Several mineral railways were constructed around Dunfermline in western Fife , Scotland, in the eighteenth century and later. Their purpose was to convey minerals to market from the outcropping coal deposits that had encouraged industrial activity in the area from an early date.
124-882: Several waggonways were built: the Fordell Railway, the Elgin Railway, the Halbeath Railway and others, with the objective of connecting collieries and quarries with harbours on the Firth of Forth. The Elgin Railway carried passengers from 1833 and formed the core of the Charlestown Railway and Harbour company, and finally in 1856 the West of Fife Mineral Railway was founded to build new lines. The Charleston and West of Fife companies combined to form
248-590: A 1.5 mile extension and deviation of the Dunfermline branch and a short connecting line from the E&;NR Strathearn deviation to the Scottish Central Railway, with capital of £53,000 for the purpose. The second authorised a five-mile long St Andrews branch and a one-mile branch to Newburgh Harbour, with authorised capital of £64,000. A further private Act was passed authorising the acquisition of
372-469: A Cupar, Ferry-Port-on-Craig and Dundee Railway to reinstate the earlier proposal, and the Edinburgh and Northern agreed to treat their line in amicable terms. A proposed Edinburgh and Perth Railway was competing with the E&NR supporters for Parliamentary authorisation; they put forward a route via a ferry at Queensferry, with a long branch through Dunfermline and Lochgelly to Kirkcaldy; the branch had
496-400: A contrary direction, towards the foot of the upper inclined plane. In this manner the two railways are carried forward until they reach the top or bank-head of the under inclined plane, where the difference of perpendicular height between the two appears to be about 10 feet; the one-half of this height gives a declivity to the loaded waggons to proceed downwards; and the other half a declivity to
620-535: A definite decision was taken to adopt one of these schemes, but now the money market was difficult and it was decided to delay until conditions improved. Two competing schemes were put forward in the intervening period, but they came to nothing. So it was that early in 1844 a prospectus was issued for the Edinburgh, Dundee and Northern Railway , with capital of £800,000. this was to be the scheme designed by Thomas Grainger and his partner John Miller . On 1 March 1844
744-623: A fearful velocity into the sea, the two poor men being underneath it, and one of them was so dreadfully mangled that ... it was found that life was extinct. A demonstration journey using the flying bridge system took place on 30 January 1850, when 12 wagons were transferred from the shore to Leviathan, followed by the Directors' in their own coach. Leviathan then crossed the Forth and the directors alighted at Granton without mishap. Commercial operations could not be started immediately as further work on
868-403: A large wheel round which the rope (later a wire rope) passed and there was a brake on the drum enabling a man to control the speed of the movement; it was worked on the balanced system: four loaded waggons descended and hauled four empties up. The upper part of the inclined plane had three rails and the lower half was single track, with a passing loop at the mid point. Robert Hawthorn of Newcastle
992-491: A line from Princes Street in Edinburgh to the Forth. After some false starts it opened a line from Trinity, close to Newhaven, to Scotland Street, some distance north of Princes Street, in 1842. In 1844 it obtained parliamentary authorisation to extend to Granton Harbour, now seen as a more promising ferry terminal for crossing the Forth, and the Company changed its name to the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway . The company
1116-533: A little to the west of Newhaven. However this intended harbour was not developed, and a further change of terminal, to Granton, was adopted. The line opened to there from Canal Street, in the complex that later became Waverley station, in 1846. The primary purpose of the line was the conveyance of passengers and goods to harbours on the Firth of Forth, from where ferries provided onward transport to locations in Fife and further afield, including northern parts of Scotland and
1240-404: A locomotive named St David's being the first to work. It was an 0-4-0 well tank built by Hawthorn & Co of Leith. It was brought in to St David's Harbour by boat. The relaying took place progressively, and the locomotive was restricted to the sections that had been dealt with. Some of the extremities were left with fish-bellied rails on stone sleepers and horse traction was used on them. In 1871
