the men who had earlier built the canals. (“These men were to become the skilled labour of the railway construction industry and in turn they passed on their skills to the former farm labourers who were recruited to railway works as the lines progressed along their routes“); [1: p62]
  • developing metalworking skills – “the Darby family, who set up the … Coalbrookdale foundry. had acquired new skills in metalworking from tinkers, in what is now the Netherlands;” [1: p62] After constructing Ironbridge, “the Coalbrookdale ironmasters began to widen their horizons. One of their number, John “Iron Mad” Wilkinson, constructed what was reputedly the first iron barge and, more importantly, … the smiths of Coalbrookdale collaborated with Richard Trevithick in the construction of his locomotive – they cast the cylinder block and the plates for the construction of the boiler;” [1: p62]
  • the increasing availability of financial capital;
  • the increasing birth rate and the better health of the work-force which provided the necessary labour while engineering work was still labour-intensive.

The Availability of Capital

Among the physical factors listed above is an interesting financial factor which will bear some scrutiny. Wilson tells us that “the capital to build the world’s first public railway came, not from the Government, but from the Society of Friends, the Quakers.” [1: p62] He notes too that the Darby family whose Coalbrookdale plant had such a formative influence in the early days of the industrial revolution, were also Quakers. Wilson explains that Quakers were isolated from much of society and public life because of a refusal to sign up to the articles of faith of the established church. However, the same religious views made them sympathetic to works performed for the public good. Various Quaker families began to take an interest in the developing railway sphere. The website quakersintheword.org [70] tells the story of the significant role played in financing railways played by the Quakers.

“In 1818 a small group of Quaker businessmen, including Edward Pease and his son Joseph from Darlington, Benjamin Flounders and the banker Jonathan Backhouse, met to discuss the possibility of building a railway from Darlington, passing several collieries, to the port of Stockton.” [70] 

The Act of Parliament required for the work to take place faced significant delays in the parliamentary process. “The delay proved very significant, as in April 1821 Edward met George Stephenson and recruited him as an engineer for the railway. The original intention had been that the coaches would be horse drawn, just like all the others now in existence. However, George convinced Edward that steam engines were the future for railways, and that he could build them. The Pease family then put up much of the capital that enabled Stephenson to establish a company in Newcastle, where he built the locomotives.” [70]

After the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, “the railway network grew under the guidance of Edward’s son Joseph, who opened the Stockton & Middlesbrough branch in 1828. … In 1833 Joseph became the first Quaker to enter Parliament and the railway interests passed to his brother Henry. In 1838, Henry opened the Bishop Auckland & Weardale line, followed by the Middlesbrough and Redcar line in 1846. Henry wanted to traverse the Pennines and in 1854 he started the Darlington & Barnard Castle line, which opened in 1856.” [70]

Quakers were often involved in railway developments in the 19th century, for instance, “in 1824, a group of merchants, including Quaker philanthropist and anti-slavery campaigner James Cropper, went to see the Stockton and Darlington railway.  They soon began building the Liverpool and Manchester railway, which opened in 1830.” [70]

Incidentally, Quakers “were also responsible for two innovations that improved the way these new passenger railways worked – timetables and tickets. James Cropper produced a 12-page timetable for the Liverpool and Manchester railway, probably the first railway timetable ever.  It was the forerunner of Quaker George Bradshaw’s Railway Companion, published in 1839. Bradshaw’s became a household name for anyone using the railways. … The second innovation was the railway ticket. In 1839 Thomas Edmundson, another Quaker, was appointed station master at Milton, on the Newcastle and Carlisle line.  He was unhappy that customers paid their fares directly to him without receiving a receipt.  Consequently he introduced the railway ticket, which came into general use with the creation of the Railway Clearing House in 1842.” [70]

The Birth Rate and Increasing Health of the UK Population

Wilson points us to one more significant factor in the development of railways in the early 19th century. “Seemingly disconnected and irrelevant factors were playing their part. During the period from the end of the civil war (1649) onwards there was a growing awareness of the value of the human being as resource, and a concerted effort was made to increase the birth rate and to cut the death rate. … This did not stem from any rise in humanitarianism but from a recognition that people were worth money. After all, in the 1640s and on into the 19th century, slavery was still common throughout the so-called civilised world, including Britain. Improvements in diet and sanitation increased life exресtancy. It is no coincidence that the first workhouses began to appear around the middle of the 17th century – a reasonably fit and healthy population produced more than a sickly and unfit one.” [1: p62]

“By the beginning of the 19th century, the conditions were in place for a major economic expansion. A growing empire and military strength ensured the supply of raw materials and provided a growing market place for the products made from them. An expanding population provided the physical means by which the empire might be held together. Technology provided the ability to carry out the grand design. The workhouses and other reforms had created a disciplined workforce.” [1: p62-63]

By 1850, a quarter of a million workers – a force bigger than the Army and Navy combined – had laid down 3,000 miles of railway line across Britain, connecting people like never before. [71]

And Finally …

Wilson suggests one other, less definable, reason for the dramatic welcome given to steam technology in particular. He suggests that there was a more visceral connection to steam power which predisposed humanity to embrace the technology.

No doubt, the S&D was at the forefront of engineering developments it was “the white heat of technology, the frontier of science.” [1: p63] Wilson asks us to consider that there was (and still is) a connection between “a piece of primitive industrial technology, the steam locomotive and its enduring popularity, and an ancient, and some might say mystical, view of the world.” [1: p63]

Wilson says: “Prior to the advent of the mechanistic world view in which cause and effect, hard science and hard facts are the order of the day, people held to a more animistic philosophy. Miners would pray to the earth before digging it up. … In this more mystic view of the world things were not made of chemicals and atoms, molecules and the force of gravity. They were composed of the four elements – earth, air, fire and water.” [1: p63] He asks us to consider whether “the reason so many people took to the steam engine and the railway when it began was that the steam locomotive has a unique blend of the four elements not only in its construction but in the very forces and requirements necessary for its movement. … [It] is made from the ores of the earth, heated by fire which needs air to burn. The metals from the forge are then tempered by water whilst being shaped on the anvil. In order to make the steam locomotive work, coal, or part of the earth, is consumed along with air in a fire which turns water into steam which in turn brings the locomotive to life.” [1: p63]

We all know that all men, are just little boys at heart. Increasingly women are involved in the preservation movement. There seems to be a deep emotional connection for many of us between the steam beasts of earth, wind, fire and water that reigned over the railway networks for the world for more than a century and a half and our own psyche, something deeply ‘elemental’!

Whatever the cause, the early 19th century saw humanity embrace steam-power and the benefits it brought with open arms and wallets.

References

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  64. Hero (Heron) of Alexandria, described in detail what is thought to be the first working steam engine. He called it an aeolipile (“wind ball”). His design was a sealed caldron of water was placed over a heat source. As the water boiled, steam rose into the pipes and into the hollow sphere. The steam escaped from two bent outlet tubes on the ball, resulting in rotation of the ball. The principle he used in his design is similar to that of today’s jet propulsion. Hero (Heron) did not consider this invention being useful for everyday applications: he considered his aeolipile invention as a novelty, a remarkable toy. https://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/steamengine2.html, accessed on 3rd March 2025. The same device was also mentioned by Vitruvius in De Architectura about 100 years earlier. [66]
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  66. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_steam_engine, accessed on 3rd March 2025.
  67. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine became the first commercially successful engine using the principle of the piston and cylinder, which was the fundamental type of steam engine used until the early 20th century. The steam engine was used to pump water out of coal mines. [66]
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The Llanfyllin Branch and Oswestry to Llanymynech – Part 1 …

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The Llanfyllin Branch was featured in an article by Stanley Jenkins in the October 2003 issue of Steam Days magazine. [3]

The immediately adjacent Tanat Valley Light Railway is covered elsewhere on this blog. The articles about that line can be found here [4] and here. [5]

The two lines ran into the hills to the Southwest of Oswestry. The local Cambrian network is shown diagrammatically in the image below.

This schematic map, provided by Wikipedia, shows the local rail network. It shows the Llanfyllin Branch (which was to the South of the Tanat Valley Light Railway) at the bottom-centre of the map, © Public Domain. [1]

Trains on the branch ran from the Welsh border town of Oswestry to Llanfyllin in the Berwyn Mountains. The branch left the Oswestry & Newtown Railway at Llanymynech, where the station nameboard called on passengers for Llanfyllin and Lake Vyrnwy to disembark and change trains. The lake is a nearby beauty spot where there is a reservoir supplying water to Liverpool.

In July 1864, the Oswestry & Newtown Railway joined with other local concerns to form the Cambrian Railways Company with its headquarters at Oswestry.

Llanfyllin’s townfolk formed a company to secure a rail link to the Cambrian network. The Cambrian began to show some interest when ideas of an East-West mainline came to the fore.

A 10-mile branch was agreed from Llanfyllin to Llanymynech which, in the view of the companies which would soon form the Cambrian, would hinder any rival’s attempt to construct a mainline between the Midlands and the Welsh coast.

The modest scheme received Royal Assent on 17th May 1861 and the Act empowered the Oswestry & Newton Railway to build branch lines to Llanfyllin and Kerry. The Llanfyllin Branch was soon pegged out in advance of construction. It presented few engineering challenges as “for much of its length the proposed branch line would follow a comparatively easy course along convenient river valleys, and with few physical obstacles to impede [the] work.” [3: p627]

“The line was substantially complete by the early months of 1863, a significant event being the arrival of the locomotive Nant Clwyd at Llanfyllin in March of that year. The railway was opened on 10th April 1863 and branch trains began running through to Oswestry on 17th July 1863.” [3: p627]

The railway “was single track throughout, with intermediate stations at Llansantffraid and also Llanfechain. At Llanymynech the junction was situated to the North of the station, and this necessitated an awkward reversal when trains entered or left the branch. There were no tunnels on the branch, although several overbridges or underbridges were required including a 90-yard viaduct between Llanymynech and Llansantffraid. An additional stopping place was opened at Bryngwyn in the first few months of operation, although this new station was merely a request stop with no provision for goods traffic. The trains travelling eastwards to Oswestry were regarded as up workings, while westbound trains were down services.” [3: p627-628]

The new railway was soon functioning as a typical country branch line with a modest service of around five trains each way.  “Minor changes took place at Llanymynech in 1866 in connection with the opening of the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway, but in the event this undertaking was more or less a total failure. Much later, in 1896, the Llanfyllin branch junction was re-aligned using part of the PS&NW route.” [3: p628]

“The Llanfyllin branch found a welcome, unexpected source of heavy freight traffic in the 1880s when Liverpool Corporation obtained powers for the construction of a massive dam at Llanwddyn, about seven miles to the west of Llanfyllin. By this means the surrounding valley was turned into a reservoir known as Lake Vrynwy from which water was supplied to Liverpool via a 75mile-long aqueduct. Materials needed in connection with this gigantic feat of Victorian engineering were delivered by rail to Llanfyllin, which became an important railhead while the reservoir scheme was under construction.” [3: p628]

In 1922, the Cambrian became an integral part of an enlarged GWR as part of the grouping required by the Railways Act of 1921.

Road competition led the GWR to become “a large-scale user of motorised road transport, with railway-owned lorries being employed for local cartage work in urban areas and as ‘country lorries’ for collection and delivery work in rural areas. Certain stations were selected as ‘country lorry centres’, while others were down-graded in various ways so that, by the later 1930s, many smaller stations were handling very little carted freight traffic. Oswestry and Llansantffraid, for example, both became ‘country lorry centres’, and a large rural area was then served by road transport, with GWR vehicles running on regular routes. In this way the railway could fight back against the road-transport operators.” [3: p628]

The GWR was also a pioneer in the use of motorised road passenger services. “By the post-Grouping period the GWR had introduced road feeder services on a very large scale, rural Wales being regarded as an ideal area for the employment of such vehicles. Oswestry emerged as an important centre in the company’s motor-bus network, with services radiating to towns such as Llangollen, Welshpool, and to Llanfair Caereinion. These extensive road services needed a relatively-large allocation of motor vehicles, among the buses working from Oswestry during the 1920s being Burford 30cwt buses Nos. 801, 807, and 861, and Thornycroft 30cwt vehicles Nos. 911 and 936. The GWR buses … worked in close conjunction with the trains as useful feeders for the railway system.” [3: p628] This was an early example of an integrated transport network!

The road depot at Oswestry Railway Station on 7th November 1928. This was, until July 1924, the GWR railway station. After this date all passenger trains used the Cambrian station. Here we see two AEC 3.5 ton high-sided lorries, No. 792 on the left and No. 260 on the right, the latter having been a motor-bus which was fitted with a lorry body in March 1927. Under the canopy of the station it is possible to pick out a Thornycroft single-deck bus, No. 936 and another AEC lorry. Note the various enamel signs and the low Furness Railway wagon attached to the right of the higher GWR one © Public Domain. [6]

To regularise its practice, the GWR obtained new legal powers “under the provisions of the Great Western (Road Transport) Act of 1928. This new legislation enabled the GWR to own, work, and use motor vehicles in its own right, and to enter into arrangements with other parties for the operation of road transport services. By virtue of these powers the railway company at once entered into detailed negotiations with certain road transport companies, and by 1933 all of the GWR motor-bus services had been handed over to ‘associated’ bus companies such as Crosville Motor Services Ltd.” [3: p629]

“This arrangement was supposed to lead to greater co-ordination between road and rail transport, but there is no doubt that in many areas the buses began to compete with the railways for what little transport was available in rural areas. The situation in respect of the Oswestry area seems to have been particularly disadvantageous as far as the GWR was concerned in that many buses ran on a Llanymynech-Oswestry-Gobowen axis in open competition with the rail service.” [3: p629]

“In some instances Crosville (or the other railway-associated bus companies) assisted the GWR by collecting and delivering parcels traffic, while goods traffic was handled by GWR motor lorries, some of which had been converted from former railway buses. Oswestry-based road motors Nos. 891, 897 and 861 … were adapted for use as lorries between 1926 and 1929. …They retained their old GWR fleet numbers. … Buses were more flexible than the railways, … to mitigate this the GWR opened numerous unstaffed halts. … One of these … was established in 1938 at Carreghofa in the Llanfyllin Branch, near Llanymynech.” [3: p629]

Jenkins tells us that the train services on the branch were similar throughout the years of its operation with five up passenger services to Llanymynech from Llanfyllin each weekday and five down trains. Occasionally these services worked through to Oswestry but, with the exception of the 1.43pm service, such movements were not always timetabled. The reverse workings, often  unadvertised, ran from Gobowen through Oswestry and Llanymynech to Llanfyllin. Wednesdays and Saturdays, market days in Oswestry, were different, with two morning trains running through to Oswestry and two early afternoon trains back to Llanfyllin. There was no Sunday service. A daily branch goods train “generally departed from Llanymynech at 12.25pm and arrived at the terminus at 1.35pm, having called intermediately at Llansantffraid where half an hour was allowed for shunting operations. The return working left Llanfyllin at 2.30pm and, after spending another half an hour at Llansantffraid, … arrived at Llanymynech at 3.42pm.” [3: p629]

Jenkins comments that “the line was worked by short-wheelbase coaching stock for many years, although in GWR days 2-coach ‘B-sets’ and other formations were employed.” [3: p629]

The Cambrian Railway had very few small tank engines which meant that tender engines worked many of their small branch lines. Usually these would be ‘Queen’ class 0-6-0 locomotives. Following the grouping, GWR locos began to appear on the branch lines around Oswestry, particularly Armstrong and Collett 0-4-2Ts. Jenkins tells us that “these newcomers included ‘517’ 0-4-2T No 848 which worked on the branch at various times until its withdrawal in 1945, being out-stationed in the branch sub-shed at various times. The familiar Collett 0-4-2Ts were introduced by the GWR in 1932 as replacements for the veteran ‘517’ class 0-4-2Ts on local passenger services.” [3: p630]

The first examples of the non-auto ’58XX’ locomotives appeared on the branch in the 1930s. Jenkins notes that No. 5816 was sent to Llanfyllin shed as early as August 1933, while by 1947, the resident branch engine was No. 5806. The auto-fitted ’48XX’ class also arrived at Oswestry in the mid-1930s. These locos could also be seen on the Llanfyllin Branch. [3: p630] Dean goods 0-6-0 locos were also seen at times on the branch. Jenkins notes appearances of Nos. 2482 and 2535. No doubt the branch was served by a number of pannier tank (0-6-0PT) locomotives of different classes that were stabled at Oswestry. After nationalisation, by the mid-1950s, a group of Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-0s were allocated to Oswestry and were employed on the branch. “As there was no turntable at the terminus the Ivatt Moguls generally ran tender-first towards Llanfyllin and then returned to Oswestry facing in the right direction. Several Llanfyllin branch services were at this time through trips to Gobowen which continued northwards over the Great Western branch to connect with the Shrewsbury & Chester main line. … At Gobowen it was found that the clearance between the stop block at the end of the down bay platform was insufficient for an Ivatt 2-6-0 running tender-first, and drivers were therefore instructed to enter the bay running chimney-first; this instruction probably explains why the engines normally faced northwards when they were running on the Llanfyllin route!” [3: p631]

The Route

We commence our journey at Oswestry Railway Station. We noted first that from 1860 onwards there were two separate stations in Oswestry – a GWR station and a Cambrian station.

The first 25″ OS map extract below shows the general arrangement of railway facilities in the centre of Oswestry at the turn of the 20th century. The second focusses on the two railway stations.

An extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey revised map of 1900, published in 1901, shows the large Cambrian Loco and Wagon Works which sat Northeast of the town centre. The two lines from the North and East of the town (from Gobowen and Whitchurch) met at the North side of the Works. The GWR line terminated at its station just to the West of the Cambrian’s Works. The Cambrian’s station was a little further to the South. [7]
A closer view of the same 25″ Ordnance Survey shows just how close the two stations were to each other. The Cambrian’s facilities and buildings were on a grander scale than those of the GWR. [7]
Oswestry Railway Station and the Cambrian Railway’s headquarters, looking North in 1860s, © Public Domain. [31]

A series of photographs of the railway station can be found on the Disused Stations website. [32]

Oswestry Railway Station (at the top of this image) and the Cambrian’s Works (nearer the camera) seen in an aerial view looking from the Northeast across Oswestry (EAW056424, 1954). Historic England. [30]

After the grouping in 1922 the GWR set about rationalising their inheritance. The old Cambrian station became the town’s passenger facilities and the GWR station was converted into the hub of an enlarged goods yard. “The Cambrian platforms were extended by 300ft, and a new branch bay was created on the west side of the station on a site that had previously been occupied by a large goods shed. At the same time the main up and down platforms were equipped with new canopies, and electric lighting was installed in place of gas in the goods yard and engine sheds. … Goods facilities were provided on a lavish scale, with sidings at both the north and south ends of the station. The main goods yard, which incorporated the original Great Western terminus, was situated to the north of the passenger station; the former terminus remained largely intact after its conversion to a goods depot, although part of the platform canopy was boxed-in to form a goods loading area.” [3: p632]

Goods facilities extended both to the North and South of the enlarged passenger station. Oswestry engine shed contained six terminal roads and sat to the North of the station complex, between the lines to Whitchurch and Gobowen. Jenkins tells us that a “standard GWR raised coaling plant was erected as part of the post-Grouping improvements, and this replaced an earlier Cambrian coaling stage. The Great Western coal stage was surmounted by a 45,000gallon water tank, while the old 45ft-diameter locomotive turntable was taken up and a new 65ft-diameter GWR one erected.” [3: p632]

The next two map extracts focus on these changes.

The 25″ Ordnance Survey revised in 1924 and published in 1926 shows the revised facilities with the old GWR station now indicated as a Goods station. [8]
This photograph by Ben Brooksbank shows 4-6-0 No. 7815 ‘Fritwell Manor’ on a down stopping train heading towards Welshpool and beyond. The camera is facing Northeast towards Whitchurch and Gobowen, © Ben Brooksbank and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [29]
This closer view shows the location of Oswestry’s six-road engine shed and the track arrangement recorded by the Ordnance Survey at the Northeast end of the Locomotive and Wagon Works. [8]

South of Oswestry, trains for Llanfyllin travelled along the GWR Whitchurch to Aberystwyth main line as far as Llanymynech, passing Llynclys junction where the Tanat Valley Light Railway diverged westwards on its way to Blodwell Junction and Llangynog. Llynclys Railway Station was situated a short distance beyond the junction. It “was a wayside station with a small but substantial station building on the up side and a waiting shelter on the down platform. In architectural terms the station building, with its two-storey stationmaster’s house and single-storey booking-office wing, was very typical of Oswestry & Newton practice. The nearby goods yard contained facilities for coal, livestock, and general merchandise traffic.” [3: p633]

The length of the line from Oswestry to Llanymynech is covered by the next sixteen extracts from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900 and accompanying satellite images and photohgraphs.