1364-485: A new line from Limekilns to recently acquired coal mines around Baldridge and Rosebank. The main flow on the second line was to Charlestown harbour. It is not certain when the line was relaid with edge rails, but it may have been completed in 1841. The system was expanding with branches to Netherton in 1812, Lady Elgin in 1823, to Francis and Bruce pits in 1826 and to Wellwood pit about 1840. Hunter and Tom pits were connected in 1850 and Balmudo pit about 1857. The track gauge
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#17327901105211488-443: A radical scheme: what is now known as a train ferry . The steamship would have railway tracks on its deck and goods wagons—passenger carriages were not planned to be conveyed—would travel on board. At each harbour point there would be a flying bridge (as Bouch described it): this would be a large trolley system capable of running on its own rails on a ramped jetty, and carrying railway tracks. The flying bridge could be moved up or down
1612-592: A railway, ran a high-pressure steam locomotive with smooth wheels on an 'L' section plateway near Merthyr Tydfil , but it was more expensive than horses. He made three trips from the iron mines at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal and each time broke the rails that were designed for horse wagon loads. There was general doubt at the time that smooth wheels could obtain traction on smooth rails. This resulted in proposals using rack or other drive mechanisms. Mr Blenkinsop of Middleton Colliery patented
1736-619: A result, in 1767, they began to make cast iron rails. These were probably 6 ft (1.829 m) long, with four projecting ears or lugs 3 in (75 mm) by 3 + 3 ⁄ 4 in (95 mm) to enable them to be fixed to the sleepers . The rails were 3 + 3 ⁄ 4 in (95 mm) wide and 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 in (30 mm) thick. Later, descriptions also refer to rails 3 ft (914 mm) long and only 2 in (50 mm) wide. A later system involved L-shaped iron rails or plates , each 3 ft (914 mm) long and 4 in (102 mm) wide, having on
1860-529: A second locomotive, St George, was obtained, also arriving by boat. St George was an 0-4-0 saddle tank. In 1880 Alice Pit was sunk near the main line of what was now the North British Railway (formerly the EP&;DR). For some considerable time the pit was not used, but it was decided to extend the waggonway across Moss Morran from William Pit to Alice Pit and then round to George Pit. Moss Morran
1984-545: A separate short waggonway was built connecting the George Pit with the EP&DR. This seems not to have diminished the volumes passing through St David's, due to the continuing expansion of the trade. The extensive trackwork at the Alice exchange sidings (near Crossgates) were all of mixed gauge. Trouble was experienced with the mixed gauge points, and some were converted to a type where the approach rails were shifted to meet
2108-637: A vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks. Around 1568, German miners working in the Mines Royal near Keswick used such a system. Archaeological work at the Mines Royal site at Caldbeck in the English Lake District confirmed the use of " hunds ". In 1604, Huntingdon Beaumont completed
2232-452: A wagonway to a fully steam-powered railway was gradual. Railways up to the 1830s that were steam-powered often made runs with horses when the steam locomotives were unavailable. Even in the steam age, it was convenient to use horses in station yards to shunt wagons from one place to another. Horses do not need lengthy times to raise steam in the boiler, and can take shortcuts from one siding to another. At Hamley Bridge tenders were called for
2356-725: A wagonway was proposed to connect the mines at West Durham , Darlington and the River Tees at Stockton , George Stephenson successfully argued that horse-drawn wagonways were obsolete and a steam-powered railway could carry 50 times as much coal. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England's northeast, which became the world's first public steam railway in 1825, via both horse power and steam power on different runs. Stationary steam engines for mining were generally available around
2480-404: Is called putting the engine into gear, by which the platform is moved up and down the slip, two of the workmen, unknown to any of the officials, had got under the platform, one of whom, thinking that all was right, but without receiving a signal to that effect, slipped out the "palls" [pawls] which hold the platform to the slip, the consequence of which was that the heavy mass rushed down the slip at
2604-457: Is got the better of, by means of an additional piece of rope or chain, that is hooked off and on, as occasion requires. The breadth of each set of tracks on this line is 4 feet 3 inches; the weight of each of the waggons, when loaded, is between 2 and 3 tons. From 100 to 200 tons of coal pass down this line daily. Waggonway Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways ), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of
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#17327901105212728-605: The Aire & Calder Navigation , running from Wakefield to Outwood , a distance of approximately 3 miles (4.8 km). Edge-rails (with a side rack) were used on the nearby Middleton-Leeds rack railway (a length of this rail is on display in Leeds City Museum ). The wheels of an edgeway have flanges, like modern railways and tramways. Causewaying is also done on modern level crossings and tramways. These two systems of constructing iron railways continued to exist until
2852-456: The Firth of Forth about a mile east of Inverkeithing, and he constructed a harbour there. It became known as St David's harbour. Salt pans were established there and the coal road was extended to St David's. Vessels up to 600 tons could berth there. About 1770 Henderson had a wooden waggonway built to connect the pits and quarries to the harbour. It was four miles in extent. The waggonway followed
2976-604: The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway opened the majority of its line, between Dunfermline and Alloa, opening up a considerable further extent of the West Fife coalfield. It had opened the short section from Dunfermline to Oakley, where there was a colliery, in 1849. In 1852 it extended from Alloa to Stirling, joining there with the Scottish Central Railway and forming an alternative route for West Fife coal to reach Central Scotland, via Stirling. The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway
3100-737: The Wollaton Wagonway , built to transport coal from the mines at Strelley to Wollaton Lane End, just west of Nottingham , England . Wagonways have been discovered between Broseley and Jackfield in Shropshire from 1605, used by James Clifford to transport coal from his mines in Broseley to the Severn River. It has been suggested that these are somewhat older than that at Wollaton. The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
3224-445: The lumberjacks moved on to other stands of timber as each area was cleared. At least one such pole road system reportedly extended some 20 miles (32 km). Typically the pole rails were logs of 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) diameter, laid parallel directly on the ground without cross-ties , and joined end-to-end with lap joints and wooden pegs . Rolling stock typically had wheels either with concave rims that hugged
3348-524: The Cupar line, with a coach service from Cupar to the ferry for Dundee. Two trains ran to Lindores daily, and the trains from Burntisland connected with ferryboats running in connection with the trains from Canal Street, Edinburgh. The trains were over-subscribed and the service was soon augmented. On 9 December 1847 the Perth line was extended from Lindores to a temporary terminus at Glenbirnie. On 17 May 1848
3472-485: The Directors of the Dundee and Arbroath Railway, with which line a junction has now been formed at Broughty Ferry. [The works at Ferry-Port] are of a very extensive and substantial kind. The basin, which is now opened ... is a spacious one, being in length about 600 feet, and in breadth 300 feet, with an entrance lock 85 feet in width. Having been excavated to upwards of seven feet below low water of spring tides, it possesses
3596-630: The Duke of Buccleuch resulted in the company adopting the Granton ferries and associated terminals. A short connection to the small harbour at Pettycur was included in the first contract: Parliamentary approval ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxix) was obtained retrospectively in 1846. Pettycur was a few miles east of Burntisland in the natural shelter of a promontory, and some of the construction materials were landed there. Sixteen locomotives, shortly increased to 26, were ordered from R and W Hawthorn , and rolling stock
3720-517: The E&PR scheme was summarily thrown out. A stopgap proposal for an E&NR Dunfermline branch had been inserted, and suddenly the E&NR Bill including this branch, were authorised. The line was now to be double track at the instigation of Parliament, heavily increasing costs; and the access to Perth would be over the (proposed) Scottish Central Railway line from Hilton Junction through Moncrieffe Tunnel. Although this involved dependency on another company, and some concomitant compromises, this avoided