A short distance to the South of Oswestry town centre the line passed under Salop Road adjacent to the gates of the town cemetery. [9]
The same location in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025] The line South from Oswestry is single track, it is part of the Cambrian Heritage Railways based at both Llynclys and Oswestry in the restored Oswestry Railway Station. It was formed after the 2009 merger of the Cambrian Railways Society and the Cambrian Railways Trust, it aims to reinstate the infrastructure required to operate trains from Gobowen to Llynclys Junction (for Pant) and to Blodwel. Cambrian Heritage Railways also operates the Cambrian Railways Museum in the Oswestry railway station’s former goods depot. [17]
This schematic map shows the lengths of the line between Gobowen and Welshpool that have been restored as of the end of 2024. [17]

The Cambrian Heritage Railway is extending and repairing track from Llynclys South northwards towards Oswestry to enable trains to run into the former Cambrian Railway headquarters at Oswestry. [17]

Looking North from Salop Road bridge in the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking South from Salop Road bridge in the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
The line continued South from the Salop Road bridge. [9]
Further South, the line continued to track South-southeast. [9]
The line passed to the East of the small village of Weston. [10]
The same location in the 21st century. This is Weston Wharf Station on the Cambrian Heritage Railway. [Google Earth, February 2025]
Looking North from Weston Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]

Weston Wharf Railway Station on the Cambrian Heritage Railways’ line to the South of Oswestry. “Plans to extend the line from Oswestry were reported in January 2016. The work was scheduled to proceed in three stages: phase one from Oswestry to Gasworks Bridge which carries the B4579 Shrewsbury Road over the line, phase two to make Gasworks Bridge passable and phase three to reach Weston Wharf. [24] At Gasworks Bridge, the track had to be lowered to allow trains to pass under the steel girder frame installed to strengthen the bridge. Funding was received from Shropshire Council and Oswestry Town Council.” [25][26][28]

“By April 2022 the 2 miles (3.2 km) of track from Oswestry to Western Wharf, which lay abandoned for more than 50 years, had been reinstated. The station was officially opened on 2 April 2022 by Helen Morgan MP and Vince Hunt, Chairman of Shropshire Council. It consists of a single platform, a run-around loop and a siding. Previously, there was no station here, only a goods depot.” [27][28]

Weston Wharf Railway Station development proposals as shown in the Cambrian Heritage Railway’s newsletter in 2019. [27]

Looking South from Weston Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
The line continues South-southwest [10]
The modern day A483 crosses the line of the railway a little to the South of Weston Wharf. [Google Earth, February 2025]
Looking North from the A483 in the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2024]
Looking South from the A483 in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2024]
The line continued South-southwest. [10]
And passed under one minor road and then over another (just at the bottom edge of this extract. [11]
The first of the two bridges in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025]
Looking North from the minor road bridge in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking South from the same minor road bridge in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
The second of the two bridges in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025]
Looking South through the bridge spanning Albridge Lane. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking North through the bridge spanning Albridge Lane. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Beyond Albridge Lane Bridge, the line continued Southwest passing under another minor road bridge which carried Church Lane and which can just be seen at the bottom of this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900. [11]
Church Lane Bridge as it appears on satellite imagery in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025]
Looking North-northeast from Church Lane Bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking South-southwest from Church Lane Bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
On this next extract, the minor bridge appears at the very top. South of that bridge the village of Llynclys was passed after the Tanat Valley branch left the main line heading West. [12]
The same location as it appears on the ESRI [satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland (NLS). [20]

The Tanat Valley Light Railway is covered by two articles which can be found here [18] and here. [19] The route of the main line and that of the Tanat Valley Light Railway are defined by the lines of trees in the 21st century. The village has extended across the railway line.

Looking North from the B4396 at Llynclys. The building is Llynclys Railway Stationmaster’s House and booking office which are now in private hands. Jenkins describes the station as a “wayside station with a small but substantial station building on the up side and a waiting shelter on the down platform. In architectural terms the station building, with its two-storey stationmaster’s house and single-storey booking-office wing, was very typical of Oswestry & Newton practice. The nearby goods yard contained facilities for coal, livestock, and general merchandise traffic.” [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking South from the B4396 at Llynclys along the preservation line. … Llynclys South Railway Station was built by the preservation railway to replace the original Llynclys Railway Station. [Google Streetview, April 2024]

Llynclys South Railway Station is located just South of the original located Llynclys station, “on the other side of the B4396 road bridge. During the original commercial operation of the line, the site was used for goods handling. … The station was built as an alternative to the original Llynclys station, which has become a private house. Work on the South station began in 2004 and opened to the public in 2005. CHR currently keeps the bulk of its rolling stock here, on a number of sidings, and a new carriage shed is set to be built after having gained planning permission in 2007.” [23]

A photograph of 78xx class 4-6-0 No 7819 ‘Hinton Manor’ running past what was formally Haystacks siding (on the left) and Warehouse siding (right) at Llynclys with a ‘down’ Whitchurch to Aberystwyth service in 1963. Can be found here. This location is now the Cambrian Heritage Railways Llynclys South Station © Andrew Dyke.

More photographs and maps of Llynclys Railway Station can be found on the Disused Stations website. [33]

South of Llynclys trains ran on through Pant to Llanymynech which was nearly 6 miles South of Oswestry.

The old line continues South-southwest from Llynclys Railway Station. [12]
And then ran parallel to and on the West side of the Shropshire Union Canal. Close to the mid-point on the West side of this image the line is bridged by Penygarreg Lane. [13]
The same area in the 21st century as it appears in the NLS ESRI satellite imagery both highlighted by the lines of trees. Penygarreg Lane and bridge can be seen quite easily on this image. The length of the Montgomery Canal (Shropshire Union Canal) in the vicinity of the village of Pant is known as the Shropshire Gap. The Shropshire Union Canal Society is working to renovate the derelict length of the Canal. [21][22]
The view North-northeast from Penygarreg Lane. The bridge forms the end of the heritage line. The view South from the lane is completely blocked by a high Leylandii hedge. This is the Southern limit (in 2025) of the preservation line. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
A little to the South of Penygarreg Lane, Pant Railway Station is at the centre of this next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900. [14]
A closer view of the immediate area around the station at Pant is worthwhile. It shows the wharf at the canal side and transshipment facilities for the standard-gauge line. The tramway served Crickheath Quarry. By the 21st century, much of this area has changed significantly. [14]
The same location in the 21st century. A comparison of this satellite image with the map extract immediately above is illuminating. Access to the canal wharf from the West was a shared underbridge. Both the tramway and the road passed under the bridge. The road then turned sharply to the South running parallel to the canal before turning East to cross the bridge over the canal which is still in place in the 31st century. Removal of the railway had meant that a new alignment of the road on the West side of the canal has been possible. [Google Earth, February 2025]
Looking North along the line of the railway towards Llynclys and Oswestry. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking South along the line of the railway towards Llanymynech. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
The line continued South towards Llanymynech bridging the Montgomery Canal on a skew bridge. [14]
The location of the bridge over the Montgomery Canal. Well house Lane runs on the South side of the old canal.
The remains of the railway bridge over Wellhouse Lane seen from the Northeast. The northern abutment is hidden by vegetation. The Montgomery Canal, in its overgrown state, is off the right side of this image. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
The remains of the railway bridge over Wellhouse Lane seen from the Southwest. The northern abutment is hidden by vegetation (on the left of the road). The Montgomery Canal, in its overgrown state, is further to the left. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
After crossing the Canal and Wellhouse Lane, the line passed through a shallow reverse curve and bridged another lane. [14]

The location of the bridge in the map extract above is shrouded by the tree canopy. A modern satellite image would show very little as does the Streetview image below.

Looking Northwest through the location of the bridge at the centre of the map extract above. The bridge, including its abutments, is no longer present. The road leaving the lane to the left climbs onto the old railway embankment and follows the route of the line for a few hundred metres, giving access to a private dwelling and a sewerage farm. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
The 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900 shows the original junction between the Cambrian’s Whitchurch to Aberystwyth line and the Llanfyllin Branch to the North of Llanymynech Railway Station. With this junction facing North, trains from and to Llanfyllin were required to undertake and awkward reversal along the main line into Llanymynech Station. The replacement alignment can be seen towards the bottom of this extract. It followed the line of the old extension to the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (PS&NWR) By the time of this survey the length of the original branch just to the West of this map extract had been abandoned. A short chord (also off the left of this extract) linked the branch to the PSNWR. [15]
This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey from before the turn of the 29th century shows the alterations necessary close to the main line. The PS&NWR crossed the line to Newton from Oswestry on the level at a diamond crossing. A new chord was necessary to allow trains access to and from the main line. That chord was placed to the South of the original line (the earthworks of the original line can be seen to the North of the new chord). [35]
The same area shown on Google Maps’ satellite imagery. Station Road crosses the site of the old station at the top-right of this image. The mainline runs South down the right side of the image. The route of the Llanfyllin Branch is marked by the track marked in grey running West from the location of the junction to the A483. [Google Maps, February 2025]
Looking from the West along Station Road (B4398) on its approach to the bridge over the old railway. The railway station was under this bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Looking West along Station Road from the location of the East abutment of the bridge over Llanymynech Railway Station. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1900, published in 1902, shows the relationship of the old and new routes taken by branch trains for and from Llanfyllin. The earlier alignment is shown as dismantled and runs to the North of the later alignment. The chord linking the two is on the left of this extract. The bridge which carried the main road South from Llanymynech over the branch can be seen at the right of this map extract. [16]

Llanymynech Railway Station was the point of departure for Llanfyllin Branch trains from the main line. In early year this required trains serving Llanymynech from Oswestry to undertake a reversal in order to travel along the branch. The same applied to trains from Llanfyllin needing to call at or terminate at Llanymynech.

This was addressed by providing a short chord line from the Llanfyllin Branch to what was once part of the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (PS&NWR). “This remodelled layout enabled branch trains to serve Llanymynech station without reversing, although the new junction arrangements necessitated the abandonment of a small portion of the original Oswestry & Newton branch. … Further changes ensued in 1911 when a connection was established between the former PS&NW line and the Tanat Valley route at Blodwell Junction. This new line created a useful loop line between the Llanfyllin and Tanat Valley branches, although in the event the two-mile connecting line between Llanymynech and Blodwell Junction had a comparatively short life, and it was closed in the mid-1920s.” [3: p635]

Llanymynech grew as a Victorian village after the opening of the Montgomeryshire Canal in 1797. This length of Canal became part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company and then part of the LNWR. The Canal was only abandoned after the LNWR became part of the LMS. The Canal was not abandoned until towards the end of the Second World War (1944). Although Llanymynech has a Welsh name it sits on the English side of the border with Offa’s Dyke running through the parish. [3: p635]

The Oswestry & Newton Railway “constructed a simple two-platform station southeast of Llanymynech, plus an adjacent goods yard, to enable shipping of locally quarried limestone, and created products of quick lime and lead. However, under its Act of Parliament, it had agreed not to disturb the operations of the existing local tramways or canals, and hence access across each would either be over (bridge) or under (aqueduct). … The Hoffmann kilns were located on the opposite side of the canal to the chosen station site, and if accessed on the level would have required an aqueduct to be built under the canal. Not having the money to achieve this, the O&NR agreed to junction with the local tramways north of its station at “Rock Siding”. It hence built a bay platform on the northwest side of the station, from which line extended to the “Rock Siding”. To access the Hoffmann kilns, trains would firstly enter the bay, then reverse up the slope to the “Rock Siding”, where they would then change direction again by pulling forward over a bridge to the Hoffmann kilns.” [34]

Llanymynech Railway Station in 1962: An inidentified ex-LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 arriving tender first into the station, © Lamberhurst, and authorised for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence %(CC BY-SA 4.0). [37]

Details and more photographs of Llanymynech Railway Station can be found on the Disused Stations website. [36]

Once the chord linking the old Llanfyllin Branch and the PS&NWR had been built and the chord between the main line and the PS&NWR was complete, trains from Oswestry and Llanymynech diverged West off the main line just South of Llanymynech Railway Station.

The Llanfyllin Branch

After running off the main line, trains for Llanfyllin passed under what would become the A483. The bridge appears on both of the last OS Map extracts above.

Looking South along the A483. There is nothing to see, at road level, of the bridge over the old railway. The line ran on the near side of the terrace visible on the right. [Google Streetview, July 2024]

Carreghofa Halt was the first stop on the Branch, it was just a short distance from the mainline close to the chord which served to link the old branch and the PS&NWR line. It was an unstaffed stopping place, opened by the GWR on 11th April 1938, “its facilities comprised a short platform on the down side of the running line. The platform was of earth & cinder construction with revetting of old sleepers. A small wooden shelter was provided for the comfort of waiting travellers, while the simple platform was fenced with tubular metal railings. … Other features of minor interest at Carreghofa included a sleeper-built permanent-way hut to the east of the platform and an unusual overbridge immediately to the west of the halt. The bridge, which crossed the railway on a skewed alignment, was a single-span structure carrying the B4398 road and the Montgomeryshire Canal.” [3: p635]

The location of Carreghofa Halt as it appeared on an OS Map from 1957. The trackbed of the Nantmawr Branch is seen heading North off the extract. The trackbed of the original Llanfyllin Branch runs East-West across the top of the extract. The chord from one to the other leaves the line of the old Nantmawr Branch to the North side of the canal aqueduct/road bridge. [38]
Carreghofa Halt looking Northwest towards the road/canal bridge. This image was shared on the Disused Stations Facebook Group by John Williams on 14th October 2024, © C.C. Green. [39]
A very similar view in the spring of 2024, © John Williams, shared by him on the Disused Stations Facebook Group on 14th October 3024, and used here with his kind permission. [39]
Carreghofa Halt looking from the road/canal bridge towards Llanymynech. This image was shared on the Disused Stations Facebook Group by John Williams on 14th October 2024, © A.M.Davies. [39]
A very similar view from the road/canal bridge in the spring of 2024, © John Williams, shared by him on the Disused Stations Facebook Group on 14th October 3024, and used here with his kind permission. [39]

Having passed beneath the road/canal bridge, “trains reached the junction between the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales branch to Nantmawr and the short connection which gave access to the original Llanfyllin route. This 26-chain curve was opened on 27th January 1896 as a means of linking the PS&NW route to the original 1863 branch.” [3: p365][4][5]

A relatively low quality view from the road bridge/canal aqueduct looking Northwest. The stored wagons on the right sit on the Nantmawr Branch. The chord to Llanfyllin heads off to the left. [40]

Now heading pretty much due West the branch sets off for Llansantffraid. We will pick up this next length of the route in the second article in this short series.

References

  1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfyllin_Branch, accessed on 1st February 2025.
  2. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2026003, accessed on 1st February 2025.
  3. Stanley Jenkins; The Llanfyllin Branch; in Steam Days, Red Gauntlet Publications, Bournemouth, October 2023, p626-638.
  4. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/09/18/the-tanat-valley-light-railway-and-the-nantmawr-branch-part-1.
  5. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/03/17/the-tanat-valley-light-railway-and-the-nantmawr-branch-part-2.
  6. http://www.oswestry-borderland-heritage.co.uk/?page=20, accessed on 7th February 2025.
  7. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121148177, accessed on 8th February 2025.
  8. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121148180, accessed on 8th February 2025.
  9. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121148759, accessed on 8th February 2025.
  10. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121148795, accessed on 8th February 2025.
  11. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121148822, accessed on 8th February 2025
  12. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121148855, accessed on 8th February 2025.
  13. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121149311, accessed on 8th February 2025.
  14. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121149305, accessed on 8th February 2025
  15. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121149329, accessed on 8th February 2025
  16. https://maps.nls.uk/view/101593993, accessed on 10th February 2025.
  17. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_Heritage_Railways, accessed on 10th February 2025.
  18. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/09/18/the-tanat-valley-light-railway-and-the-nantmawr-branch-part-1
  19. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/03/17/the-tanat-valley-light-railway-and-the-nantmawr-branch-part-2
  20. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=52.81110&lon=-3.06206&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=8, accessed on 11th February 2025.
  21. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.6&lat=52.79815&lon=-3.06797&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=0, accessed on 11th February 2025.
  22. https://shropshireunion.org.uk/the-shropshire-gap, accessed on 11th February 2025.
  23. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llynclys_South_railway_station, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  24. Shropshire heritage railway to start on extensionhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Wharf_railway_station#cite_note-1; in the Shropshire Star, 3rd January 2016, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  25. Steaming on! Oswestry’s heritage railway project is on track thanks to six-figure cash boost; in the Oswestry & Border Counties Advertizer, 25th January 2018, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  26. Oswestry Group clears the way for Weston Wharf extension, in The Railway Magazine. 13th September 2019, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  27. Weston Station, in On the Weston Front. 2 February 2019
  28. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Wharf_railway_station, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  29. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2510794, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  30. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EAW056424, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  31. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/o/oswestry/index.shtml, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  32. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/o/oswestry/index.shtml, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  33. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/llynclys/index.shtml, accessed on 14th February 2025.
  34. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanymynech_railway_station, accessed on 15th February 2025.
  35. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.8&lat=52.77910&lon=-3.08497&layers=257&b=ESRIWorld&o=100, accessed on 15th February 2025.
  36. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/llanymynech/index.shtml, accessed on 15th February 2025.
  37. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ivatt_2-6-0_at_Llanymynech_railway_station_(1962).JPG, accessed on 15th February 2025.
  38. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/carreghofa_halt/index.shtml, accessed on 20th February 2025.
  39. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KLDf7Svq6, accessed on 21st February 2025.
  40. I failed to keep a record of the source of this image and have not been able to relocate it.

Henry Robinson Palmer and Early British Monorails

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Henry Robinson Palmer (1793-1844) was a British engineer who designed the first monorail system and also invented corrugated iron!

Born in 1793 in Hackney, he was the son of the Revd Samuel Palmer, a nonconformist minister, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Walker. [1] He was baptised in Tooting [2] and was educated at the academy run by his father and between 1811 and 1816 was an apprentice at 1811-16 Apprenticed to Bryan Donkin and Co.

When he finished his apprenticeship, Palmer was taken on by Thomas Telford, working for him for 10 years and involved with a variety of road/canal surveys and associated designs. In 1818, Palmer was one of three young engineers key to the founding of the Institution of Civil Engineers and on 23rd May 1820, he formally became a member of the Institution. [3]

Elijah Golloway recorded Palmer’s ideas for a Suspension Railway in the image above which is dated 1822. It seems as though Galloway’s book, History of the Steam Engine, From Its First Invention to the Present Time: Illustrated by Numerous Engravings From Original Drawings, Made Expressly for This Work, was not published until 1828 by B. Steill. [4][5]

On 22nd November 1821, Palmer patented his proposed monorail system. [6][19: p57]

In 1823, Palmer wrote his short book, Description of a Railway on a new Principle, (J. Taylor, 1823) about his monorail ideas. [7]

The illustrations immediately below come from a copy of that book which is held by the Science Museum. [7]

Palmer was unaware of the experimental work being undertaken in Russia at around the same time. The work of Ivan Kirillovich Elmanov is covered here. [26]

These images are taken from H.R. Palmer; ‘Description of a Railway on a New Principle’
and are released by the Science Museum under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) [7]

In his book, Palmer refers to examples of railways already constructed. It is clear that he is talking of railways which operate on more traditional principles. He tabulates those to which he is referring in a table which is reproduced below: the Llanelly Tramroad; the Surrey Tramroad; the Penrhyn Slate Quarries, edge rail road; the Cheltenham Tram Road; a branch of the Cheltenham Tram Road; Edge Rail Roads near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. These he compares with his own proposed railway which was built in Deptford Dockyard in London in 1824. [6]

Table showing the resistance form the rails of various railways in use in the early 19th century. [8: p29]

History only seems to record two of Palmer’s monorails in the UK. The first was constructed at Deptford as we have already noted. The second was built at Cheshunt and opened about 3 months prior to the Stockton & Darlington Railway (in June 1825) and was described, that month, in The Times newspaper. [9] Although his ideas were attempted in at least one other place. The railway built in what is now Hungary in 1827 (15th August). It was a fleeting experiment about which more details can be found here. [10]

Palmer is recorded as having given evidence, in 1825, in favour of navigation interest and against the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. [4] He was appointed resident engineer to the London Docks in 1826, where, for 9 years, he designed and executed the Eastern Dock, with the associated warehousing, entrance locks, bridges, and other works. While undertaking this role, in 1828, he inventedthe “Corrugation and Galvanisation” of sheet iron. [11]

Regarding Palmer’s invention of corrugated iron, Dr. Pedro Guedes wrote that “Palmer exploited the unique properties of metal, creating a lightweight, rigid cladding material, capable of spanning considerable distances without any other supports, helping to make lightweight iron buildings and roofs possible. Palmer’s invention completely broke with precedent and tapped into another level of thinking. The sinusoidal corrugations that Palmer imagined as the means to impart strength to his sheets of wrought iron have continued virtually unchanged for close on two centuries.” [11]

In 1831, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, publishing two papers on the movement of shingle in Philosophical Transactions, 1831 and 1834. In 1833, he took out patents for improvements in the construction of arches and roofs. [12] In 1835, he moved to Westminster and worked as a consulting engineer and was involved in numerous surveys for projected railways, and the design and construction of several docks and harbours, including those at Port Talbot, Ipswich, Penzance, and Neath. He carried out the original surveys for the South Eastern Railway, assisted by P. W. Barlow, and would have executed the scheme but ill health intervened. His original surveys for a Kentish railway dated from the time he was associated with Telford.