3844-505: The EP&DR to set up in private practice, he was able to state that in thirteen months not a single working day had been lost in the ferry operation. On Friday 28 March 1851, a special passenger train crossed the Forth and the Tay: [Harbour improvement works being nearly completed,] the Directors resolved to invite a number of the shareholders to be present at the formal opening of the communication between Ferry-Port and Broughty. Friday being
Mineral railways of Dunfermline - Misplaced Pages Continue
3968-463: The Forth Bridge was being completed, a new main line route from Inverkeithing to Burntisland was constructed, opened in 1890. At the point where its route intersected the Fordell Railway, the latter was lowered by 9 feet, and this resulted in a section of 814 yards on which there was a gradient against the load, of 1 in 464. The first two locomotives (St David's and St George) were scrapped about
4092-404: The Forth, but the harbours available were primitive and the crossings in many cases were hazardous. A number of different harbour locations were tried, but no obviously dominant route developed before the railway age. The first definite move to form a railway connection was the Edinburgh and Newhaven Railway, which obtained an Act of Parliament on 13 August 1836. The engineering design for the line
4216-501: The Forth: Charlestown and Limekilns. Both of these had limestone quarries nearby, and impressive arrays of lime kilns. Bruce extended limestone quarries near Broomhall, and built new kilns, before 1760. He constructed a harbour which he called Charlestown in 1761, and the works included a village with cottages for workers and ships' crews waiting for a tide. Lime burning required large quantities of coal, but nothing suitable
4340-458: The George Pit was sunk on the north of Cuttlehill; a standard gauge waggonway was built to connect to the nearby Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. Up until this time all the output of the collieries (except a small amount of land sale) went for coastal and export shipping through St David's. However as the railway extended northwards, it now came close to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway Dunfermline branch line near Crossgates, and in 1853
4464-459: The Granton to Burntisland ferry. The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was reincorporated as the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway in April 1849 as part of a financial reconstruction. A branch line to Dunfermline had been added to the plans at the last moment; it was to leave the main line at Thornton. Although Dunfermline was an ancient and important Burgh, the primary objective of the line
4588-489: The Tay a little above Newburgh and joining the (proposed) Dundee and Perth Railway; and a short branch to Kirkcaldy Harbour, and a longer one to Cupar. The line was to be single, and the Tay crossing was to make use of Mugdrum Island, which separates the Tay into two channels; the southern channel would be crossed by a swing bridge or a floating bridge, and the northern channel by a causeway. The Dundee and Perth Railway would pay half
4712-500: The Tayport ferry terminal has closed, and some sections of the Dunfermline branch have closed. The natural barrier of the Firth of Forth had for centuries impeded transport between Edinburgh and Fife , and points north. The Firth of Tay presented another barrier further north, and the most expeditious route from Edinburgh to Dundee and beyond was a coastal steamer from Leith . Intermediate locations were served by ferry crossing
4836-534: The West of Fife Railway and Harbour. All the lines have ceased to exist, except that a short section of the Charlestown line forms part of the Inverkeithing to Dunfermline line. Coal deposits had been worked in the area close to the Fife coast for centuries. Coal had been important in the manufacture of lime, and of salt, both of which required huge quantities of coal. Transport of heavy minerals before
4960-526: The baronetcy on 19 October 1781 and he continued to improve the coal workings, constructing a prodigious drainage channel to drain the workings. He purchased the mineral rights to lands at Cuttlehill, further north in 1798, and extended the waggonway to pits there. In 1798 the cost of construction was thought to be £450 per mile, and the maintenance cost £560 for the entire 4.25 miles annually. The 48 cwt waggons required two horses to draw them. In December 1817 Henderson died and his daughter Anne Isabella inherited
5084-402: The carriages, with the passengers seated, were on board in a few moments, when the large floating machine steamed out of the harbour. There was a strong gale blowing [and an adverse tide] but the "Robert Napier" did her duty well, conveying her unusual cargo in about fourteen minutes to the other side. The sensation of sitting in a railway carriage on board of a vessel breasting the turbulent waves
Mineral railways of Dunfermline - Misplaced Pages Continue
5208-444: The connection to the main line there) continued in use. At the time of closure there were 190 waggons of the original pattern, all of them without springs and opening at one end only. The Elgin Railway ran from several collieries and quarries north and north-west of Dunfermline to Charlestown harbour, west of Queensferry. Charles, the fifth Earl of Elgin owned collieries to the north and north-west of Dunfermline, and two harbours on
5332-412: The cost of the Tay crossing. The line from the convergence with the Dundee and Perth line into Perth itself would be operated as two single lines, one for each company; the entire E&NR system would be a single line. The estimated cost of the revised scheme was £500,000. Interested people in Cupar were dissatisfied that their town was to be served by a terminus reached from the south alone, and proposed
5456-454: The crossing of the Tay. The bill for the Edinburgh and Northern Railway was passed on 11 June 1845, and the company was incorporated on 31 July 1845. The authorised extent was from Burntisland to Perth, with a branch to Cupar, and a short Kirkcaldy harbour branch. The line was required to be double track throughout, a financial burden the young company had hoped to avoid. Tenders for the construction were soon invited, and negotiations with
5580-412: The day fixed upon for the ceremony, the Directors and about 300 of the shareholders accordingly started from Edinburgh at a quarter before nine o'clock morning; and having crossed the Firth in the Company's floating railway [steamship] Leviathan, proceeded, stopping at the various stations, on to Ferry-Port-on-Craig, which they reached about eleven o-clock ... On reaching Ferry-Port-on-Craig they were met by
5704-512: The design principles of the Tyneside waggonways. The track gauge was 4 ft 4in and the gradients were steep: as much as 1 in 13 near Vantage. The wooden permanent way was laid with two timber beams making a rail, fir underneath and beech above; wood sleepers were at two-feet intervals. The rails were 10 to 11 feet in length, secured to each other and the sleepers by oak pins. The line was a single line throughout. John Henderson succeeded to
5828-622: The early 19th century. In most parts of England the plate-rail was preferred. Plate-rails were used on the Surrey Iron Railway (SIR), from Wandsworth to West Croydon . The SIR was sanctioned by Parliament in 1801 and finished in 1803. Like the Lake Lock Rail Road , the SIR was available to the public on payment of tolls; previous lines had all been private and reserved exclusively for the use of their owners. Since it
5952-439: The east coast of England. The Duke of Buccleuch developed Granton Harbour and arranged for efficient ferries to be operated from there to Fife; the principal ferry harbour was Burntisland. As early as 1819 a railway had been proposed, starting from Burntisland to the Firth of Tay . The engineer Robert Stevenson designed a line, but nothing further was done. Further proposed schemes followed in 1835 and 1836. In October 1840
6076-426: The empty waggons, to proceed to the foot of the upper inclined plane: the brake or drag of the loaded waggons has only to be attended to, for regulating their motion to the place where they start on the inclined plane. By forming the two railways upon the original level line, in the manner above described, the bank-head of the empty waggons is several yards from the bank-head where the loaded waggons start: this distance
6200-403: The end of the nineteenth century, and two new engines were acquired from Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co of Kilmarnock: they were named Fordell , arrived in 1901, and Lord Hobart in 1912. They had steam brakes (unlike the previous engines which had hand brakes only), and spring buffers for the main line rolling stock. Volumes of coal mined and carried on the line continued to increase, and a peak
6324-437: The era when roads had been properly made was expensive, and most minerals were carried on the backs of pack horses. The expense of even a short transit hugely increased the cost of the product. Proximity to water enabled boat transportation, and therefore mineral deposits close to the Firth were favoured, and were exploited first. Coal outcrops were worked since the fourteenth century, in shallow pits but as these were worked out,