He died on 12th September 1844. [13]

C. von Oeynhaussen & H. von Dechen inspected both of Palmer’s monorails during their visit to the UK in 1826 and 1827 and comment on both. First they describe the principles involved: “To facilitate laying out a railway with reduced friction, and to make it independent of the small unevennesses of the ground, Mr Palmer has proposed and built a kind of railway which consists of a single bar, and the wagons have only one wheel on each axle. The track is erected on posts or columns at a suitable height above the ground, and the load hangs so far below the wheels that the wagon frame cannot overturn. [16] This railway has the disadvantage that its construction is not solid, or it becomes very expensive; that it can compensate only for very small unevenness of the ground; that the motive power can operate only with an inclined pull; and that special precautions must be taken for unloading and loading the wagons. Therefore, the scheme has not come into general use. Excepting the two now to be mentioned, no railways of this kind appear to have been built in England.” [14: p75-76]

Palmer’s Deptford Railway

C. von Oeynhaussen & H. von Dechen describe this railway: “This railway leads from the Thames across the yard of the Victualling Office up to the warehouse, and serves to transport provisions out of the warehouse to the ships, or the reverse. The railway consists of cast-iron columns which project from 3 to 5 ft out of the ground; these are provided with fork-shaped seats at the top and are spaced 10 ft apart. Planks 9 in. high and 3 in. thick rest in the forks on double wooden wedges, so that they can be set at the correct level very easily. On the upper edge of these planks, wrought-iron bars are spiked, which are 3½ in. wide, somewhat convex, and in. thick in the middle. The ends of these bars are not square, but cut in a broken line, and rest, not directly on the plank, but on a small iron plate let into the wood.” [14: p76]

“The line is nearly horizontal, and has a fall of only about 20 minutes of angle to the river. … The wagons which run on this line have three wheels of 18 in. diameter, one behind the other; they have two flanges and the groove is shaped to fit the rail. These wheels are fixed to a wrought-iron frame which consists of three stirrups going over the wheels with connecting pieces below. The stirrups reach 2 or 3 ft below the railway, and are provided on both sides with an inclined platform, on which are placed the casks to be conveyed. For loading the wagons, there are two sloping frames at the same height as the wagon platforms, and between which the wagon has just room to pass. A wagon is loaded with 10 casks which weigh about 4½ cwt each, therefore totalling 45 cwt. The wagon can be taken at 5 cwt, so that the whole weight comes to 50 cwt, which can be moved up the line easily by four men.” [14: p76]

The Cheshunt Railway – The first passenger carrying monorail

Cheshunt had a railway three months before the Stockton and Darlington line was opened. It was a horse-drawn monorail, built by Henry Robinson Palmer, who had previously built one in Deptford Dockyard, the first in the UK. The Cheshunt Railway, his second venture, was opened on 26th June 1825, running from Mr Gibbs’ Brick Pit (to the west of Gews Corner), to a wharf on the River Lea, not far from the site of the current Cheshunt Station. Its original purpose was to haul bricks, but it was also utilised for carrying passengers. For such a short distance, it must have been principally a novelty; regardless of this, it was the first passenger monorail in the world. [15]

The design was an overhead track from which carriages were suspended, drawn by a single horse. The line crossed the main road by a section hinged like a gate, enabling it to be moved off the road. No sign of the monorail has survived, but its legacy gives Cheshunt a vital, if little-known, position in the history of railways. [15]

C. von Oeynhaussen & H. von Dechen describe the railway: “From the lime and brick kilns at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, about 20 miles north of London, which lie on a main road, a Palmer railway leads to the Lee Canal in the flat and level Lee valley. The railway has a fall of 5 to 10 minutes of angle towards the canal; it is mile Engl. (580 fathoms Pruss.) long and serves to transport lime and bricks. The line rests on wooden posts which project on average 34 ft out of the ground; towards the limekiln, however, the bottom of the line is in a cutting in the ground, so that the posts stand in a kind of dry trench, the base of which is 9 ft wide. The wooden posts stand 10 ft apart, are 4 in. thick, and 7 in. wide; the top is fork-shaped 3 in. wide and cut 16 in. deep. In the bottom of this fork lies a block 12 to 15 in. long, in different heights, which is supported by a pair of inserted angle-pieces 14 in. high and 2 in. thick. Two wedges 2 ft long rest on this block with their inclined faces lying against one another, so that a horizontal support is always afforded to the plank which lies thereon. The planks are 101 in. high and 3 in. thick; they are 30 ft long and always meet in the middle of a post. Iron bolts with screws go through the post to hold together its fork-shaped end. There are oblong holes in the planks through which these bolts pass, so that the underlying wedges can be adjusted when necessary. On top of the planks a wrought-iron convex rail is laid, 4 in. wide, 1 in. thick at the edges, and in. thick in the middle. [14: p76]

C. von Oeynhaussen & H. von Dechen continue: “The rails are 20 ft long with their ends cut obliquely, and they are fixed by no more than two or three spikes of in. diameter with their heads countersunk in the rails. The rails have some spare holes which are used when one or other of the spikes breaks. Some posts are made of three parts fixed together. The pieces are 6 in. wide; the middle piece is 3 in. thick, the side pieces are 21 in. thick, and they are bound together by three screw-bolts; the wedges lie upon screwed-in blocks which are 1 ft long at the top. Although these planks are very thick, they have become bent at some places because of the great distance between the posts and are propped up by pillars set under them subsequently.” [14: p77]

“There is a siding on the railway in the vicinity of the canal. Here the line is made double for a length of about 30 ft, and between the double piece and the single track there is a strong door 10 ft wide which is hinged to the single rail and may be fastened to either of the two tracks. The railway lies on the upper edge of the door. Directly over the hinge is a small turning piece of rail by which the severe angle which the door makes with the main railway is reduced. This railway passes over an ordinary road by a similar door.” [14: p77]

“The wagons on this railway have only two cast-iron wheels, 26 in. diameter, with two flanges; they are 51 in. wide including the flanges, which are in. thick and project 11 in. They have six spokes and a nave 6 in. long and 2 in. wide. The wheel turns with a hollow cast-iron axle 2 in. thick and 12 in. long, which lies in round brass bushes at both ends; these have an inside diameter of 11 in., an outside diameter of 2 in., and are 3 in. long inside. They are fitted to seats on the wrought-iron stirrups which form the main frame of the wagon. Through the hollow cast-iron axle and the brass bushes is a wrought-iron axial bar 26 in. long, and 1 in. thick, the ends of which are fastened to the stirrup. This makes a firmer connection with the wagon frame. The two wheel centres are 46 in. apart. The platforms on which the wagon bodies are placed are 40 in. below the axle centres and are 17 in. apart. There is one wagon body on each side of the wagon, and each holds 20 cu. ft. One such body is laden with 20 cwt of lime or bricks, and therefore a wagon takes 40 cwt. One horse draws two such wagons or 80 cwt, exclusive of the bodies and the wagon.” [14: p77]

“On a disused standing wagon, there is a special arrangement for reducing the friction of the wheels on the axles, which is neither properly devised according to theory nor well carried out practically. The brass bushes wherein the cast-iron axle turns have a circular-segment-shaped slot, in. wide, cut in the upper part, and in this notch rests a 4 in. high iron friction wheel, on which the whole load of the wagon bears, while the brass bush is not entirely held fast in the wagon frame.” [14: p77]

The Cheshunt Railway is also featured in the Register of Arts and Sciences No. 47, 2nd July, 1825, [17] where the illustration below appears, along with a detailed description of the opening of the railway.

The Cheshunt Railway. [17: p353]

The article is reproduced in full below at Appendix A.

C.F. Dendy Marshall also refers to Palmer (and his monorails) in his history of railways to 1830. He notes that “Palmer was prominent in connexion with the London and Brighton schemes, and was [a] principal founder of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He wrote a paper in the Journal of the Franklin Institute in 1828, advocating the use of sails on railways. An illustration is given [below] of his railway with that method of propulsion, from Hebert’s Practical Treatise on Rail Roads (1837). [19] Two short lines were made on Palmer’s principle, on which horses were used: one at the Victualling Yard, Deptford; and one from some lime-kilns and tile-works near Cheshunt to the Lea Canal. The best account of these lines is given by von Oeynhausen and von Dechen, in ‘Ueber Schienen Wage in England, 1826-27.” [18: p171]

Marshall was writing in 1935, over 30 years before the Newcomen translation of von Oeynhausen and von Dechen’s German text was published, so he took the trouble to provide his own translation of their words in full. [18: p171-173] He also points his readers to an article in the Mechanics Magazine of 6th August 1825 which concluded: “One carriage, which has been constructed for the purpose of trying the application of the plan to the conveyance of passengers, differs from the others. Its boxes partake partly of the shape of a gig, and partly that of a balloon-car; in each are two cushioned seats vis-à-vis, with a little dickey behind, the whole carriage being covered with an awning.” [18: p173-174]

Palmer’s Idea for sail propulsion on his patented monorail. [18: p171][19: p62] At times we may feel a sense of ridicule at proposals which were coming to the fore in the early days of railways, but we need to remember that railways were the most up-to-date, advanced technology of the day and that progress would not have been made if a whole range of ideas were being put forward and tried.

Hebert discusses Palmer’s ideas in his book, Practical Treatise on Rail Roads (1837): “Mr. Palmer’s railway consists of only one, which is elevated upon pillars, and carried in a straight line across the country, however undulating and rugged, over hills, valleys, brooks, and rivers, the pillars being longer or shorter, to suit the height of the rail above the surface of the ground, so as to preserve the line of the rail always straight, whether the plane be horizontal or inclined. The waggons, or receptacles for the goods, travel in pairs, one of a pair being suspended on one side of the rail, and the other on the opposite side, like panniers from the back of a horse. By this arrangement only two wheels are employed, instead of eight, to convey a pair of waggons; these two wheels are placed one before the other on the rail, and the axle-trees upon which they revolve are made of sufficient length and strength to form extended arms of support, to which are suspended the waggons.” [19:p57]

Hebert provides an illustration of the line in use. And the principles by which various obstacles were overcome. In the image below, “on the left is seen a jointed rail, or gate, that crosses the road over which the carriages have just passed, and the gate swung back, to leave the road open; the horse and man having just forded, the train of carriages is proceeding in its course, and following another train, part of which is seen on the right, crossing a rail bridge, simply constructed for that purpose.” [19:p59]

An Illustration of Palmer’s Suspension Railway. [19: p59]

“Provision is made for trains of carriages that are proceeding in opposite directions, by means of ‘sidings’ or passing places. With respect to loading, if both receptacles be not loaded at the same time, that which is loaded first must be supported until the second is full. Where there is a permanent loading place, the carriage is brought over a step or block; but when it is loaded promiscuously, it is provided with a support connected to it, which is turned up when not in use. From the small height of the carriage, the loading of those articles usually done by hand becomes less laborious. The unloading may be done in various ways, according to the substance to be discharged, the receptacles being made to open either at the bottom, the ends, or the sides. In some cases, it may be desirable to suspend them by their ends, when, turning on their own centres, they are easily discharged sideways.” [19:p59]

“Among the advantages contemplated by the patentee of this railway, may be mentioned that of enabling the engineer, in most cases, to construct a railway on that plane which is most effectual, and where the shape of the country would occasion too great an expenditure on former plans – that of being maintained a perfectly straight line, and in the facility with which it may always be adjusted; in being unencumbered with extraneous substances lying upon it; in receiving no interruption from snow, as the little that may lodge on the rail is cleared off by merely fixing a brush before the first carriage in the train; in the facility with which the loads may be transferred from the railway on to the carriages, by merely unhooking the receptacles, without displacing the goods, or from other carriages to the railway, by the reverse operation; in the preservation of the articles conveyed from being fractured, owing to the more uniform gliding motion of the carriages; in occupying less land than any other railway; in requiring no levelling or road-making; in adapting itself to all situations, as it may be constructed on the side of any public road, on the waste and irregular margins, on the beach or shingles of the sea-shore, indeed, where no other road can be made; in the original cost being much less, and the impediments and great expense occasioned by repairs in the ordinary mode, being by this method almost avoided.” [19: p59-60]

Hebert goes on to talk of the line built in Cheshunt in 1825. In that case, “The posts which support the rails are about ten feet apart, and vary in their height from two to five feet, according to the undulations of the surface, and so as to preserve a continuous horizontal line to the rail. The posts were made of sound pieces of old oak, ship timber, and in a, the slot or cleft at the upper ends of the posts, are fixed deal planks twelve inches by three, set in edgeways, and covering with a thin bar of iron, about four inches wide, flat on its under side, and very slightly rounded on its upper side; the true plane of the rail being regulated or preserved by the action of counter-wedges between the bottom of the mortices, and that of the planks. By this rail, on the level, one horse seemed to be capable of drawing at the usual pace about fourteen tons, including the carriages.” [19: p60]

Hebert quotes Tredgold, who commented: “We expect that this single railroad will be found far superior to any other for the conveyance of the mails and those light carriages of which speed is the principal object; because we are satisfied that a road for such carriages must be raised so as to be free from interruptions and crossings of an ordinary railway.” [19: p60][20]

Hebert notes a particular problem with Palmer’s design: “It has generally been considered a defect in Mr Palmer’s arrangement, that in order to make turns in the road, it is necessary that a portion of the rail should be made to turn with the carriages upon it. This defect, Mr. T. Chapman, of Royal Row, Lambeth, proposed to remedy, by so constructing the carriage, as to enable it to turn itself upon a fixed suspension rail, whether curved or straight, or from one angle to another. Fig. 1 … exhibits an end view of the carriage, and Fig. 2 a side view of the same, partly in section. … aa is the rail, bb two wheels on the rail; these carry the turning plates cc, each having four friction-rollers: ee, upper plates; ff, the vertical axis of the wheel-frames or turn-plates cc; they pass through the plates d and e, from which the boxes gg are suspended, by the lateral arms hh and ii. Now as the wheels and frames b c can turn freely on their axis ff, they each require four guiding rollers jjjj to keep them in a right line with the rail, and to cause them to turn as the rail turns. These carriages should not be further asunder than is absolutely necessary for the required curve of the rail. The bottom of the carriage has a joint at one third of its length, and is held up at this by the hooks kk; by removing these, the contents may be let out: the fixed portion of the bottom is made sloping, so that it may be readily emptied.” [19: p60-61]

Hebert now turns to consideration of the force of the wind: “About thirteen years ago it occurred to [him], that the force of the wind might be beneficially employed as an auxiliary power for propulsion on railways; and considering that the suspension principle, which had just then been promulgated by Mr. Palmer, was better adapted to that object than any other, he wrote a short paper on the subject, which was inserted in the eighth number of the Register of Arts, for January, 1824, under the signature of “L. H.” The plan also embraced a proposition for enabling boats from the sea, a river, or canal, to pass out of the water, at once upon the rail, and thereon be propelled precisely in the same manner as the receptacles provided by the inventor are, and from which they scarcely need to differ in shape. Both of these propositions have been treated with abundance of ridicule, by persons who were either incapable or indisposed to reason. But one of them having, according to the newspapers, been recently carried into actual practice at Sunderland, and under less favourable circumstances, (i.e. on the common ground rail) the writer need not dilate upon its feasibility. And as respects the other propositions, he will only observe, that believing it to contain the germ of something that may hereafter prove of public benefit, he hesitates not to place it before the judgment of the reader. The following are extracts from the paper alluded to. ‘The inhabitants of small islands, and of the sea-coast gene-rally, subsist chiefly upon fish; and as they are remarkable for robust constitutions, it follows that their food must be strengthening and wholesome. I propose, therefore, a railway, on Palmer’s principle, from London to the nearest seaport town or fishing-place, that shall give to the inhabitants of this city the advantages of a plentiful supply of the cheap and wholesome food enjoyed by those in maritime situations. In the drawing which accompanies this [see the sail propulsion drawing above], the scene sketched is entirely imaginary, and intended, first to represent a railway leading to a sea-port, with the carriages being propelled, according to the modes projected by Mr. Palmer; the first train of carriages being drawn along the rail by a locomotive steam-engine, the second, more in the perspective, is supposed to be drawn by a horse. Brighton is perhaps the most eligible situation for such an undertaking. By a railroad from that place, the London market might be supplied with a prodigious quantity of fish within three or four hours after their being taken from the sea, at the mart trifling expense of carriage; and if the wind were to be employed as an auxiliary propelling force, which I propose, the rapidity with which the fish might generally be brought lo our markets would give us all the advantage of a sea-port town in the purchase of it If the Hollanders have found it practicable (as is well known) to sail over land in four-wheeled carriages, how much more practicable and advantageous would it be to bring into use the admirable facilities furnished by Mr. Palmer in his new suspension railway, in which the resistance to the motion of the carriages is reduced to one-twentieth part; or in other words, wherein the facilities are twenty times greater. As objections will of course he raised, on the score of the variableness of the wind, I must repeat, that I only propose it. as an auxiliary power. It would rarely happen that the wind would not he favourable in going or returning; and it is well known that S.W. winds prevail more than any other in our quarter, which would be favourable for the principal traffic; that is to London. In the absence of a steam-engine, a horse should always be in attendance; so that when employed in drawing a train of carriages, if a favourable breeze should spring up, the sails might be spread, and the horse be-put into one of the receptacles, where, over his bag of corn, he might regale and invigorate himself for fresh exertions, should the wind fall off.” [19; p61-62]

Hebert goes on, even more fancifully in my view, to explain how Palmer’s design can be adapted to one of Hebert’s own ideas of overcoming the need for transshipment between canals and railways, and perhaps to overcome the need for locks altogether as lengths of canal could be linked by Palmer’s monorail, provided the canal vessels were designed to suit. So, Hebert says: “The railway I propose Is to be constructed as usual, elevated upon pillars, and not to terminate on arrival at the look gates B, but to pass over it, and terminate at the other end, just within the second gates A, and be supported upon pillars from the floor of the lock, the same as on dry ground. In [drawing](which is a plan) the double train of vessels are supposed to have all entered the lock, half on one side of the rail, and half on the other, and they are hooked on to the axle-trees of the wheels which are already upon the rail for that purpose. The gates next to the river or canal are then closed, and all being fast, the water is let out of the lock by a sluice at D. till it falls below the bottom of the outer gates; at which time the vessels are all suspended on their axles in the air. The gates being next opened, and the wind fair, they sail across the valley or are propelled by other means provided by the patentee.” [19: p62-63]

Hebert’s proposed transfer lock – canal to Palmer’s monorail. [19: p63]

Further Immediate Developments

As early as 1826, the German railway pioneer Friedrich Harkort had a demonstration line of Palmer’s system built at his steel factory in Elberfeld (today part of Wuppertal), but objections prevented the construction of a public railway. [22]

Soon after, the first Hungarian railway line was completed on 15th August 1827, and led from Pest to Kőbánya. It was a monorail built on the principles outlined by Palmer. [23][24]

That Hungarian scheme is described here. [25]

References

  1. Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Records.
  2. Parish records.
  3. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1820_Institution_of_Civil_Engineers:_New_Members, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  4. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Robinson_Palmer, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  5. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/History_of_the_Steam_Engine_from_Its_Ear.html?id=5yOk_AeOFTMC&redir_esc=y, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  6. https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/monorails-on-the-rise, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  7. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co474278/description-of-a-railway-on-a-new-principle, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  8. H.R. Palmer; Description of a Railway on a New Principle: With Observations on Those Hitherto Constructed and a Table Shewing the Comparative Amount of Resistance on Several Now in Use; J. Taylor, London, 1823. [NB: a second edition was published by J. Taylor in 1824]
  9. The Times; Monday 27th June 1825.
  10. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/02/07/a-first-short-lived-horse-powered-railway-in-hungary.
  11. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_225741/n01_Thesis_text_Guedes.pdf?Expires=1739979301&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=Mta6J-AfDmIox2Cyn9W0thOJLfTU~R9QiqLT8VT89xVPRJgExbS1S4QfcUKrb6UlMbRmQMlQia08caTuBVwGTTKWPfuHEw6uOtvyS4iXAAasj4oOU-UnDKHCJaFRy7vXuI~GVvFmYSTbsUlZYjZTJ0aNnXX9GMN91PPH54y3dqOwpOEQwMxrYNiqlUvLIzSs40wveXwq3Hwlr~Cc7JSz1dvO6B8Xp~H4JM2PCvroy8IvgFCZqxjuwHnYEUXj7fY-INLhfV-Jqf6jTiGa48vSr-VHKQPy9xaupA0dsyXbFU711pyxy76s0kSvdXD9gW8oFX19LtveL9ohve2r3YAJSQ__, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  12. The Leicester Chronicle, or Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser; Saturday, 15th February 1834.
  13. The Ipswich Journal, Saturday, 14th September 1844.
  14. C. von Oeynhaussen & H. von Dechen; Railways in England 1826 and 1827; translated by E.A. Forward and edited by C. E. Lee & K. R. Gilbert; Heffer &b Sons Ltd, Cambridge, for the Newcomen Society, 1971.
  15. Nicholas Blatchley; Cheshunt Railway, 1825; via https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/topics/transport/railways/cheshunt_railway_1825, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  16. This refers to a device patented by Henry Robinson Palmer (1795-1844) on 22nd November 1821 (Patent No. 4618). The line in the Royal Victualling Yard, Deptford, appears to have been brought into use in the latter part of 1824. The Cheshunt line was opened with considerable ceremony on 25th June 1825.
  17. Register of Arts and Sciences No. 47, 2nd July 1825; via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Register_of_the_arts_and_sciences._Volume_2,_1825._(IA_s1id13655130).pdf, accessed on 18th February 2025.
  18. C.F. Dendy Marshall; A History of British Railways Down to the Year 1830; Oxford, 1938.
  19. Luke Hebert; Practical Treatise on Rail Roads and Locomotive Engines; Thomas Kelly, London, 1837.
  20. Thomas Tredgold; A Practical Treatise on Rail-roads and Carriages; J. Taylor, London, 1825.
  21. The Railway Magazine; H. R. Palmer, A Forgotten Railway Pioneer; Volume 99 March 1953, p658ff.
  22. https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/monorails-on-the-rise, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  23. https://pestbuda.hu/en/cikk/20220812_the_first_hungarian_railway_was_built_195_years_ago_the_special_structure_delivered_construction_materials_from_kobanya, accessed on 6th February 2025.
  24. https://pestbuda.hu/en/cikk/20230322_the_downfall_of_the_first_hungarian_railway, accessed on 6th February 2025.
  25. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/02/07/a-first-short-lived-horse-powered-railway-in-hungary.
  26. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/02/19/early-monorail-proposals-in-russia.