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#17327901105216448-556: The estate, and in time she became the second wife of Sir Philip Calderwood Durham . From 1823 coal was exploited from Prathouse by the Halbeath Company, which had its own railway network. However they were unable to connect their new pit to their own network, so they leased the pit to Sir Philip Durham and the Fordell system was extended to reach it, from West Moss pits. The line was opened in 1841 - 1842. St David's Harbour
6572-561: The ferry crossings continued to be unreliable; moreover the passage for goods between Dundee and Edinburgh involved manhandling the goods four times at the four harbours, and the opening of a competing land route via Stirling and Perth (over the Dundee and Perth Railway , opened on 24 May 1847, and the Scottish Central Railway opened on 15 May 1848,) posed a very obvious commercial threat. Considerable technical improvement
6696-562: The fully loaded wagons downhill to a canal or boat dock and then return the empty wagons back to the mine. Until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution , rails were made of wood, were a few inches wide and were fastened end to end, on logs of wood or "sleepers", placed crosswise at intervals of two or three feet. In time, it became common to cover them with a thin flat sheathing or "plating" of iron, in order to add to their life and reduce friction. This caused more wear on
6820-462: The great advantage of being able to float small vessels even when the water is lowest, and vessels of a large size will generally have sufficient water. ... In order to facilitate the loading of coals ... a staith, similar to one on the Tyne, is in course of erection, by which waggon-loads will be at once discharged into the holds of vessels ... The Directors and Shareholders having gone over and examined
6944-422: The ground had been originally nearly level to some extent: an ingenious advantage is taken of this level, by commencing, at a short distance from the foot of the upper inclined plane, and cutting out a track for a railway, with an easy slope in the line of the main descending railway for the loaded waggons, by banking up the earth, and facing it with a stone-wall; another railway is formed with a similar slope, but in
7068-646: The horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways . The terms plateway , tramway , dramway , were used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power. The earliest evidence is of the 6 to 8.5 km (3.7 to 5.3 mi) long Diolkos paved trackway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by men and animals ran in grooves in limestone , which provided
7192-548: The inner side an upright ledge or flange, 3 in (76 mm) high at the centre and tapering to 2 in (51 mm) at the ends, for the purpose of keeping the flat wheels on the track. Subsequently, to increase strength, a similar flange might be added below the rail. Wooden sleepers continued to be used—the rails were secured by spikes passing through the extremities—but, circa 1793, stone blocks began to be used, an innovation associated with Benjamin Outram , although he
7316-472: The lead rails, so that there were no switch rails at all. From 1867 locomotive operation was planned on the line. The existing track was not strong enough to carry the loads of locomotives and relaying with steel rails was started from the St David's end, with some realignment to improve gradients. The Colton and Vantage inclines were reduced to single track, and the locomotive working started on 2 April 1868,
7440-487: The level of the top of the flanges. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge-rails. Another example of the edge rail application was the Lake Lock Rail Road in the West Riding of Yorkshire (now West Yorkshire ) used primarily for coal transport. The railway charged a toll and opened for traffic in 1798, making it the world's oldest public railway. The route started at Lake Lock, Stanley , on
7564-520: The limestone is conveyed into the kilns by "a variety of railroads". The waggonway from Berrylaw coal pits to Limekilns, a distance of three miles, was laid between 1772 and 1775. In 1777 the Pitfirrane pits and later those at Balmule and Urquhart to the north-east of Berrylaw were linked to Limekilns by a lengthy branch built by a Newcastle engineer, George Johnson. Perhaps by 1777 and certainly by 1792 Charlestown kilns had waggonways too. Another branch