Appendix A – The Opening of the Patent Suspension Railway at Cheshunt, Herts

The Register of Arts and Sciences No. 47, 2nd July, 1825

We had the gratification on Saturday last of witnessing a practical demonstration of the advantages of Mr. Palmer’s new Suspension Railway, the nature and construction of which having been fully described in the 7th and 8th numbers of this Work, to those articles we refer our readers, as connected with our present account.

A line of railway on these beautiful principles having been erected at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, by Mr. Gibbs of that place, the same was opened for public inspection on the above-mentioned day, when a numerous and highly-respectable company of persons attended by invitation to witness the operation of the carriages, and partake of a rural entertainment provided for the occasion. The weather proved fine during the forenoon, but the rain which after-wards occasionally descended in showers, would have been felt very inconveniently by the numerous fair visitors, had they not been provided with large booths, in which were erected ranges of elevated seats, commanding a view of the entire piece of rail-road, besides affording a fine prospect of the surrounding country, which is beautifully picturesque. Near to these was stationed a band of music, which played a variety of national airs; and the flags of England, France, America, and other nations, waving their colours in different parts of the beautiful meadows, gave a delightful effect to the scene, independently of the highly interesting business of the day.

The chief object of the proprietor of this undertaking is the conveyance of bricks across the Marsh to the River Lea for shipment, and the carriages have consequently receptacles adapted to that peculiar purpose. But on the present occasion each receptacle was fitted up with temporary seats, for the conveyance of the persons in the manner represented in the engraving; each receptacle being likewise loaded with a quantity of bricks as ballast, which were stowed away under the seats, making, perhaps, a total weight to each receptacle of one ton; and there being two receptacles to a carriage (one suspended on each side of the rail) will make the whole weight about fourteen tons. The first carriage shewn in the train * had the receptacles expressly made for passengers, and were elegantly constructed in the barouche style, the passengers sitting opposite to each other. The whole of this immense train was drawn by a single horse by means of a towing rope attached to the first carriage, and with so little exertion apparently, that it was evident the strength of a good average horse would be sufficient to draw double the weight operated upon. The rail was proved to be upon a level plane by the animal drawing the load with equal facility, in either direction. The posts which support the rail are about ten feet apart, and vary in their height from two to five feet according to the undulations of the ground, so as to preserve the horizontal line of the rail. Under the rail, and between a cleft of each of the posts are placed reverse wedges, which admits of a facile and almost instantaneous adjustment of the plane, in the nicest manner. [a] The posts are made of that almost ever-lasting stuff, sound old ship timber, and securely fixed in the ground in a peculiar manner; the rail is constructed with 3-inch planks, 12 inches wide, which are placed edgeways between the clefts of the pillars. The upper surface of the rail is covered with a bar of iron four inches wide and about a quarter of an inch thick, and a little con-vexed on the upper side, to suit the occasionally inclined position of the wheels, and to prevent (as we suppose) a too extended contact of their surfaces.

Our object in giving another sketch of this truly excellent invention has been, chiefly to shew its admirable application for the conveyance of persons as well as goods. The vehicles glide so smoothly over the surface of the country, as to be compared only to the floating of boats in the stream of a river; and it is evident that no mode of travelling can possibly be less free from danger.

The simplicity and effectiveness of this new railway was the subject of general admiration; among the spectators we noticed several engineers of eminence, who, very honourably to themselves, awarded their meed of praise, so justly due to the inventor, for the erection of (unquestionably) the best rail-way hitherto constructed. [b] The uses and advantages are indeed so obvious to every observer, that it is impossible not to believe that it will become of general adoption in all situations suited to a work of the kind.

Notes

  1. This simple method of adjustment is one of very considerable importance in every point of view. In the common railroads, when the surface has become irregular by the sinking of particular parts, the rails must be taken up of necessity, and a complete re-bedding of their foundations made, which is of course attended with considerable expense and inconvenience. By Mr. Palmer’s plan a tap or two with a hammer sets the whole straight.
  2. Even Mr. Vallance, who may be regarded as unfriendly to railways generally, very candidly says in his pamphlet on the subject, “By the effects produced on different railroads, it is proved, that a power which will raise one pound perpendicularly, will move above 100 lbs. horizontally at the same rate; and on a railway of Mr. H. R. Palmer’s invention, it may at any time be seen, that the same power will produce the same effect on above 300 lbs!”

Early Monorail Proposals in Russia

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Ivan Kirillovich Elmanov (Russian: Иван Кириллович Эльманов) was a Russian inventor. During 1820, in Myachkovo, near Moscow, he built a type of monorail described as a road on pillars. [3] The single rail was made of timber balks resting above the pillars. The wheels were set on this wooden rail, while the horse-drawn carriage had a sled on its top. [3] This construction is considered to be the first known monorail in the world. [5][6] The horse-drawn carriages travelled on an elevated track. One project envisaged using them to transport salt on Crimea. [9]

Russia was a pioneer in the design and construction of monorails, from early horse-drawn models to later electrical and magnetic levitation systems. [2] Sadly, Elmanov could not find investors to fund for his project and stopped working on the monorail. In 1821, Henry Palmer patented his own (similar) monorail design in the UK. [2][3]

On Elmanov’s monorail railway, the wagon rolled on a special rail on wheels mounted on a frame, so the vehicles had no wheels but virtually contained the rail. [9]

Later examples of early (pre-1900) Russian monorail proposals include:

  • In 1836, Prince Beloselsky-Belozersky [8] proposed another monorail design which contained two rows of wheels on mounted on a pillar structure; [2][3]
  • In 1872, a monorail designed by Lyarsky was shown at the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow; [2][9] (This was 4 years before the construction of a steam-powered monorail for the United States Centennial Exposition in the USA); [3]
  • In 1874, Alexei Khludov [10] constructed a monorail for transporting wood; [2][9]
  • In late 1899, Russian engineer Ippolit Romanov built a prototype of an electric monorail in Odessa, modern-day Ukraine. “In 1897, he presented a functional model of his monorail at the meeting of Russian technological society. This idea was approved by the society, and an experimental electric monorail was built in 1899. In 1900, Empress Maria Fedorovna approved the building of an 0.2 kilometres (0.12 mi) long electric monorail in Gatchina. The monorail was tested on 25th June 1900. The monorail carriage … moved at a speed of 15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph).” [2] “The cars weighing 1600 kg were made like the trams of that time and were suspended on a truss metal overpass at a height of at least 750 mm from the ground. Based on the published photographs, it can be assumed that the overpass was temporary and rested on long beams laid on the ground. … The car bogies were two-axle, with one running wheel with a diameter of 120 mm. Each bogie also had two pairs of horizontal guides and stabilizing wheels. Two motors with a capacity of 6 kW each operated on direct current with a voltage of 100 V. The electric drive control system provided for the possibility of regenerative braking. Power was supplied from a contact wire on the beam, the beam itself served as a second wire. … On 25th June 1900 (according to V. Nikolaev – 29th June), the monorail was tested. During the tests, the monorail moved with a load of up to 3200 kg (i.e. 2 times the tare weight of the carriage), with this load the speed was 15 km/h. It was noted that the carriage moved smoothly, without jerks and jolts. … According to the journal “Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo” No. 38,1900, the Romanov system … had advantages over foreign designs known at that time. The asymmetrical suspension scheme on an open beam, on the one hand, allowed this beam to be made fairly light and cheap, and on the other hand, allowed the bogies and drive to be made reliable and easy to maintain. … Romanov also put forward the idea of automatic driving of the monorail. In the magazine “Niva” No. 30, 1900 in an article about this monorail it was written: “Since the movement is produced by electrical energy transmitted along a copper wire along the entire route, then this same energy can be used to automatically divide the entire route into sections on which only one train can be at a time. Each train can approach the one in front no more than a certain distance, for example, about 1.5-2 miles. When the distance between trains decreases to this limit, then the train behind stops, although, of course, if necessary, a special device can bring the trains closer to each other to the desired distance. Acceleration or deceleration can be done automatically, so that the inattention or carelessness of the driver is corrected independently of him.” [3]
Elevated Monorail by Ippolit W. Romanov in Gatchina, 1900,  © Public Domain. [7]
Two further views of Ivanov’s Monorail, © Public Domain, 1900. [3]

References and Notes

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Elmanov, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorails_in_Russia, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  3. Oleg Izmerov; The Unknown Russian Monorail; via https://izmerov.narod.ru, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  4. Oleg Izmerov; The death of sensations or strange episodes in domestic monorail history; via https://semafor.narod.ru/3_2001/monor.html, accessed on 19th February 2025. This article covers later developments in Monorail technology in Russia.
  5. V. V. Chirkin, O. S. Petrenko, A. S. Mikhailov, Yu. M. Galonen;  Passenger Monorails (in Russian); in Mashinostroenie (Mechanical Engineering), 1969, p240. [see [6] below]
  6. “The source (book) provides basic information on the structure and operating features of monorails. It analyzes the most typical difficulties that arise when solving problems related to transport in modern large industrial centres, developing areas with unfavorable climatic conditions, and finding transport vehicles for direct communication between the centres of large cities, cities with airports, recreation areas, etc. It examines the selection of the main parameters and determination of the technical characteristics of the rolling stock and fixed devices of monorails. It analyzes the design features of the chassis, suspension systems, and stabilization of the rolling stock of existing and designed monorails. … A comparison is made of the technical and economic indicators of monorails and other types of transport, and recommendations are given for the selection of rational areas of application of monorail transport. … The book is intended for a wide range of engineering, technical and scientific workers in urban, industrial and other types of transport, as well as workers engaged in transport engineering.” (Translated from Russian) (https://www.logistics-gr.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=23626&c-72&Itemid=99)  
  7. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monorail_by_Ippolit_W._Romanow_06.jpg, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belosselsky-Belozersky_family, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  9. https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/monorails-on-the-rise, accessed on 19th February 2025.
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Khludov, accessed on 19th February 2025.

Stockport Corporation Tramways – Part 2 (Modern Tramway Vol. 12 No. 138, June 1949)

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P.W. Gentry wrote about Stockport’s trams in the July 1949 issue of Modern Tramway.

He says: “Besides possessing several interesting features of its own, the Stockport system today commands added attention as the last last surviving member of that once network of standard gauge undertakings encircling Manchester. It is an unusually pleasing system by virtue of its compact and simple arrangement, its focal point being Mersey Square.” [1: p123]

The article in Modern Tramway caught my attention because for about 9 years I worked in Stockport as a highway engineer.

This is a second article looking at Stockport Corporations Tramways. The first article which looked at the history of the network and followed one axis of that network can be found here. [2]

Mersey Square was the main hub of Stockport’s tramway network and appeared as a schematic plan in Gentry’s article in The Modern Tramway. …

Mersey Square was the hub of the Stockport Corporation tramways. Mersey Square Depot and Heaton Lane Depot are shown clearly on this sketch plan drawn in 1949. The modern A6 runs left-right across the lower half of the plan. © P.W. Gentry, Public Domain. [1: p123]
An extract from Map: Lancashire CXII.9; Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to 1 mile; revised: 1934; published: 1936, showing Mersey Square as it was in 1934. The tram depot had, by this time, been enlarged and the additional depot on Heaton Lane constructed. Heaton lane Depot is accessed via the branch West off Wellington Road. [8]

Stockport Corporation’s Trams

Before looking at the remaining tram routes operated by Stockport Corporation it is worth noting the trams which Stockport Corporation used to operate the network. P.W. Gentry listed these as follows:

This table is taken from Gentry’s article. [1: p126]

Gentry provided basic details in his article, more details can be found here. [8] The same website provides a history of the network [9] and a Trolleybus/Bus Fleet List 1913-1969. [10]

Stockport’s Tram Routes

The Stockport Corporation Tramway Network (1901-1951), © Rcsprinter123 and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY 3.0) [3]

Edgeley to Mersey Square and Mersey Square to Reddish and Gorton

This first axis of the network was covered in my first article about Stockport Corporation Trams, here. [2] Two further axes are worth our attention: the first, below, that between Gatley and Bredbury; the second that between Manchester and Hazel Grove.

Gatley to Mersey Square and Mersey Square towards Bredbury

We start with the tram terminus in Gatley.

Gatley Green and the terminus of the Stockport Corporation Tramway as shown on the 25′ Ordnance Survey of 1907, published in 1935. [11]
The same location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, January 2025]
The Gatley tram terminus was outside the Horse and Farrier Pub. This view looks East from Gatley Bridge, © Public Domain. [5]
A similar view along the A560 in the 21st century, with the Horse and Farrier Pub on the left. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
A tram at the same location viewed from another angle, this time from the South, © Public Domain. [6]
A similar view from Church Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
To the East, the tramway passed under Gatley Road Railway Bridge. 25′ Ordnance Survey of 1907, published in 1935 the railway as being under construction but with the bridge in place. [11]
Gatley Road Railway Bridge seen from the West, looking East along the A560. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
This satellite image shows the length of the A560 from just West of Gatley Railway Bridge to just East of Greenhall Bridge. The dominant feature at the centre of the image is the A34, Kingsway, one of the main arterial routes on the South side of Manchsterer.  [Google Maps, January 2025]
Looking West towards Gatley Road Railway bridge in the 1910s with a tram heading for Stockport, © Public Domain. [16]
A similar location on Gatley Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
This extract from the 25′ Ordnance Survey of 1907, published in 1935, shows a location further to the East – Greenhall Bridge carried the road and tramway over Micker Brook. On this map the political boundary has taken precedence over the tramway. The tramway ran along the road from left to right. [11]
Looking East Long the A560 towards Cheadle. The bridge over Micker Brook was one which we needed to replace during the 1990s when I was responsible for the maintenance of highway bridges for Stockport MBC. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
It is somewhat easier to appreciate the layout of the bridge with 3D image. This bridge was rebuilt during my time at Stockport Council in the 1990s. [Google Earth (3D), January 2025]

Gatley Road ran through to the junction at the West end of the Cheadle High Street.

The tramway ran through from Gatley Road onto High Street, Cheadle as the 25′ Ordnance Survey of 1907, published in 1935, shows. [11]
The same junction in the 21st century. [Google Maps, January 2025]
Looking West along Gatley Road, Cheadle in 1908, from the West end of Cheadle High Street, © Public Domain. [7]
A very similar view looking West from Cheadle High Street in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
The tramway ran West to East along Cheadle High Street and on to Stockport Road. This extract is taken, again, from the 25″ Ordnance Survey, this sheet was surveyed in 1916 and published in 1922. [12]
Looking West along Cheadle High Street, © Public Domain. [15]
The same view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
The junction of Cheadle High Street with Stockport Road and Manchester Road, looking West. The passing loop at the junction can be seen in this image, © Public Domain. [13]
A view of the same road junctionfrom Stockport Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
an early image looking East from the junction. The tram is heading for Stock port on Stockport Road, Cheadle Green is behind the tram, © Public Domain. [14]
A similar view in the 2020s. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Further East on the same OS map sheet, the tramway can be seen continuing East on Stockport Road. [12]
The last section of Stockport Road on this particular OS map sheet shows the tramway and road running Northeast and approaching the railway bridge. [12]
The next 25″ Ordnance Survey sheet ( surveyed in 1916 and published in 1922) shows Stockport Road and the tramway heading Northeast under the railway bridge into Cheadle Heath. Top-right in this map extract is Cheadle Heath Railway Station. The junction with Edgeley Road is just above the centre of the image. [17]
Looking Southwest along Stockport Road Cheadle Heath with the railway bridge on the right side of the image. This image comes from Stockport Image Archive, © Public Domain. [20]
A similar view in the 2020s looking across the motorway slop road roundabout and under the railway bridge, West towards Cheadle. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Laying the tram tracks at the junction of Stockport Road and Edgeley Road, Cheadle Heath in 1903. This image comes from the Stockport Image Archive and faces towards Stockport, © Public Domain. [21]
The same location in the 1940s, again facing towards Stockport. This is another image from the Stockport Image Archive, © Public Domain. [22]
The view along Stockport Road towards Stockport in the 2020s. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Continuing Northeast, the road and tramway began the descent into the River Mersey valley. The road took the name Brinksway. [17]
The tramway followed Brinksway as it ran East on the South side of the River Mersey. One of Stockport’s road bridges over the river, Brinksway Bridge, can be seen towards the right of this map extract. [17]
Looking down Brinksway towards Stockport town centre. This image is held in the Stockport Image Archive, © Public Domain. [23]
A similar view in the 2020s. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Looking up Brinksway to the location of the photograph above. The houses on the distance in this view are those on the left of the last image. This image is held in the Stockport Image Archive, © Public Domain. [24]
Approximately the same location on Brinksway, facing the same direction. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Further East down Brinksway this view shows one of the significant rock outcrops. This view is held in the Stockport Image Archive, © Public Domain. [25]
A very similar location on Brinksway, facing in the same direction. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
An extract from Britain from Above image EPW036823, Brinksway and Brinksway Bridge in 1931, © Historic England. [26]
Trams on Brinksway.in 1931. This view looks towards Stockport town centre, © Public Domain. [26]
A similar location in n Brinksway, looking towards the town centre. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Continuing East Brinksway became Chestergate as trams approached the centre of Stockport, passing under Stockport’s iconic viaduct which can be seen in the extreme top-right of the map extract. [17]
Just a very short length of Chestergate (and the tramway) intrudes into the next map sheet to the North (25″ Ordnance Survey of 1916, published in 2922). [18]
Trams then passed under the A6, Wellington Road South into Mersey Square (an extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1917, published in 1922). [19]
Looking East towards Mersey Square, a tram heads West towards Gatley/Cheadle, Public Domain. [4: p94]
Looking West-southwest under Wellington Road along Chestergate with the Beckwith Steps to the right. This image was shared on the Memories of Stockport Facebook Group by Dave Moran on 23rd April 2024 [28]
A tram turns out of Mersey Square onto Chestergate, heading for Cheadle/Gatley, while another, older trams heads towards St. Peter’s Square, © Public Domain. [31]

Tram services entered Mersey Square and crossed the Mersey. Services to the West of the town commenced here and ran along Princes Street to Bridge Street. That length of the network is covered in an earlier article which can be found here. [2]

We resume this article at the Northeast end of Princes Street and its junction with Bridge Street and then follow the route to Hyde.