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#17327901105217688-420: The line in a technical paper: The railway on Lord Elgin's works, between Dunfermline and Limekilns in Fife, for design and execution, is inferior to none. On this line of railway there are two inclined planes, executed with all the requisite machinery, for the loaded waggons drawing up the empty ones; the longest of these is about 511 yards, with a declivity of about one in twenty. Between the two inclined planes,
7812-782: The line was extended to another temporary terminus at Abernethy Road and on 25 July 1848 the final extension to Hilton Junction, where it joined with the newly opened Scottish Central Railway . Edinburgh and Northern Railway trains gained access to Perth station through Moncrieffe Tunnel over that company's lines. The Dundee line was extended from Cupar to Leuchars on 17 May 1848 and from there to Tayport on 17 May 1848. Short harbour branches were opened to Kirkcaldy Harbour in October 1848 and to Pettycur Harbour in February 1849, in both cases for goods only. Carter says there were two Acts of Parliament of 9 July 1847. The first authorised
7936-541: The middle of the 18th century. Wagonways and steam-powered railways had steep uphill sections and would employ a cable powered by a stationary steam engine to work the inclined sections. British troops in Lewiston, New York used a cable wagonway to move supplies to bases before the American Revolutionary War . The Stockton and Darlington had two inclined sections powered by cable. The transition from
8060-613: The mineral. By the eighteenth century these had achieved a degree of sophistication with proper guidance systems, and flanged wheels on the waggons had become widespread, although not universal. These waggonways were developed principally on Tyneside, and in Shropshire, and the technology was disseminated at first from those places. Three large waggonway networks were established by landowners to exploit coal and limestone deposits in their estates during this period; their systems were each referred to as railways , and they all continued into
8184-414: The modern railway era. The Fordell Railway had an unbroken operational existence of 180 years. It ran to St David's Harbour, about a mile east of Inverkeithing, from pits and quarries north of the harbour, and it was eventually extended northwards nearly to Cowdenbeath. The Henderson family had owned extensive lands in the area since time immemorial, and coal had been worked since the sixteenth century. It
8308-596: The patent for an improved method of rolling rails was granted in 1820 to John Birkinshaw , of the Bedlington Ironworks . His rails were wedge-shaped in section, much wider at the top than at the bottom, with the intermediate portion or web thinner still. He recommended that they be made 18 ft (5.49 m) long, suggesting that several might be welded together end to end to form considerable lengths. They were supported on sleepers by chairs at intervals of 3 ft (914 mm), and were fish-bellied between
8432-459: The potential to wipe out the lucrative mineral traffic that the E&NR hoped to secure. In the 1845 Parliamentary session, the E&NR had to defend hastily prepared modifications to its earlier plans, and opposition from the Edinburgh and Perth promoters was fierce. Radical mutual compromises were made with the Edinburgh and Perth Railway promoters, and had both schemes passed the remaining E&NR scheme would have been mortally wounded. There
8556-473: The proposed E&NR at Newburgh and the proposed Scottish Central Railway line at Hilton Junction. At the last minute the E&NR bought out the Strathearn Junction line and altered their own proposals to reach Perth over its route. Now they did not need to cross the Tay to reach Perth. Now at the last moment it emerged that the E&PR deposited plans did not comply with standing orders, and
8680-426: The ramp and make a connection with the landward tracks; a link span at the seaward end connected to the track on the steamer. It was to be hinged at the flying bridge end so as to accommodate tidal variation during the berthing of the ferryboat. The tidal range was about 20 feet (6 m). The EP&DR Directors authorised the scheme at once, and the steamship Leviathan , 399 tons, equipped with railway track,
8804-566: The shore installations was required. Reports printed in contemporary newspapers differ in the details and the date: The first experimental trial took place [on the Granton to Burntisland sector] on Wednesday last [6 February 1850] in the presence of the directors, and was eminently successful. We may mention that the spacious deck of the steamer is capable of holding a train of from 30 to 40 loaded trucks, and on Wednesday, 12 trucks, laden with coals and general merchandise, were taken on board at Burntisland in about seven minutes. The time occupied by