A tram at the junction of Tiviot Dale, Princes Street and Bridge Street. Bridge Street runs off the picture to the right. This image was shared on the Memories of Stockport Facebook Group by Dave Moran on 24th August 2023, © Public Domain. [27]
A similar view from the end of Princes Street. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
The views above look Northeast from Princes Street, the two immediately below face Northwest from Bridge Street and the two further below face Southeast along Bridge Street. [35]
Looking back from Bridge Street to its junction with Princes Street ,(on the left) and Tiviot Dale (on the right). A tram is pictured on the corner of Tiviot Dale and Princes Street. Several shot fronts are pictured in the background including the Co-operative Insurance, Leonard Aaron, opthalmic opticians as well as shops selling musical instruments and a chemist. This image was shared by Dave Moran on the Memories of Stockport Facebook Group on 23rd April 2024, © Public Domain. [32]
The same location in the 2020s. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Looking Southeast from the junction of Tiviot Dale, Princes Street and Bridge Street, a tram heads along Bridge Street towards the junction. The tram has just turned right onto Bridge Street from Warren Street. [33]
An earlier monochrome image from Stockport Image Archive which shows Tram No. 28 turning from Warren Street onto Bridge Street before crossing Lancashire Bridge. This image was shared by Marilyn Ann Cronshaw on the Memories of Stockport Facebook Group on 14th August 2015, © Public Domain. [44]
A similar view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
An overhead view looking East across Lancashire Bridge and Warren Street This is an extract from image No. EPW013110, © Historic England. [36]
Warren Street cut across a peninsula of land between the River Goyt and the River Mersey with the confluence between the River Goyt and the River Tame to the North. [35]
An accident in the 1930s on Warren Street between a tram and a lorry, © Public Domain. [34]
Park Bridge is bottom left on this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1917, published 1922. [35]
A shorter stretch of Great Portwood Street in the 21st century. [Google Maps, January 2025]
A tram passes the Queen’s Public House on Great Portwood Street on its way East. This image was shared on the Memories of Stockport Facebook Group by Julian Ryan on 20th November 2022, © Public Domain. [38]
The same location in the 2020s. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Further Northeast along Great Portwood Street on the same OS Map sheet as the extract above. [35]
A similar length of Great Portwood Street. It now has one of the major M60 junctions.on the North side. [Google Streetview, January  2025]
The tramway turns Southeast onto Carrington Road and runs down to the River Goyt at Carrington Bridge before continuing West on Stockport Road West. [35]
A similar length of the road/tramway as appears on the map extract above. St. Paul’s School and Church at the junction of Great Portwood Street and Carrington Road are long gone and Carrington Road has been diverted to meet the large motorway roundabout. [Google Maps, January 2025]
St. Paul’s Church, Great Portwood Street, seen from the Southwest on Great Portwood Street. The junction with. Arrington Road is behind the tram. This image was shared on the Stockport Memories Facebook Group by Niall Dorsett on 24th November 2024, © Public Domain. [49]
This view looking West from Portwood Roundabout is from approximately the same location. Everything in the monochrome image above has gone. [Google Streetview, September 2023]
Carrington Road, Portwood, looking Northwest close to it junction with Great Portwood Street which is just at the far end of the St. Paul’s School site. The school is to the left of the tram. The churchyard is on the right with the church building just off the picture to the right, © Public Domain. [37]
Looking Northwest along what was Carrington Road. The wall beyond the lamp post is what was the churchyard boundary wall. The line of the road ran through the planted beds with the location of the Scholl to the left of the planting. [Google Streetview, September 2023]
This next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey takes the tramway to the West edge of the OS Sheet, over New Bridge, along Stockport Road West. [35]
The same length of Stockport Road West on modern satellite imagery. Notice the shortening of the loop in the River Goyt which was required to allow construction of the M60. [Google Maps, January 2025]
Stockport Road West as it appears on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1917, published in 1922. [39]
A very similar length of Stockport Road West which, rather than running through a rural landscape, now runs through a residential area. [Google Maps, January 2025]
Stockport Road East through Bredbury as it appeared on the 1917 Ordnance Survey. [39]
A short molar length of Stockport Road East in the 21st century. [Google Maps, February 2025]
An interesting arrangement of under and over bridges appears in the bottom-left of this next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1917. Trams passed over the Cheshire Lines Committee (Great Central and Midland Joint Railway) from Bredbury Junction, and then under the same company’s lines through Bredbury Railway Station. Woodley village can be seen top-right and on the next map extract. [40]
St. Mark’s Woodley appears bottom-left in between Stockport Road East and Redhouse Lane. [40]
This image shows a similar length of the A560 as it appears towards the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Maps, February 2025]
Hyde Road Woodley looking Northeast from St. Mark’s Church. This image was shared on the Stockport Memories Facebook Group by Ian Scottson on 8th October 2024, © Public Domain. [50]
Looking Northeast along the A560 from adjacent to St. Mark’s Churchyard. Redhouse Lane joins the A560 from the right. [Google Streetview, April 2015]
Stockport Tram No.10 outside the Lowes Arms in Woodley in 1947, heading for Hyde. This image was shared on the Stockport Memories Facebook Group by Dave Eccles on 10th June 2024, © Public Domain. [48]
A similar view looking North from the A560 at the location of the Lowes Arms in Woodley. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
Woodley village continues Northeast along Hyde Road. [40]
Woodley Railway Station is in the upper-right quadrant of this extract from the 25″Ordnance Survey. Hyde Road runs bottom-left to top-right. [40]
A similar length of the A560/A627 as in the map extracts immediately above. Woodley Railway Station is at the top-right of the image. [Google Maps, February 2025]
An early 20th century photograph looking Northeast along Stockport Road, Woodley. The railway station is on the right with the railway passing under the road ahead. As can be seen here and on the map extract above, there was a passing loop which allowed trams to pass each other immediately outside Woodley Railway Station. This image was shared on the Stockport Memories Facebook Group by Ian Scottson on 5th October 2024, © Public Domain. [47]
Now the A627, Hyde Road runs past Woodley Railway Station. This view is from a similar location to the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
Stockport Road/Hyde Road continues Northeast from Woodley towards Gee Cross. [41]
The same length of Hyde Road/Stockport Road in the 21st century
This view Southwest along Stockport Road shows a tram heading for Woodley along Pole Bank (Stockport Road, A560 in the 21st century), © Public Domain. [46]
The same view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, June 2025]
The 25″ Ordnance Survey shows that trams turned East along Stockport Road towards Gee Cross. [41]
Dowson Road runs North and Stockport Road heads East at the junction on the left side of this satellite image. Trams turned East along Stockport Road. [Google Maps, February 2025.
Looking Northeast from the Gerrards, close to the left edge of the map extract and satellite image above, along Stockport Road towards Dawson Road in Gee Cross. In the middle distance trams heading for Hyde turned right on Stockport Road, © Public Domain. [30]
A view Northeast from a camera location closed to the location of the tram in the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
In Gee Cross, the main road on which the trams were travelling (Stockport Road) gave way to Mottram Old Road – both now lengths of the A560. Trams branched off what is now the A560 along another length of Stockport Road. Today, this is the B6468.  [42]
A similar length of Stockport Road, Gee Cross. [Google Earth, February 2025]
This image shows a tram travelling along Stockport Road, Gee Cross at the very bottom of the map extract above, © Public Domain. [29]
A similar location in the 21st century looking Northeast. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
Probably dating from the 1920s, This photograph shows the tramlines running along Stockport Road towards Hyde. Mottram Old Road is on the right side of the image. There was a passing loop at the junction. The old sign post remains at the junction but has lost an arm. The lamp on the top of the pole remains. The houses behind it have gone leaving a grassy embankment. © Public Domain. [45]
A view Northeast from a similar location in the 2020s. The lamppost can easily be made out beyond the car turning onto the A560. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
This next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey shows the tram tracks running North along Stockport Road (B6468), bridging the Cheshire Lines Committee railway and then Northwest into Hyde along Market Street. [42]
A similar length of Stockport Road and Market Street in Hyde. The old railway in cutting is now a footpath/cycleway. A roundabout now marks the bend from Stockport Road into Market Street and a housing estate now sits on the site of the Slack Cotton Mills. [Google Maps, February 2025]
Trams from Stockport continued Northwest along Market Street, Hyde. Terminating close to the Market ground, seen here in the top-left of the extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1917, published 1922. [42]
The final length of the route covered by Stockport’s trams which reached as far as the Market ground which can be seen in the top-left of this satellite image [Google Earth, February 2025]
Market Street, Hyde in around 1930. A tram on the Stockport Edgeley service waits at the Town Hall terminus as a bus departs for Romiley from the Market. This image was shared on the Hyde Past and Present Facebook Group by Lee E. Brown 8th November 2024. © Public Domain. [51]
A tram on Market Street, Hyde, © Public Domain. [52]
A view Northwest along Market Street in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
A photograph from around 1930 of the tram terminus on Market Street outside the Town Hall. The leading tram is a Manchester Corporation car on the No 19 service to Manchester Exchange. In the centre is an SHMD car and at the far end is a Stockport car and going off the position of the poles, they are both on the Edgeley run. Across the market there is a rare glimpse of the Norfolk Hotel. The photographer was standing on the corner of Greenfield Street, looking across to the market ground. Market Street goes away behind the trams. The top of the Midland Bank is visible above the trams. This length of tramway may be unique in the UK being served by four different tram companies/services, SHMD, Ashton, Manchester and Stockport trams. This image was shared on the Hyde Past and Present Facebook Group by Lee E. Brown on 23rd November 2019. [53]
A view from a similar location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, June 2023]

This completes the length of the tramway from Stockport to Hyde. The next article in this short series will cover the line from Manchester to Hazel Gri

References

  1. P.W. Gentry; Stockport Corporation Tramway; Modern Tramway, Vol. 12 No. 138, June 1949, p123-126.
  2. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/01/15/stockport-corporation-tramways-modern-tramway-vol-12-no-138-june-1949-part-1
  3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockport_Corporation_Tramways, accessed on 3rd January 2025.
  4. Harry Postlethwaite, John Senior & Bob Rowe; Super Prestige No. 14, Stockport Corporation; Venture Publications, Glossop, Derbyshire, 2008. This document is made freely available by MDS Books as a .pdf: https://www.mdsbooks.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/Stockport_Download_1.pdf, accessed on 14th January 2025.
  5. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361890923297?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ibGa9k_VTo6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 15th January 2025.
  6. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361906909095?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ibGa9k_VTo6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 15th January 2025.
  7. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Gatley_Road,_Cheadle_1908.png, accessed on 15th January 2025.
  8. https://localtransporthistory.co.uk/fleetlists/stockport2, accessed on 16th January 2025.
  9. https://localtransporthistory.co.uk/fleetlists/stockport1, accessed on 16th January 2025.
  10. https://localtransporthistory.co.uk/fleetlists/stockport3, accessed on 16th January 2025.
  11. https://maps.nls.uk/view/114581923, accessed on 16th January 2025.
  12. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523838, accessed on 19th January 2025.
  13. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=521382444623405&set=a.454578394637144&locale=eu_ES, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  14. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=521383347956648&set=a.454578394637144&locale=eu_ES, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  15. https://www.cheadlephotos.net/contents/en-uk/d2_1900s.html, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  16. https://www.cheadlephotos.net/contents/en-uk/d8_1910s.html, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  17. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523844, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  18. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523814, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  19. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523904, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  20. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=34735&searchString=Tram&searchOption=Title&searchArea=All&first=False&last=False, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  21. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=10854&searchString=Tram&searchOption=Title&searchArea=All&first=False&last=False, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  22. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=25483&searchString=stockport%20road&searchOption=Title&searchArea=9&first=False&last=False, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  23. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=35263&searchString=Brinksway&searchOption=Title&searchArea=All&first=False&last=False, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  24. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=42132&searchString=Brinksway&searchOption=Title&searchArea=All&first=False&last=False, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  25. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=2201&searchString=Brinksway&searchOption=Title&searchArea=All&first=False&last=False, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  26. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/epw036823, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  27. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14edX1aoxB, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  28. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18R2xVHgGe, accessed on 20th January 2025.
  29. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163654326560?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=7o9wvntyQeW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  30. https://images.app.goo.gl/PgmXAz92FPtaD7Qa9, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  31. https://stockportheritagetrust.co.uk/gallery, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  32. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GiD3aC5Ku, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  33. https://www.reddit.com/r/stockport/comments/1896toe/bridge_st_1900s/#lightbo, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  34. https://imagearchive.stockport.gov.uk/Home/Photograph?accessionno=35206&searchString=Tram&searchOption=Title&searchArea=All&classSearch=False, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  35. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523904, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  36. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EPW013110, accessed on 21st January 2025
  37. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/158MXnGX2o, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  38. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1YU8yCcRz2, accessed on 21st January 2025.
  39. https://maps.nls.uk/view/114581242, accessed on 22nd January 2025.
  40. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523886, accessed on 22nd January 2025.
  41. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523892, accessed on 22nd January 2025.
  42. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126523865, accessed on 23rd January 2025.
  43. Not used.
  44. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15sGQpHa5e, accessed on 23rd January 2025.
  45. https://oldhyde.blogspot.com/2008/01/tramlines-at-gee-cross.html?m=1, accessed on 31st January 2025.
  46. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126400306855?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=IfOvO8v2Tu-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 31st January 2025.
  47. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19wVpLgfFs, accessed on 31st January 2025.
  48. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15J8AoAWM5, accessed on 1st February 2025.
  49. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19NgP1hLD7, accessed on 1st February 2025.
  50. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18ABuv2goR, accessed on 2nd February 2025.
  51. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19kyFJiqkS, accessed on 5th February 2025.
  52. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394065476691?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=VG76xMQ6St6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 5th February 2025.
  53. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E8S164umA, accessed on 5th February 2025.

A First, Short-lived, Horse-powered ‘Railway’ in Hungary.

1 Reply

The first Hungarian ‘railway line’ was completed nearly 20 years before the first steam-powered railway in Hungary (which was opened in 1846) on 15th August 1827, and ran from Pest to Kőbánya. [1]

It was one of the early horse-drawn ‘railways’ but was definitely atypical in form!!

The track of the ‘floating railway’/’suspension Railway’ on an engraving by János Hofbauer. [1][2]

That railway “ran on a wooden structure running at an average height of one and a half to two metres above the ground, where the wooden beams were held by densely placed wooden posts. The wheels ran on very closely spaced rails on top of the beams, and the carriages hung down on either side of the entire structure, therefore floating, i.e. the design was very similar to a monorail.” [1]

“The strange, complicated structure was not a Hungarian invention, it was patented by an Englishman, namely Henry Palmer.” [1][4]

“Palmer made a patent application in 1821 for an elevated single rail supported on a series of pillars in an ordinary distance of ten feet, inserted into conical apertures in the ground, with carriages suspended on both sides, hanging on two wheels the one placed before the other. A horse is connected to the carriage with a towing rope, proceeding on one side of the rail on a towing path.” [4]

There was an earlier monorail in Russia, [5] of which Palmer was unaware. By 1823, George Smart had set up a trial version of Palmer’s monorail. [6]

Palmer wrote in the study presenting his system: “the charge of carrying the raw material to the manufacturing district, and the manufactured article to the market, forming no small proportion of its price to the consumer.[…] The leading problem in our present subject is, to convey any given quantity of weight between two points at the least possible expense.[…] In order to retain a perfectly smooth and hard surface, unencumbered with extraneous obstacles to which the rails near the ground are exposed, it appeared desirable to elevate the surface from the reach of those obstacles and at the same time be released from the impediments occasioned by snows in the winter season.” [7]

Palmer’s Monorail – The earliest patent for a vehicle designed to run on a single rail can be traced to UK patent No 4618 dated 22nd November 1821. Palmer described it as ‘a single line of rail, supported at such height from the ground as to allow the centre of gravity of the carriages to be below the upper surface of the rail’. The vehicles straddled the rail, rather like a pair of pannier baskets on a mule. Propulsion was by horse. A line was built in 1824 in the Deptford Dockyard in London, and in 1825, another line was built in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Dubbed the Cheshunt Railway, this line made history as it was the world’s first passenger-carrying monorail, and the first railway line to open in Hertfordshire. In 1826, a company was formed to construct a line between Barmen and Elberfeld in Germany, but construction never started, © Nekosuki600, and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). [8]

“In the 1820s, this system seemed to be very advantageous, since it was not necessary to raise embankments for its construction, the track could be created with relatively little earthwork, only a suitable amount of wood was needed. Such a railway was experimented with in several places in Europe, and Baden salt mine manager János Gáspár Bodmer jointly applied for a patent with the Austrian company Bollinger & Co. for the construction of a Hungarian network of more than 900 kilometers, which would have connected Pest with Debrecen and Fiume, for example. The costs were correspondingly high, the price of the entire network was set at two million forints.” [1]

Palatine Joseph liked the idea. “Archduke Joseph Anton of Austria … was the 103rd and penultimate Palatine of Hungary who served for over fifty years from 1796 to 1847, after a period as governor in 1795.” [3]

Before the entrepreneurs could get a license covering the entire country, the Palatine first wanted a test track that led from Pest to Kőbánya. “The Pest-Kőbánya route was ideal because the stones and bricks for the constructions in Pest were transported from Kőbánya, and by joining this stone transport business, the railway would have made a profit even on this short section of less than 7 and a half kilometres, according to the plans.” [2]

“Work on the 7.6 kilometre railway section began in May 1827. The company issued shares, a total of 513 shares were sold, among the shareholders were the palatine himself, György Sina, one of the richest men in the empire, as well as the banker Móric Ulmann and István Széchenyi. However, there was not enough money to use hardwood, so they built the course out of pine. The rapid work was hampered by the lack of manpower, so the palatine also ordered the military, but an additional problem was that one of the company partners and also the construction manager, János Bodmer, died unexpectedly in the early summer of 1827.” [1]

“The 1,372-pole line from Pest to Kőbánya was finally completed on 15th August 1827. Its main purpose was to supply Pest with building materials, so it branched off at Kőbánya, one end point was at the Kauser quarry, and the other branch was at the Lechner brick kiln. To facilitate stone transport, the line [was] slightly inclined towards Pest.” [1]

A drawing of the floating/suspension railway (Béla Czére: A pest-kőbányai próbavasút története [The history of the Pest-Kőbánya trial railway], Közlekedéstudományi Szemle, 1957. No. 7-8). [1]

The ceremonial opening took place on 20th August 1827, attended by the Palatine himself and his entire family, who travelled from Pest to Kőbánya on the new railway. The 25th August 1827 issue of Hazai’s Külföldi Tudósítások, commented:

“His High Duchy with his family, and the Deputation, led by Honourable Baron József Venkheim Főispán of Arad, at the city’s new Kőbánya, got on the carriages used for sitting, decorated with two flags with Hungarian colours flying in front of it, and all the way to the Kerepesi line, pulled by a horse, he arrived.” [2]

Palatine Joseph observed the return journey on which “a horse pulled 68 soldiers and a load of 148 Viennese quintal (that is, almost 8.3 tons), and later another train was started, and it was loaded with a total of 27 tons of stone, wool, and 40 barrels of wine. The journey time was approximately 1 hour.” [1]

The investors of the railway line leading from Pest, today’s Baross Square, to Kőbánya, naturally hoped for profit and the right to cover the entire country with their railway line later. Illés Aladár Edvi, in his study of Pest-Kőbánya Trial Railway (issue 7 of 1895 of the Magyar Mérnök és Építész-Egylet bulletin) cites the call made by János Bodmer, which he wrote to the hopeful shareholders:

“In Hungary, one of the most important points to be connected would be the one that would connect Pest, the centre of the country, with Szolnok by road, because goods coming from Poland and the Russian Empire could arrive here on Tisza or the newly built road in Ungvár county; the noble wines of Hegyalja, the linen of Upper Hungary, all of these can be transported to the world market quickly and cheaply from here.” [2]

“The business seemed to be successful, but problems soon appeared. On the one hand, there were not enough cars, i.e. not enough trains could run for the company to generate a profit. Of the existing 11 cars, usually only a maximum of 8 could be used at the same time, the rest had to be repaired, while three times as many, i.e. 24, were supposed to be running constantly, so the planned two trains per day could not always be started.” [1]

In addition, softwood rather than hardwood was used in the construction in order to save money. Hardwood was expensive and difficult to source at the time of construction. This led, however, to high maintenance costs and problems with deformation under load and natural drying of the timber meant that screws loosened and fell out. [1][2]

The wheels were above the cars. “The four wheels – 2 on each side – very close to each other rolled on the iron bands laid on the horizontal beams. Loads or passengers were accommodated in open structures hanging from the sides. The whole thing was drawn by horses, which of course walked on the ground. The idea was not completely unviable, according to reports from the time, a workhorse easily towed a 6-car, loaded assembly, which – converted to SI units – was nearly 14 tons including the weight of the cars.” [2]

A part of the track and a 2/3 scale reconstruction of the cars at the 2010-2012 exhibition “A hídember gépei” [“The Bridgeman’s Machines”] of the Museum of Transport (Photo: Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport). [1][2]

The railway could not “run in strong winds, because the structure had a significant defect, which could actually have been easily rectified. Since there were only wheels at the top, four per car, which were located quite close to each other, the cars hanging over the sides were rocked by the wind. This could have been avoided if the carriages were equipped with horizontal wheels that roll on the sides of the beams supporting the track and thus prevent swaying, but neither the freight nor the passenger carriages had such wheels.” [1]

“As early as the spring of 1828, it became clear that the entire line should be rebuilt and replaced with hardwood, and new, horizontal wheels should be placed in the cars, which would reduce the swaying.” [2]

The venture also carried high finance costs. The project exceeded the 20,000 HUF budget, coming in at 31,000 HUF. New shares were issued, but not enough money came in. As a result, the Company owed nearly 5,000 HUF to master carpenter József Spiegel, the head of the construction, who took over the management of the construction after Bodmer’s unexpected death in 1827. [2]

No account appears to have been taken of the state of the market at the time. “The company would have been successful if it had continuously delivered building materials to Pest. However, it would have been necessary to successfully break into an already well-established … market, which would have been possible if the work was taken away from the competitors, who used to carry out the deliveries with carts, or … construction work in Pest … accelerated in such a way that … excess capacity” was required. [2]

The market did not grow and there was no need for additional capacity. The carriers who had been transporting building materials until then were not happy about the competition and formed a cartel to lower their prices, i.e. it was cheaper to transport by cart than by rail.

“At the shareholders’ meeting held on 20th March 1828, the situation was quite hopeless. The railway was already struggling with a debt amounting to 4,339 HUF 35 kreuzer, and it did not generate enough income to start making a profit. To hope for a profit, major improvements would have been necessary, for example, new cars would have had to be purchased. For the continued operation of the railway, and to have enough money for purchases, each shareholder should have had to pay an additional 15 HUF.” [2] This they were not willing to do. so the company ceased operations on 20th March 1828, i.e. after 7 months. The line was dismantled, the timber was sold for firewood, but there were beams that were used at the Chain Bridge. [1][2]

“From the point of view of Pest, the suspension railway was important for several reasons. On the one hand, this investment also confirmed what was stated in law 10 years later, that Pest and Buda are the country’s transport hub. The railway was based on the future hope that Pest [would face] development, not only in the field of construction but also in the field of industrial plants, which [would] require a large increase in land transport [capacity]. It is no coincidence that the railway was a trial section of a line extending to the Tisza and beyond to Debrecen – that is, from where it was not possible to transport by ship. … However, the railway was about 10 years ahead of its time. Only one public railway line operated in one place in the world, England.” [2]

References

  1. https://pestbuda.hu/en/cikk/20220812_the_first_hungarian_railway_was_built_195_years_ago_the_special_structure_delivered_construction_materials_from_kobanya, accessed on 6th February 2025.
  2. https://pestbuda.hu/en/cikk/20230322_the_downfall_of_the_first_hungarian_railway, accessed on 6th February 2025.
  3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Joseph_of_Austria_(Palatine_of_Hungary), accessed on 6th February 2025.
  4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Robinson_Palmer, accessed on 6th February 2025.
  5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorails_in_Russia, (the first Russian monorail was built by Ivan Elmanov in Myachkovo village, near Moscow in 1820. In this road on pillars”, horses pulled railroad carriages placed on a horizontal beam. The wheels were mounted on the beam, not on the carriages. Elmanov could not find investors to fund for his project, and stopped working on the monorail); accessed on 6th February 2025.
  6. Anton Howes; Smart, George; in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004.
  7. Henry R. Palmer, Palmer’s Observations on Railways / Description of a Railway on a New Principle; J. Taylor, London, 1823, p1, 2, 33, 34–35; via https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HezfU0-Af4QC, accessed on 6th February 2025.
  8. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palmer-monorail.png#, accessed on 6th February 2025.

The Cornwall Minerals Railway – Part 2 – Par, its Harbour and St. Blazey Engine Shed

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A first article about the Cornwall Minerals Railway can be found here:

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/05/17/the-cornwall-minerals-railway-part-1. [32]

In this second article we look at Par and its harbour, include some information about Treffry’s Tramway which transported goods to and from the Port and take note of St. Blazey Loco Shed. …

“Par Harbour was built in 1829 by a local entrepreneur Joseph Thomas Treffry who was known as the “King of Mid Cornwall”. [1: p13]

“The first ships used the port at Par in 1833 and it was finished in 1840. The breakwater enclosed 36 acres (15 hectares) of harbour and was capable of taking up to about 50 vessels of 200 tons each. The port is tidal so the vessels would sit on the bottom at low tide. Cornish granite was exported from Par in the early days for such famous landmarks as Waterloo Bridge in London, Chatham Docks, Gibraltar Docks & Glasgow Docks.” [33] As the china clay industry grew during the 19th century this became the main export through the port.

The first map below comes from the Ordnance Survey 1st series of the very early 19th century.

Par Harbour, OS First series, early 19th century. [5]
Old map of Par Harbour shared on the St. Blazey and Par Old Photos and Postcards Facebook Page on 18th June 2019. [6]

Coal needed to be imported from Wales to power Treffry’s mines, and copper, lead, and granite needed to be exported all over the country. Treffry, as a leading industrialist of the time, “had an urgent need for a harbour to serve his mines and quarries and the narrow streets of Fowey hampered the process when cargos could only be transported from the mines by mules and wagons. After he had completed his safe haven, up to fifty small sailing vessels of the time could be accommodated in the harbour, while larger ships lay at anchor in St Austell bay where their cargoes were loaded from barges. Other industries and businesses developed inside the port area such as ship repair, rope works, sail making, timber and coal merchants and brickworks.” [1: p13]

Hugh Howes notes that the new harbour “was a vital outlet for minerals particularly the expanding china clay industry and a rival to Fowey, Pentwan and Charlestown. [Teffry’s] Fowey Consols Mine was reaching its peak production in the late 1830s at 15,000 tons. The output at Par Consols Mine peaked a little later at nearly 8,500 tons. They were producing profitable amounts of copper at that time. … He had brought industrial success firstly with the copper mines in Tywardreath and St. Blazey, then with the granite workings at Luxulyan, and finally with china clay extraction to serve the fast developing ceramics industry in the Potteries.” [27: p48-49]

Canal and tramways in the Luxulyan Valley in 1835, © Copyright Afterbrunel and included here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Licence. [7]

The Par Canal was built by Treffry to transport his minerals from Pontsmill to Par Harbour and was operational from 1833 [8][33], 1842 [1: p21] or 1844 [10], depending on which source you rely on. A number of tramway inclines were associated with it. One from Fowey Consols Mine to a location to the South of Pontsmill was in use by 1835. A second, was built a little to the South of the first, both seem to have served Fowey Consols Mine. A third tramway inclined plane was built between Par Consols Mine and Par Harbour. That inclined plane was working by 1841. [8] The Canal was closed in 1873. [10]

The Treffry Tramway was built in stages. The first length headed North from Pontsmill to Colcerrow Quarry and included an incline to lift the line out of Pontsmill. This line was extended to Molinnis near Bugle. To get there a large viaduct was needed, to cross the valley of the River Par (the Luxulyan Valley). The Teffry Viaduct, was 648 feet in length with ten arches, and was 98 feet high. It was the first large granite viaduct in Cornwall. This section of Treffry’s tramway opened in early 1844. [8]

Tramways in the Luxulyan Valley in 1855, © Copyright Afterbrunel and included here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Licence. [7]

Construction of the Tramway continued from it’s planned Northern terminus at Newquay. There were delays as a result of Treffry’s death in 1850 but his work was eventually continued by his cousin who had the Hedra Incline operational by 1857 at the latest, possibly as much as five years earlier. [7]

Treffry’s Tramways by 1857, © Copyright Afterbrunel and included here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Licence. [7]

The Fowey Consols Mine was geologically exhausted by 1865. It closed, as did the connecting tramway inclines. Copper extraction in the area was in steep decline, tin ore extraction proved commercially unsuccessful, but granite quarrying “enjoyed an upsurge, and new quarries opened on a small scale at Rock Mill Quarry and Orchard Quarry, above Pontsmill on the south-west side of the river. In 1870 a branch of the tramway was extended from near Pontsmill to serve the two quarries. The line was on the north-east side of the river, and it had two branches for the quarries; each of them crossed the river, and the Orchard Quarry line had an incline to reach the site. The tramway on the incline may have been narrow gauge and was probably gravity operated.” [7][12][14]

Joseph Treffry’s decision in 1844 to use horse-power meant that by the 1870s his tramways were becoming inefficient. Modernisation was essential but the Teffry Estate’s finances precluded that work being undertaken solely by the estate. [7]

In 1872 William Richardson Roebuck leased the tramways. He formed a limited company, the Cornwall Minerals Railway Limited and obtained “parliamentary authority on 21st July 1873 to acquire the lines, form a new railway to connect them, and to make an extension to Fowey, and to improve the original tramway sections so as to make them suitable for operation by steam locomotive.” [7][11][6][15]

“The Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR) took over Treffry’s lines and improved them. They quickly built the link between Hendra and Molinnis, and their new line to Fowey, and Treffry’s vision of a through line from Newquay to Fowey was realised when on 1 June 1874 the CMR opened the line throughout.” [7] The line required a “new route up the Luxulyan Valley so as to avoid the rope-worked Carmears Incline.” [7]

“The new line in the Luxulyan Valley by-passed the Treffry Viaduct, but Colcerrow Quarry continued to be rail served. Traffic from the quarry reversed at the junction with the old main line at the Par end of the viaduct, and then crossed it, joining the new line at Luxulyan. This operation was horse worked, and the track was still the original Treffry stone-block type in 1933.” [7][17] By 1959 the Colcerrow route at Luxulyan had been shortened to a stub siding. [7][16: p21]

Passenger operation commenced in 1876. The GWR leased the lines from the CMR in 1877, and purchased them in 1896. “The East Wheal Rose branch remained a mineral section until the Great Western Railway (GWR) … built its line from Newquay to Perranporth and Chacewater, partly taking over the line of route.” [7]

The Treffry Tramways and the Par Canal warrant separate articles in this series which will be written in due course. …..

These next set of extracts from the Ordnance Survey belong together but cross the boundary between two OS Map sheets and come from the 1881 survey which was published in 1888. Treffry’s harbour is shown, as is the canal he built. The rail track shown running alongside the canal follows the route of the Treffry Tramway.

As well as the Treffry Tramway and the, already closed, Par Canal, there is a railway shown running roughly North to South on the first two map extracts. This was the Cornwall Railway, the railway company which built the majestic Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar. Because of the difficult terrain it traversed, it had a large number of viaducts, built as timber trestles because of the shortage of money. It was a 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventually forced to sell its line to the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1889, a little after the date of the 1881 Survey. [9]

On this map extract from the 1881 survey, the line of the Treffry Tramway is to the East of the Par Inn. It is followed closely, to its East, by the Par Canal and then by the River Par. Also visible is the Par Engine Shed which later became known as the St. Blazey Engine Shed. The engine shed is prominent on this map extract, it was built for the eighteen 0-6-0T locomotives that were built by Sharp Stewart in 1873 and 1874. These locos were intended to operate in pairs, back to back and each road in the engine shed was designed to accommodate one pair of locomotives. Traffic never warranted the paired use of these locomotives and only nine were put to use. What happened to the other nine locomotives is covered in the first article in this short series, (cf. [32]) [2][18][31]
St. Blazey Station and Engine Shed seen from the North in 1930. This image is an extract from EPW033131, the roundhouse is in the middle distance close to the centre of the image, © Historic England. [40]

Stephen Austin, in a May 2003 article in Steam Days, describes the workshops and depot this:

“At Par, the Cornwall Minerals Railway set up a new headquarters and engineering depot on a piece of flat ground between the river and the original valley side where once ships moored in front of the Sloop Inn.

It was fortunate that the Cornwall Railway line, at the south end of this site, was elevated on a viaduct, for its five arches now spanned the canal, the Cornwall Mineral Railways main line to Fowey, a branch into Par Harbour, the river, and a public road. At the north end the new line swung across the river on a sharp reverse curve to join the 1855 causeway. On this length from Par Bridge to Middleway Bridge the original railway between the river and canal was abandoned, and is today a public footpath where some of the sleeper blocks may still be seen.

The railway depot, finished by the end of 1873, had two main buildings. One was a wagon repair shed and the other contained a Signal & Telegraph repair shop, smithy, boiler room, water tank, a two-storey office suite, machine shop, and locomotive repair shop. Adjoining the latter was a locomotive running shed constructed in what was then a frequently-used layout – a segment of a circle-covering tracks which radiated from a turntable in the centre of the circle. This shed, which became known locally as ‘the roundhouse’, contained nine tracks, each with its own gable-ended roof, of which the middle three extended through the back wall into the repair shop.

The buildings at the depot were handsome, elegantly-proportioned brick structures. The whole workshop group cost £16,000 and was a huge development for the time and place of its construction, exceeding the Cornwall Railway Works at nearby Lostwithiel. … The reason for the nine roads in the running shed was that it was to accommodate the whole of the company’s locomotive fleet. They ordered eighteen 0-6-0Ts from Sharp Stewart & Company of Manchester. The design was attributed to Francis Trevithick, formerly of the L&NWR and a descendant of the great Richard Trevithick, and was conventional except that the cab had no back. The intention was to run the locomotives in pairs, coupled back to back, with one crew. This was because Robert Fairlie had recently created a sensation with his double-ended locomotive mounted on two power bogies, able to do the work of two smaller engines without the expense of two engine crews; the Cornwall Mineral Railways’ idea was to obtain this last benefit without having to pay royalties to Robert Fairlie.

The prospect of a driver having to leap from one footplate to another whenever a control needed adjusting is an alarming one, but in practice it was seldom, if ever, put to the test. Far from needing two locomotives to a train, one was ample, and half of the new fleet of locomotives was never used at all. The staple traffic on which the hopes of the firm were raised iron-ore from the Perran Iron Lode never appeared. All that was offered was stone, and the then-modest output of china-clay, and within a year it was clear that the railway was a financial failure.” [31: p279-280]

St. Blazey Shed in early BR days. This image was shared by Colin Bangs on the St. Blazey Roundhouse Facebook Group on 30th April 2024 © Unknown. [35]
All nine roads appear in this image which was shared on 24th August 2015 on the Old Cornwall in Pictures Facebook Page, © Unknown. [38]
This image of the roundhouse in use in the early 1969s was shared on the Didcot Railway Centre Facebook Page on 28th April 2016, © possibly HMRS or Colour Rail as the image is reproduced in Stephen Austin’s article with that attributation. [39] [31: p285]
On this extract from the 1881 Survey, the Cornwall Railway at Porth is shown to have connecting lines to Par’s dockyard area. [2]
This extract from the 1881 Survey is included for the sake of completeness. It shows the Par Canal, being crossed by two footbridges, the most southerly of which also appears on the next map extract. [3]
This extract from the 1881 6″ Ordnance Survey shows the tramway serving the quayside. Much of the harbour area was mud flats at low tide with just a narrow channel of water remaining. [3]

The next images show the area as recorded for the 25″ Ordnance Survey in 1905/1906 and published in 1907.

This extract from the 25″ Survey of 1905/1906 published in 1907, shows the Northern half of the area immediately around Par Harbour. St. Blazey Engine Shed is in the top-left quadrant. [19]
The view looking South in 1922 from St. Blazey Railway Station. The curve running away to the left is the link to what was the Cornwall Railway at Par Station. The wagon works are just to the right of centre. At the top of the image with the locomotive shed beyond and to the right. The down to Par Harbour runs ahead of the camera to the left of the wagon works; that to Fowey leaves the image bottom-left. The image is greatly enhanced by the two movements taking place. Immediately to the left of the wagon works what appears to be a saddle tank heads a train of, mixed empty and loaded general fright wagons and loaded and sheeted china clay wagons. To the right of the works, a pannier tank heads a train of china clay wagons within the sidings. Presumably the various wagons and brake vans in front of the wagon works are awaiting servicing or return to use on the railway, © Public Domain. [31: p281]
This next extract from the 25″ Survey of 1905/1906 published in 1907, shows the Southern half of the area immediately around Par Harbour. [20]

The next few images show a number of the areas in greater detail. All these extracts come from the 25″ OS mapping published in 1907.

The GWR Loop between St. Blazey Railway Station and Par Railway Station. [25]
St. Blazey Engine Shed and Par Green with the GWR Par Loop visible at the top of the map extract. [24]
The area North of the Quay including the Fowey branch on its causeway. [23]
The immediate area around the Quay. [22]
The area between Pembroke Mine and Porth on the North side of the mainline. [21]
Par Harbour, as it appears on the 1943 Admiralty Chart. [4]

Par Docks saw significant developments in the late 1940s. The image below is an aerial image of Par taken in 1950 for English China Clay.

An aerial image of Par Docks taken on 20th April 1950, shared under a Creative Commons Licence (Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.5)). [26]

Railway Bylines has at least two articles about Par Harbour. The first, a 10 page article about the history of the Harbour, appeared in Railway Bylines Volume 2 No. 5 of August/September 1997. The second, an article entitled ‘Cornish Cream’ with text and photography by Tom Heavyside, was included in Railway Bylines Volume 9 No. 12 of November 2004. [28] It focussed on the diminutive locomotives which served the port’s railways. … Alfred and Judy were still at Par in 1977 when Tom Heavyside visited. Judy was no longer in working order. Alfred was ‘in steam’ on Wednesday 15th June. Alfred was stood-down in August 1977 with its duties being undertaken by a tractor with the occasional use of a BR ’08’ shunter from St. Blazey depot as and when required. Both Alfred and Judy were subsequently removed from the site and saved for posterity.

Tom Heavyside comments: “Fortunately, Alfred and Judy we both saved for posterity. Initially, Alfred went to the Cornish Steam Locomotive Society depot at Bugle and Judy to the Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum near St.Austell. However, in 1987 Alfred moved to the Bodmin & Wenford Railway and in the autumn of 2002 Judy also moved to the Bodmin & Wenford. Fittingly, Alfred became something of a celebrity, not only at Bodmin but elsewhere; I well remember e it making a guest appearance at the Exeter Rail Fair in April/May 1994 when it mingled with a number of much larger steam locomotives including a couple of Bulleid Pacifics and a GWR King.” [28: p590]

Wikipedia tells us that: “Alfred and Judy are two 0-4-0 saddle tank steam locomotives. They were built by W. G. Bagnall for use at Par Docks in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The unusually low design was required to cope with extremely tight curves and a very low bridge under the Cornish Main Line. The locomotives are both preserved in operational condition on the nearby Bodmin and Wenford Railway and inspired the Reverend Wilbert Awdry to include them in The Railway Series of children’s books as Bill and Ben.” [29]

The bridge under the Cornish Mainline served the china clay works. It had a maximum headroom of 8ft. Operating curves in the Port were as tight as 70ft radius. The locomotives used in the Port needed to meet these stringent restrictions. A series of different locomotives were used over the years.  One of those locomotives was ‘Toby’, a low-profile Sentinel, which served the Port throughout much of the first half of the 20th century. By September 1937, demands on the older locomotives were such that a new locomotive was required to work alongside Toby.

W. G. Bagnall & Co. built a suitable locomotive which was delivered to Par in 1937. That locomotive was to be given the name ‘Judy’ in 1955. The locomotive was delivered at a cost of £1200 carrying the works number 2572. “By 1952, ‘Toby’ required replacement and an upturn in traffic meant an order was placed for another locomotive. In 1954, Alfred was delivered (named after the manager of the harbour Alfred Truscott). Whilst nominally the same, Alfred had some differences to Judy with different bunker style, tank and handrail alterations (such as a tank filler that opened in the opposite direction) and a different purchase price – this time £7500.” [30]

Par Docks in the 2020s. [Google Earth, January 2025]
Par Docks, Clay Dries in use in April 2003, © Tony Atkin and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [36]
Par Docks, Clay Dries in 2013, © Chris Gunn and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [37]

The Imerys Blueprint for Cornwall, published in 2003, provided information about the history of china clay production in Cornwall. It included information about the amount of china clay that was shipped out of Par Docks between 1858 and 2002:

1858 – 15,154 tons of china clay

1885 – 86,325 tons of china clay

1987 – 700,000 tons of china clay

2002 – 313,425 tons of china clay, 134,810 tons of aggregates.

Incidentally, the blueprint also noted: the sale of the harbour by the Teffry Estates to English China Clay (ECC) in 1964; the construction of dryers at the site in the 1950s and 1960s; and the closure of the port in 2007.

After closure the port was used as a Milling Centre and a Grade Dryer with all bins clay shipment being handled by Fowey Docks.

Stephen Austin notes the use of the locomotive shed over the years from the 1980s to the new millennium as follows:

“St Blazey depot, much diminished as it was, was still very much alive. It maintained a dedicated fleet of china-clay wagons introduced in 1954, and from 1970 a fixed cover for these wagons was designed and fitted in the Wagon Works, producing the distinctive ‘Clay Hood’. The staff was proud of their self-sufficiency, and when the Clay Hoods were replaced by the Type CDA hopper wagons in 1987 the fitters, on their own initiative, rebuilt the example which now stands as gate-guardian at the Wagon Works. Other freight business disappeared, and the Newquay line was reduced to a long siding on which a railcar shuttled desultorily, but following the break-up of British Rail in 1993 there was renewed optimism.

The depot was taken over by a company named English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Company … and St Blazey was that company’s only depot in Cornwall. It stabled and serviced the TPO coaches of the mail services which were tripped empty from and to Plymouth and Penzance every day, and wagons carrying cement to Blue Circle at Moorswater and products from Fitzgerald Lighting Ltd at Bodmin were staged through the yard. In 1995 some of the locomotives allocated in Cornwall were given names of local association. Among them was No. 37674 St Blaise Church 1445-1995, named after the nearby parish church and unveiled in the yard. In 1998 St Blazey began operating the new locomotives imported by EWSR (Class 66) on the china-clay trains.

On 11th August 1999, in its 125th anniversary year, St Blazey hosted perhaps the biggest assembly of preserved coaches ever gathered on the national network, and excursions brought people down to view the total eclipse of the sun. On 26th February 2000 diesel locomotive No 67008 arrived to begin the depot’s association with the Class 67 diesel then the fastest true self-contained locomotives running anywhere in the world, and worthy successors to those little Sharp Stewart tank engines. …

… The new millennium brought more uncertainty to St Blazey’s future. The last train conveying Fitzgerald Lighting’s wagons, the last consignment of any West Country manufacturer’s goods to be sent out by railway, left the yard on 25th July 2001. The remaining customers, the cement, china-clay, and the mails, made it clear that if the railway did not satisfy them on price and speed they would take to the roads. The only hope [lay] in the fact that … after 128 years of service, St Blazey is still very much a going concern.

Notwithstanding the unique nature of St Blazey Works, it received no attention at all from the enthusiasts in the fields of railways, architecture, or history, nor from the ‘official’ bodies paid to safeguard these things. The roundhouse building was divided up and rented by local traders, and the yard was a dump for rubbish and wrecked cars. However, even the tracks into the building remained intact, and apart from the demolition of the coaling stage nothing else was done until the summer of 2001 when the ownership changed hands, and plans were announced for new building on the site. Thus the original character of the Works, and the practicality of returning it to railway use, will finally be extinguished.” [31: p284, 286]

The news in 2024/2025 is that the anticipated removal of the St. Blazey roundhouse did not occur. St. Blazey Engine Shed has recently been restored as the base for MPower Kernow CIC (MPower), a new Cornish social enterprise company. [34]

The restored depot at St. Blazey. [34]

In April 2023, World of Railways reported that “the ongoing restoration of the turntable and the creation of a servicing facility for steam locomotives is expected to provide many and varied training opportunities for a broad cross section of the community and MPower is already working with local education and training organisations to provide hands-on experience in a range of skills, from woodwork to plumbing, electrics, construction and engineering.” [34]

Future articles?

It is, finally, worth noting that the Cornwall Minerals Railway had a total of 46 miles of track with “a main line from Fowey to Newquay … and branches from Bugle to Carbis, St Dennis Junction to Melangoose Mill and Newquay to East Wheal Rose. These connected clay works, quarries, mines and harbours (Newquay, Par and Fowey) in the area with the headquarters and works being sited at St Blazey (part of which is still in use).” [1: p21]

“Other clay lines were built in later years, Bugle to Carbean Siding in 1893 and Trenance Junction (just West of St Austell on the main line), to Bojes Sidings in 1520 Two narrow gauge lines were also in use at various times. The Gothers Tramway of … from Pochin’s siding near St Dennis Junction to a clay works a Gothers opened in 1884 and closed in 1931.” [1: p22]

These lines will hopefully be covered in future articles.

References

  1. Pit to Port; The Cornish Steam Locomotive Preservation Society, 2009.
  2. https://maps.nls.uk/view/101438942, accessed on 20th January 2023.
  3. https://maps.nls.uk/view/101438954, accessed on 20th January 2023.
  4. Admiralty Chart Misc. 645, corrected 15th April 1943; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274499586563?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=F5J0o5CiRha&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY; accessed on 20th January 2023.
  5. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/series, accessed on 20th January 2023.
  6. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0Py845Q675ooziPmV7A5PJqJVKMkFTs9xPnmrFARWQPpX7arVtvHGEMqosiKtEtXWl&id=171605006288707, accessed on 20th January 2023.
  7. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lux_valley_1835.gif#mw-jump-to-license, accessed on 20th January 2023.
  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treffry_Tramways, accessed on 20th January 2023.
  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornwall_Railway, accessed on 21st January 2023.
  10. https://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/mines/tramways/par-canal.htm, accessed on 21st January 2023.
  11. John Vaughan; The Newquay Branch and its Branches; Haynes/Oxford Publishing Company, Sparkford, 1991.
  12. Martin Bodman; Inclined Planes in the South West; Twelveheads Press, Chacewater, 2012.
  13. E T MacDermot; History of the Great Western Railway, Vol II; the Great Western Railway, London, 1931.
  14. Cornwall Archaeological Unit; The Luxulyan Valley Project: an Archaeological and Historical Survey; Cornwall County Council, Truro, 1988.
  15. E F Carter; An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles; Cassell, London, 1959.
  16. Maurice Dart; Images of Cornish Railways; Halsgrove House, Wellington, Somerset, 2007.
  17. D S Barrie and “Precursor”; Railway Relics in West Cornwall; Railway Magazine, December 1933.
  18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Blazey_engine_shed, accessed on 21st January 2023.
  19. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=50.35131&lon=-4.70645&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  20. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=50.34419&lon=-4.70495&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  21. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=50.34387&lon=-4.71396&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  22. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=50.34528&lon=-4.70401&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  23. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=50.34883&lon=-4.70290&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  24. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=50.35257&lon=-4.70492&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March.
  25. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=50.35595&lon=-4.70647&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par_Docks#/media/File:Par_Docks_ECC_Aerial_Photograph.jpg, accessed on 1st March 2023.
  27. Hugh Howes; The Struggle for the Cornwall Railway – Fated Decisions; Twelveheads Press, Truro, 2012.
  28. Tom Heavyside; Cornish Cream; in Railway Bylines Volume 9 No. 12, November 2004, p586-590.
  29. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagnall_0-4-0ST_%22Alfred%22_and_%22Judy%22, accessed on 8th March 2024.
  30. https://rapidotrains.co.uk/port-of-par-bagnall-tanks, accessed on 8th March 2024.
  31. Stephen Austin; St. Blazey: At the Heart of West Country History; in Steam Days, May 2003, p278-286.
  32. https://rogerfarnworth.com/202y0/05/17/the-cornwall-minerals-railway-part-1.
  33. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par_Docks, accessed on 24th January 2025.
  34. https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/st-blazeys-restored-turntable-set-for-scotsman-visit, accessed on 24th January 2025.
  35. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15WHnYinBM, accessed on 24th January 2025.
  36. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/104676, accessed on 24th January 2025.
  37. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3824704, accessed on 24th January 2025.
  38. https://www.facebook.com/share/14r1jXREEN, accessed on 25th January 2025.
  39. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18VjPfoZGu, accessed on 25th January 2025.
  40. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EPW033131, accessed on 25th January 2025.

The Micklehurst Loop – an update at the beginning of 2025

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I am indebted to ‘David’ for an update on the Plevin owned railway land in Mossley. …

It is a few years since I wrote a series of articles about the Micklehurst Loop which can be found on this blog. Circumstances have since changed at what was the Plevin site. Plevin’s relocated in 2024 to another site and their yard has been gradually deteriorating since then.

The original series of articles can be found here. [1] Following the link takes you to the latest blog post on the theme (which will be this one), scrolling down the webpage will bring you to the start of the series. My articles about the line follow the line from Stalybridge to Diggle. You will note that there are a number of addenda to the main series of articles.

When we walked the line as exercise during COVID it was not possible to gain access to Plevin’s site. Plevin’s property was covered in the second of four substantive articles about the line which can be found here. [2]

This coloured version of the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1890/1891 was published in 1894. It shows Mossley’s stations on the Micklehurst Loop. At the top of the image the passenger station stands on embankment with the station building a little to the South on the East side of the line. The goods station which primarily consisted of the large goods shed is towards the bottom of the map extract. The railway and yard sit high above the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. [4]
A closer satellite view of Plevin’s site in 2025 – this is the latest view of the site available on Google Maps. The lighter roof is that of the old goods shed the darker grey roofing is over later buildings built over the running lines of the Micklehurst Loop. [Google Maps, January 2025]
The same buildings but this time as seen on Google Earth 3D imagery seen from the South. This is the current view on Google Earth at the beginning of 2025. [Google Earth 3D, January 2025]

‘David”s report on 28dayslater.co.uk is a comprehensive look at the site and its history. That report can be found here. [3] ‘David’ kindly sent through some of his photographs, of which a selection appear below.

The old goods shed in Mossley which was in use by Plevin’s until 2024, there are three floors inside the building, © David and used by kind permission.
A view along one elevation of the structure, © David and used by kind permission.
The rear elevation of the goods shed forms one wall of the Weldem’s workshop behind the shed, © David and used by kind permission.
The interior of the Weldem’s workshop behind the goods shed, © David and used by kind permission.
Two more views of the goods shed from within the Weldem’s workshop, © David and used by kind permission.
Two interior shots of the goods shed after abandonment by Plevin’s, © David and used by kind permission.

‘David’ commented in January 2025 that the site is suffering some vandal damage now that no security is provided. A fuller impression of the site and its condition in 2025 can be gained by consulting David’s post on 28dayslater.co.uk.

References

  1. https://rogerfarnworth.com/category/railways-and-tramways-blog/british-isles-railways-and-tramways/greater-manchester-and-surrounding-areas/the-micklehurst-loop
  2. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/02/21/the-micklehurst-loop-part-2
  3. https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/weldems-plevin-mossley-01-24.139375, accessed on 27th January 2025.
  4. https://maps.nls.uk/view/126521954, accessed on 29th January 2025.

The Giants’ Causeway and Portrush Tramway – The Modern Tramway, Vol. 13 No. 153

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In the Summer of 2024, my wife and I visited Giants’ Causeway as part of a few days meandering along the North coast of Ireland. When reading a series of older copies of the Modern Tramway, I came across an article written in 1950. … The Modern Tramway of September 1950 featured an article by D. G. Evans about one of the very early electric tramways – The Giants’ Causeway and Portrush Tramway. His article is quoted in full in this article.

Wikipedia tells us that The Giants’ Causeway, Portrush, & Bush Valley Railway & Tramway was a “pioneering 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge electric railway operating between Portrush and the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The line, 9 1⁄4 miles (14.9 km) long, was hailed at its opening as ‘the first long electric tramway in the world’. [2] The Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway today operates diesel and steam tourist trains over part of the Tramway’s former course.” [3]

The Giants’ Causeway, Portrush, & Bush Valley Railway & Tramway. [24]

Writing in 1950, Evans says that:

“The recent decision of the shareholders to close down the Giant’s Causeway tramway was sad news to those who knew the line and can recall the pleasure of breezy rides along the cliff tops in the qua’nt cars that had seen but little change since their first day of operation. The line was the first tramway in the United Kingdom to be operated by electricity and the current was produced by a hydro- electric power station at Walkmills, one mile from the Bushmills terminus. A waterfall on the river Bush was the source of the hydro-electric power.

Opened from Portrush station to Bushmills in January, 1883, the line was extended to the ultimate terminus at Giant’s Causeway in 1887. The original current collection was from a side conductor rail 17in. above ground and 22in. from the inside running rail. This method was of course unsuited to a street tramway and the portion of the line which ran in the centre of the street through the town of Portrush was therefore worked by steam tram engines of the usual vertical boiler pattern. This method of operation of the first half-mile of the tramway persisted until 1899, when a change over to the overhead trolley system was made. From that date until 1915 the steam tram engines were retained for use during the peak traffic periods in the summer at which time the original power station proved inadequate for the needs of the system.” [1: p185]

The Giants’ Causeway, Portrush, & Bush Valley Railway & Tramway Company. [1: p 185]
The Portrush Railway Station in the 1890s. The tramway terminus is in the foreground and on the left of this image, © W. Lawrence, Public Domain. [4]
A similar view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2023]

Wikipedia gives some of the background to the opening of the line: “The Giant’s Causeway Tramway came about through the enthusiasm of William Atcheson Traill, M.A.Ing., of Ballylough (1844–1934), together with his brother Dr Anthony Traill, who between them undertook most of the promotion and fundraising for the line. W.A. Traill was a man with not only an interest in railways but also a keen interest in technological developments in engineering. The Act of Parliament incorporating ‘The Giant’s Causeway, Portrush, and Bush Valley Railway and Tramway Company’ was passed on 26th August 1880. It authorised a tramway from Portrush to Bushmills and a railway from there to join the Ballycastle Railway (also 3 ft. gauge) at Dervock. The only section of the railway never built was a short spur at Dervock. [5] The Dervock section was abandoned by an 1885 Act, which authorised extension from Bushmills to the Causeway.” [3][6]

“At the Berlin Trade Fair of 1879 Siemens was demonstrating the first railway electrification system and it was that which led the British branch of the firm to be commissioned to incorporate this new technology into the Giant’s Causeway Tramway venture. Sir William Siemens (1823–83) was briefly a Director and Siemens Brothers of London were appointed electrical engineers to the company, their representative being Dr Edward Hopkinson, who later went on to work on the Bessbrook and Newry Tramway and the City & South London Railway. Surveying and civil engineering work was carried out by Edward Price, son of the eminent Irish civil engineer James Price.” [3]

“The line was the world’s first to be powered by hydroelectricity, something that was later developed at Bessbrook and in Switzerland. Traill built a generating station at Walkmill Falls (24 feet (7.3 m)) head), near Bushmills, installing 104 horsepower (78 kW) Alcott water turbines to produce up to 250 volts at 100 amps of electrical power for his line. Later 160 horsepower (120 kW) turbines were installed. [8] This building, although without its equipment, is still in existence.” [3]

The hydroelectric scheme at Walkmills, © Unknown. [25]
A diagrammatic representation of the hydro electric scheme as included in The Engineer, Vol. 56, 1883,© Public Domain. [25]

“Because of legal problems over water rights, erection of the Walkmills turbines was delayed and when the first section of the tramway, from Portrush to Bushmills, was opened on 29th January 1883 some of the timetabled passenger traffic was handled by steam tram engines which were in any case necessary on the town section in Portrush where it was impossible to provide electric power since this was originally fed to the trains via an elevated third rail which ran alongside the line. Therefore, a 25 horsepower (19 kW) steam generator was installed at the Portrush depot, [9] (by 1936 replaced by a 550 volt diesel generator for the Portrush-Dunluce section).” [3]

The tramway at Portrush – a steam tram can be seen on the right ▶️ f this week mage, © Public Domain. [18]

“The ceremonial opening, using electric traction, took place on 28th September 1883 although a full scheduled electric service did not begin until 5th November and steam locomotives remained available for use until at least 1926.” [3] In 1897, of the annual mileage travelled, “17,797 miles (28,641 km) were steam operated and 4,721 miles (7,598 km) electric. In 1901 the figures were 7,423 miles (11,946 km) and 23,550 miles (37,900 km) respectively. Very little use of steam was made after 1916.” [3]

Evans tells us that:

“In 1915, the Portrush power plant was installed and the two remaining steam engines were kept as stand-by equipment for use in the event of electricity failures. They were finally sold in 1930 to a public works contractor.

The voltage was 550 d.c., the Portrush plant supplying the Portrush-Dunluce section and the original station outside Bushmills the remainder of the line. Laid to the 3ft. gauge, the line was 7.5 miles in length, single track throughout with loops at irregular intervals.

The loops were normally run through on the landward line, the other line being used only when it was necessary to pass another car. All points (except those at the Portrush terminus which were tramway section) were of light railway type, controlled by dolly-weighted point levers which normally held the rails set for the direct (or landward) line.” [1: p185]

Wikipedia tells us that “the section from Bushmills to the Giants’ Causeway opened on 1st July 1887. In 1895, a cyclist died of electric shock after coming into contact with the conductor rail. At the subsequent inquiry it was revealed that the line voltage varied from an average of 290 V up to 360 V, and the company agreed to a temporary reduction in the voltage, which limited the number of services that could be electrically worked. The third rail was replaced by overhead electric wire using side poles from 26th July 1899, apparently initially at 250 V. Voltage drop remained a problem and the tram was the subject of a song by the Irish Rovers which comments on its slow speed. The song was written by Hugh Speers of Bushmills. [10] After upgrading of the Bushmills generating station in 1907 it was possible to produce a 550 V output.” [3]

Evans continues:

“As the wiring was double and followed the rails through the gantry type standards at loops, it followed that the trolley pole had to be changed from the wire normally used (the landward wire) to the seaward wire when a loop was to be used pass another tram. The writer has often seen this trolley changing performed whilst the cars her were at full speed on a downward grade and has marvelled at the dexterity with which the trolley wheel was placed on the opposite wire. The operation was also seen when the cars were descending the long hill outside Portrush. It seemed usual to lower the trolley bo boom west of White Rocks loop to the Holyrood Hotel. and coast from a point just West of White Rocks loop to the Holyrood Hotel.

The Portrush terminus was outside the N.C.C. (formerly B. & N.C.R.) station and consisted of a run-round loop and lay-by siding in Eglinton Street. At one time there was a short branch which diverged just beyond the loop and ran down to the Harbour, but this was taken up about 1893.” [1: p185-186]

The main line station at Portrush appears in this map extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey revised 1931 and published in 1934. The tramway terminus can be seen in Eglington Street. A harbour tramway can be seen on the West side of the Station. The Giants’ Causeway tramway ran North on Eglington Street before turning sharply to the right.[19]
The sharp turn to the right can be seen at the bottom of this extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey. This is a different map sheet to the one above, also revised in 1931 but published in 1935. The tramway ran Southeast on Causeway Street. [20]
The area of Portrush covered by the map extracts above, as it appears on 21st century satellite imagery. The station is on the left, alongside Eglington Street, Causeway Street runs Southeast from close to the top-centre of the image. [Google Maps, January 2025]
Eglington Street looking North with the railway station on the left and a tram in the centre of the image, © Public Domain. [21]
Looking North along Eglington Street with the railway station on the left. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
The tramway turned sharply to the right at the junction shown in this photograph. The road beyond the memorial and leaving the right side of the image, is Causeway Street which the tramway followed out of town. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
A tram negotiating the tight curve close to the Methodist Church in Portrush, © Unknown. [21]
A very similar view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
Looking Southeast along Causeway Street in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
Causeway Street led out of Portrush to the Southeast. The Gas Works sat on the North side of the tramway with the tramway depot just to the East. The depot was provided with two connections to the tramway. [19]
Looking North from Causeway Street at the tram depot building, © Public Domain. [21]

Evans continues:

“For a short distance, the line ran due north before turning in a 75-degree curve into Causeway Street. The single track was of tramway section rails as far as the outskirts of the town. From a point near the depot the line was laid on flat-bottom light railway track on the seaward side of the Portrush-Bushmills road. The depot consisted of a dead end road with a permanent way yard at one side. The auxiliary power station was also here. This power station had a modern diesel plant installed in latter years.

After leaving the depot the line ran through open country on its roadside reservation. Climbing steadily, it passed the famous Royal Links and at White Rocks gained the cliff tops. Onward to Dunluce, the trams ran close to the sea and in places the cliffs fell almost sheer from the trackside. There can be no doubt that the tramway, with its open toast-rack cars, was the best means of appreciating this wild and rugged coast.” [1: p186]

The tramway depot can be seen on the left side of this extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey revised in 1931 and published in 1934. Top-right of the extract the tramway is back very close to the coast. [19]
White Rocks and the coast are just to the North of the edge of the map sheet. [22]
The junction on the left of the map extract is shown in this view which looks Northeast towards the sea. [Google Streetview, September 2022]
The tramway ran East along the coast and the White Rocks.[20]
Beyond the White Rocks it ran a little further from the cliff edge passing on the landward side of Dunluce Castle and Dunluce House and then on the seaward side of Gallows Hill. [20]
A steam-powered tram runs towards the Causeway and is seen here passing Dunluce Castle in 1890, © W. Lawrence, Public Domain. [3]

Evans continues, again:

“Before reaching Dunluce, the tramway climbed to its highest point at Clooney Hill. This section, nearly 200ft, above the sea, abounded in sharp curves, gradients of 1 in 40 and even a short stretch of 1 in 30.

Beyond Dunluce, the line ran inland for a short distance below Gallows Hill, reaching the coast again at its most spectacular point. Here one could gaze down 140ft. to the foam-covered rocks below. From this point the line again ran inland and after three more passing loops reached Bushmills, a village known for its whisky. Bushmills had a light railway station provided with waiting room, luggage office and lavatories.” [1: p,186-187]

The tramway dropped back to the cliff edge at Gortnabane Cove and Peggy’s  Hole before turning inland. [20]
Gortnabane Cove and Peggy’s Hole as they appear on Google Maps. [Google Maps, January 2025]
The view out to sea from the sharp bend on the A2 which appears on the satellite image above. The tramway ran along this section of road. [Google Streetview, September 2022]
Turning away from the coast the tramway headed for Bushmills. This is the next 6″ OS Sheet to the East. It was revised in 1921 and published in 1935. [23]
A close up of the station at Bushmills (bottom-right). The branch to the Giants’ Causeway runs away North at the West end of the station site. The road to the South side of the station became the A2. [23]
The same location in the 21st century. The station occupied the area between the A2 and Ballaghmore Road. The tramway serving the Giants’ Causeway headed away to the North on a curve just to the West of the station building which is now a private home. The building show under the lilac flag for a Red Phone Box straddles the line of the old tramway. The tramway then crossed Ballaghmore Road before turning the Northwest to run adjacent to the road. [Google Maps, January 2025]
A tram on the curve heading off to the left of the door image for Giants’ Causeway, the original station was located off to the right of this image alongside the modern A2, © Public Domain. [21]
The location of the old Bushmills Tram Station. The station buildings are now a private home. [Google Streetview, June 2023]

Evans continues:

“At one side of the station yard is a small tram shed with accommodation for two cars. The line to the car shed is of interest in that it was to have formed the beginning of an extension to Dervock on the 3ft. gauge Ballycastle Railway. It was with a view to through running with the latter railway that the narrow gauge was adopted for the electric line. The owners wisely decided that an extension to the Causeway would probably be more remunerative.

From Bushmills the line was completely private right-of-way and negotiated cuttings and embankments of railway proportions. After passing a loop, the Bushfoot Golf Links request halt was reached. Soon after this, the line crossed the Bush river by the impressive Victoria Jubilee Bridge, a three-span structure so named because it was erected in 1887.” [1: p187]

Looking North from Ballaghmore Road along the line of the old tramway. A modern standard gauge tourist line makes use of the formation of the old tramway from this level caution to its old terminus close to the Giants’ Causeway. The station platform for this modern railway can be seen on the right side of this image.  The tourist line was still in operation in December 2024. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
The line North of Bushmills ran on an independent formation over private land. For a distance it ran on the Northeast side of Ballaghmore Road before turning to the Northeast. It ran on the Northwest side of Bush River to the Victoria Jubilee Bridge. This is the 6″ Ordnance Survey again, revised in 1921 and published in 2935. [23]
The line ahead, at the end of the modern station car park. A footpath closely follows the line of the railway. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
For a few hundred metres the line runs parallel to Ballaghmore Road. It then turns away to the Northeast running across open country. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
The Victoria Jubilee Bridge was a fine lattice girder structure, carried on masonry piers, the centre span was 70 feet long and about 25 feet above the river. The extension to the Causeway opened in 1887 and as this was Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee year, Mr Traill named the bridge ‘The Victoria Jubilee Bridge’. It was constructed by P & W MacLennan at their Clutha Iron Works in Glasgow, the bridge withstood the test of time facing as it did Atlantic storms and sea spray.  It was finally demolished by the army in the 1970’s and replaced by a footbridge – now since itself replaced – by a new railway bridge for the heritage railway,© Public Domain. [21]
The relatively new replacement bridge over the River Bush as it appears on Google Earth (3D). The heritage line has a passing loop  on the North side of the river. [Google Earth, January 2025]
The 11.30am on 14th August 2012 from Bushmills passing the little-used (and rusty) Bushfoot Golf Links loop bound for the Causeway. This section, close to the public path and Bushfoot golf course is passed at walking pace, © Albert Bridge and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [26]

And, Evans again:

“On the other side of the bridge the line passed through sandhills and rabbit warrens, reaching the coast again and following it for a short distance before finally turning inland for the last time. There were two loops between the Victoria Bridge and the terminus; the layout at this latter point consisted of a run-round loop and a siding. The passenger accommodation was unpretentious, consisting merely of a shelter. The tourist had still almost a mile to walk before reaching the Causeway itself, and here, as is usual in such places, he has to pay for admission.” [1: p187]

This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey shows the remaining length of the line. The terminus is shown in the top-right of the image. [23]

Discover Portrush describes the last part of the journey, thus: “the tram would run behind Black Rock Strand for about half a mile before turning right and climbing towards the Causeway Terminal. On the left passengers would see Runkerry House, a fine red sandstone house constructed in a striking location. Then part of the McNaughten Estate, occupied by two unmarried McNaughten ladies – later it became a home for the elderly after being passed to the government in lieu of death duties. Later still, it became an outward bound centre and is now divided into apartments.” [21]

An enlarged detail from the OS map above showing the Causeway terminus of the line. [23]
The terminus of the modern preservation line sits on the site of the old terminus. It has a slightly more significant footprint! [28]
A number of carriages/trailers standing at the Causeway Hotel terminus of the line, © W. Lawrence, Public Domain. [7]
Another view of the terminus. The unique tramway terminal building was constructed of corrugated iron (known locally as ‘wriggly tin’) and served as both booking office and waiting room. It had a steeply pitched roof curving up to a sharp point when viewed on the gable and had been purchased in and brought from Switzerland at a cost of £400, © Public Domain. [21]

The next three views show the modern preservation line’s buildings in the early 21st century.

The first of these three views shows the approach to the stationary from the Southwest.vThe second is a panorama of the station site and the third looks into the Station site from the East. [Google Streetview, September 2011]

Operation

Evans describes the operation of the original line:

“The somewhat tortuous route along the cliff tops gave the line a reputation for scenery rather than speed, but high speeds were frequently attained on the long falling gradient between White Rocks and the Portrush depot.

When the full summer service was operating, the lengthy sections between passing loops rendered operation difficult, and, as some of the loops were not visible from each other, boy signallers were employed. These boys were supplied with white and red flags which they would display to the drivers from a convenient vantage point, the red flag calling on an eastbound car and the white a westbound

The small shed at Bushmills was used by the morning tram from the village which left, with a load of school children and others, to journey into Portrush before the main service started from the depot The winter service was extremely meagre and did not continue beyond Bushmills out to the Causeway unless three or more passengers booked through to that point. During the summer peaks five sets (of one motor car and two trailers) were often in operation at one time.” [1: p187-188]

Wikipedia tells us that “Traill, a former geological surveyor, expected a considerable mineral traffic between quarries along the line and Portrush harbour, and there was originally a goods branch into the main square of Bushmills. However, this traffic fell away, the narrow gauge harbour branch being taken up when the Northern Counties station was opened in 1893, [11] and for most of its life the line primarily served tourists visiting the Causeway. From 1925/26 the line was closed down during each winter.” [3]

“Increased patronage, partly from military traffic, during World War II meant a brief revival of winter services, but receipts were becoming inadequate to support maintenance of the company’s ageing assets, and the line did not reopen after the end of the 1949 season (last day of regular service 30th September 1949), [12] and was subsequently dismantled.” [3]

Rolling Stock

The original power on the line was a series of four steam locomotives built by Wilkinsons. This is their Steam Tramway Locomotive ‘Dunluce Castle’ (No. 3) which served on the line until well into the first half of the 20th century. Delays to the construction of the hydroelectric plant meant that in the first instance steam needed to be used on the tramway Indeed, the need for steam remained significant in to the 29th century as water use for generating sufficient electricity to meet demand could not be fully guaranteed, © Public Domain. [21]

Evans provides details of the rolling-stock used on the line:

“The steam locomotives were Nos. 1 and 2 (1883) (scrapped 1910 and 1899 respectively), Nos. 3 and 4 (sold 1930).

The electric stock was all single deck, single truck:

Nos. 1, 2, 10 (closed trailers with end platforms).

Nos. 4-7, 11, 13, 15, 16 and 19 (toast-rack trailers with canopies).

No. 9 (vestibuled motor-car 2 x 20 h.p. B.T.H. motors. Peckham truck),

Nos. 20-23 (toast-rack motor-cars with canopies, originally completely open).

No. 24 (vestibuled motor-car, Peckham pendulum truck, originally double deck 3ft 6in. gauge car and purchased as such from Dunfermline and District Traction Co., August, 1937. It had longitudinal cushioned seats).” [1: p188]

A typical consist on a loop on the tramway, © J. H. Meredith, most probably now Public Domain. [1: p188]

Wikipedia expands somewhat on the rolling-stock record provided by Evans: “the original cars were built by the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and were later followed by 5 examples from GEC, each with 2 x 20 horsepower (15 kW) British Thomson-Houston motors, and also a Peckham car. There were a maximum of six electric power cars owned at any one time, all being single-truck, single-deck vehicles with both enclosed and “toast rack” examples; typically these would haul several 4-wheel “toast rack” trailers, of which there were 15. There were four steam tram engines, ordered from Wilkinson of Wigan. They had vertical boilers, weighed 7 tons and burnt coke. No.2 was scrapped in 1899, No.1 converted to a ballast wagon in 1910 and Nos. 3 (Dunluce Castle) and 4 (Brian Boroihme) were sold in 1930 for the River Bann Navigation works near Portstewart.” [3][11]

“In 1938 a final electric tram was added to the stock as number 24. This vehicle was formerly a double deck Dunfermline and District Tramways car which was both re-gauged and extensively modified to become a single decker with enclosed ends for the Giants Causeway route.” [3][14]

The modified Dunfermline tram which was given the number 24. It was once a double-deck tram and ran originally on a different gauge. [21]

“A power car and trailer are restored at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra and another power car is in the care of the National Transport Museum of Ireland at Howth.” [3]

A motorised tramcar on display at Cultural, © Milepost98 and licenced for use here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). [15]
A trailer car on display at Cultural, © Milepost98 and licenced for use here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). [16]

Full details of the steam locomotives can be found here. [17]

Evans concludes:

“The disappearance of this historic tramway, which changed so little in its 66 years of operation, yet provided a useful amenity, and an attraction for tourists, will be mourned by many and the line will be greatly missed by holidaymakers who have in previous years enjoyed rides along its scenic coastal route.” [1: p188]

The editor of The Modern Tramway commented: “We understand that a conference of local authorities is being held to urge the Government to subsidise the Giants Causeway line to the amount of £2,000 a year, so that it may be carried on as a tourist attraction. This is a move that commands our support, but we submit that the modernisation of the line might after a while actually render the subsidy unnecessary.” [1: p188]

Preservation

The Giants’ Causeway and Bushmills Railway was later constructed over the final two miles (3.2 km) of the Tramway and carried its first passengers at Easter 2002. Trains were running at least until the end of 2024. [3][13]

The Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway (GC&BR) is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway operating between the Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills. It “uses equipment originally assembled by Lord O’Neill for a tourist line at Shane’s Castle, Country Antrim, which closed in 1994. The idea of using this to revive part of the Tramway was largely conceived and promoted by David Laing. The Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway Company is a not-for-profit organisation with charitable status. Clearance of the trackbed commenced at the end of 1999 and the railway carried its first passengers at Easter 2002.” [27]

“On 10th July 2010 the railway took delivery of a specially customised 4 coach diesel multiple unit capable of accommodating up to 90 passengers. Manufactured by Severn Lamb UK Ltd., it was designed to enhance the visitor experience to the North Antrim Coast and to recreate, in so far as was possible, the passenger experience of the original hydro electric tram. Commissioning of the new rolling stock by the manufacturers began on Monday 12 July with the inaugural journey three days later. The DMU is powered by a Kubota V3600-E3 engine and shares the line with the previous steam rolling stock. All vehicles run on bogies. The power vehicle is on the Causeway side and is shorter (4 windows) than the three trailers (5 windows).” [27]

Rolling Stock

In addition to the 4-coach DMU, the line has three locomotives and a number of coaches.

The Locomotives owned by the preservation line. [27]

References

  1. D. G. Evans; The Giants’ Causeway and Portrush Tramway; in The Modern Tramway Vol. 13 No. 153, London, September 1950, p185-188.
  2. Railway Times; 22nd September 1883. (Cited by the article at Reference No. 3)
  3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway_Tramway, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  4. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrush_Rly_Station,_1890s.jpg, accessed on 16th January 2025.
  5. Railway Magazine. May 1936. p. 355. (Cited by the article at Reference No. 3)
  6. Railway Magazine. May 1936. p. 360. (Cited by the article at Reference No. 3)
  7. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giant%27s_Causeway_tram,_Causeway_Hotel.jpg, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  8. Railway Magazine. May 1936. p. 359. (Cited by the article at Reference No. 3)
  9. Railway Magazine. May 1936. p. 356. (Cited by the article at Reference No. 3)
  10. David Hammond; The Singer’s House. Greenhays GR702, 1980, sleeve note.
  11. Railway Magazine. May 1936. p. 361. (Cited by the article at Reference No. 3)
  12. Irish Railway Record Society Journal, no. 9; Smmer 1951, p140.
  13. https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100063607388865, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  14. https://discoverportrush.com/buildings/transport-travel/giants-causeway-tramway, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  15. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cultra_a7.jpg, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  16. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cultra_a12.jpg, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  17. http://www.trainweb.org/i3/lbld_wi.htm#loco_wi_c, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  18. https://itoldya420.getarchive.net/amp/media/the-giants-causeway-tram-at-portrush-in-built-up-areas-was-initially-the-steam-6740ac, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  19. https://maps.nls.uk/view/247678121, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  20. https://maps.nls.uk/view/247678106, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  21. https://discoverportrush.com/buildings/transport-travel/giants-causeway-tramway, accessed on 17th January 2025.
  22. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.5&lat=55.20428&lon=-6.60729&layers=6&b=ESRIWorld&o=100, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  23. https://maps.nls.uk/view/247678112, accessed on 28th January 2025.
  24. https://www.mediastorehouse.co.uk/fine-art-finder/artists/english-school/new-electric-tramway-portrush-bushmills-23543986.html, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  25. https://www.ulstertransportmuseum.org/collections/causeway-tram, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  26. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3083952, accessed on 19th January 2025.
  27. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway_and_Bushmills_Railway, accessed on 19th January 2025.
  28. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.0&lat=55.23149&lon=-6.51811&layers=6&b=ESRIWorld&o=0, accessed on 19th January 2025.

Sudan – Khartoum Again – The Modern Tramway, Vol. 13 No. 156 – December 1950.

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The Modern Tramway reported in December 1950 on the purchase by the Sudan Light & Power Company of the new 4-motor bogie tramcars. The bogies and equipment were being “supplied by the English Electric Company and the underframes and bodies by Charles Roberts and Company Ltd., under sub-contract to the English Electric Company. All motor tramcars and trailers [were to] be fitted with air brakes. As will be seen from the drawing reproduced, the body design [was] a pleasing example of modern British practice. The trailer cars [were] of similar outline.” [1: p270]

One of these tram sets operating in 1958 in Khartoum/Omdurman, © American Geographical Society Library, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sudan Memory ID:
UWM-1000054. [6]
General Arrangement of the New Motor Car built in 1959 for Khartoum Tramways (Anglo-Egeyptian Sudan) by Charles Roberts & Co. Ltd., Morebury Junction, JCQ-9’50

I published an article about the railways/tramways of Sudan in May 2022. That article can be found here. [7] This present article should be seen as an addendum to that article.

The early electric trams supplied by the English Electric Company were single truck motor trams with 4-wheel trailers, © Public Domain. [2]
A side-view of a tram at the same location. This image was shared on the  صور سودانية تاريخية ونادرة Facebook Page on 7th December 2010, © Public Domain. [3]
Embed from Getty Images
The image is embedded from Getty Images. It is a high-angle view of pedestrians, cars and an EEC tram &n trailer at the tram terminus in Omdurman, Sudan, circa 1955. The tramline connects Omdurman, on the west bank of the River Nile, with Khartoum. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). [4]

The Modern Tramway continues:

“Electric tramway operation in Khartoum began on 16th January, 1928 when the line from Khartoum North to Omdurman via Khartoum and the White Nile Bridge was opened. The Khartoum Tramways were the first electric tramways in the Sudan and transport in the city and outskirts had been previously provided by two steam tramway lines, which were closed on the opening of the electric line.” [1: p270]

The historic steam-powered tramway in Khartoum employed 0-4-2 steam locomotives to haul lengthy trains. In this image, No 6 (Orenstein & Koppel D 2220 of 1907) is in charge of a tram train at Omdurman Railway Station tram terminus, © Public Domain. [5]

The Modern Tramway describes the electric tramway which replaced the steam-powered trams:

“The present rolling stock of the 3ft. 6 n. gauge Khartoum tramways consists of 16 single-truck motor trams, 15 4-wheel trailers, one 4-wheel electric locomotive and 30 goods trucks. All the stock was built by the English Electric Company Ltd. Four passenger services are operated, viz:

  • Khartoum Central Station Omdurman Central Station (5 miles).
  • Khartoum Central Station Khartoum North (3) miles).
  • Omdurman Central Station Abu Rouf (14 miles).
  • Circle (12 miles).” [1: p270]

“Headways are 18, 20, 20 and 30 minutes respectively. In addition a freight service is operated between Khartoum railway station and Omdurman. The main Iine begins at Khartoum North (where it made end on junction with a steam tramway to Shabat Reach, a service now operated by motor buses) and shortly turns south to cross the Blue Nile; on gaining the other bank, the line turns east, passing through the main part of Khartoum and running parallel to the Blue Nile. On this section there is the main depot and a large loop which runs round to the Central Station and the back of the city before turning north to rejoin the main line. At Mogren Point, the main line crosses the White Nile and immediately turns north towards Omdurman; this city stretches for 6 miles along the river and during the régime of the Mahdi it became the capital of his empire. The city is memorable for the battle fought outside its walls in 1898 between the followers of the Mahdi and the British. Some distance after turning north, there is another depot at Zaptia, on the western side of the line. At Omdurman Central Station the tramway turns east, back towards the river Nile, which it reaches at Abu Rouf, the final terminus. From this point, there is a ferry service to the terminus of the former steam tramway at Shabat Reach on the other side of the Nile. The tramways are all single-line-and-loop and there are several goods sidings. In 1948, 8,883,851 passengers were carried, whilst goods traffic averages 12,000 tons yearly.” [1: p270-271]

“At the time of the inauguration of the electric tramways it was thought that due to the very dry nature of the ground in Khartoum, satisfactory earth points could not be obtained for earthing the track for a track return system. It has since been established that it is possible to provide earth points, and the new trams will operate on the normal single overhead and track return system.” [1: p271]

The Modern Tramway acknowledged the help of the Sudan Light and Power Company Ltd., who provided the information on which these notes are based.

References

  1. Modern British Tramcars for Khartoum; in The Modern Tramway Vol. 13 No. 156, London, December 1950, p270.
  2. https://repozytorium.biblos.pk.edu.pl/redo/resources/28651/file/suwFiles/HassanS_UrbanPlanning.pdf, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  3. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19xqvF71bT, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  4. https://www.gettyimages.fr/photos/bank-of-khartoum , accessed on 18th January 2025
  5. https://boudewijnhuijgens.getarchive.net/amp/topics/rail+transport+in+sudan, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  6. https://www.sudanmemory.org/image/UWM-1000054/1/LOG_0000, accessed on 18th January 2025.
  7. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/31/railways-of-khartoum-part-1-the-3ft-6in-1067mm-gauge.