8928-435: The sleepers by two iron spikes, half-round wooden cross sleepers employed on embankments and stone blocks 20 in (508 mm) square by 10 in (254 mm) deep in cuttings. The fish-bellied rails were found to break near the chairs and starting in 1834, they were gradually replaced with parallel rails weighing 50 lb/yd (24.8 kg/m). In 1804, Richard Trevithick , in the first recorded use of steam power on
9052-481: The slip at Granton was tried for the first time, and found to answer the expectations of its most sanguine promoters. The other one, at Burntisland, at which the melancholy accident occurred, was tried on Saturday morning [26 January 1850], and found to be equally successful. It appears that another trial of the Burntisland slip was fixed to take place in the afternoon; and while preparations were being made for what
9176-403: The slip, so as to suit the state of the tide, by means of a small stationary engine placed at the top of the slip, and the trucks or waggons are run down the platform on to rails placed on the deck of the steamer, which has been constructed in such a manner that thirty loaded trucks at one time can, with the greatest ease, be conveyed across the ferry on her deck. We understand that early last week
9300-509: The steamer in crossing [to Granton] was 25 minutes, and the trucks were safely run ashore at Granton in the course of three minutes afterwards ... The world's first commercial roll on, roll off ferry passage therefore probably took place on 30 January 1850. The Tay ferry crossing came into full operation in May 1851. The innovation transformed the financial situation of the EP&DR, and Bouch's technical designs worked perfectly: when he left
9424-412: The supply of horses, in part because normal railway staff lacked horse handling skills. Wooden rails continued to be used for temporary railroads into the twentieth century. Some timber harvesting companies in the southeastern United States created pole roads using unmarketable logs, which were effectively free, to create tracks at a cost of between $ 100 and $ 500 per mile. Permanence was not an issue, as
9548-505: The support points. As used by George Stephenson on the Stockton & Darlington , and Canterbury & Whitstable lines, they weighed 28 lb/yd (13.9 kg/m). On the Liverpool and Manchester Railway they were usually 12 or 15 ft (3.66 or 4.57 m) long and weighed 35 lb/yd (17.4 kg/m) and were fastened by iron wedges to chairs weighing 15 or 17 lb (6.8 or 7.7 kg) each. The chairs were in turn fixed to
9672-532: The term "railway". As of 2024 , very few horse or cable freight railways are operating, notable examples being the cable-hauled St Michael's Mount Tramway and the Reisszug , which has been in continuous operation since around 1900. A few passenger lines continue to operate, including the horse-hauled Douglas Bay Horse Tramway and the cable-hauled San Francisco cable cars . Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway The Edinburgh and Northern Railway
9796-423: The title of the proposed company was shortened to The Edinburgh and Northern Railway . It was to run from Burntisland through Kirkcaldy and Markinch to Ladybank and Newburgh, on the southern shore of the Tay. At Newburgh the line was to cross the Tay and make a junction with the proposed Dundee and Perth Railway , over which E&NR trains would get access to Perth along the north shore of the Tay. Although there
9920-537: The top of the pole rails, or un-flanged wheels with separate guide wheels running against the side of each rail. Steam traction engines and some purpose-built locomotives were successfully used for hauling trains of logs. For example, Perdido was built by Adams & Price Locomotive and Machinery Works of Nashville, Tennessee in 1885 for the Wallace, Sanford and Company sawmill at Williams Station, Alabama , where it hauled up to seven cars of 3 or 4 logs each. This
10044-520: The track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were later built in Roman Egypt . Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola (image left) in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and
10168-513: The track on the pier at St David's. The rails were 28 lbs per yard fish-bellied, procured from the Bedlington Iron Company. They were held in 9 lb iron chairs secure to whinstone block sleepers by two iron pegs. The joint sleeper blocks were double width and there were no fishplates. Between the inclines trains of four waggons were pulled by two horses. The cost of operation was thought to be about one-third of that with
10292-432: The two Firths directly, but seeking to overcome the cost of manhandling goods and minerals at the quays, it introduced a revolutionary system in which railway goods wagons were transferred on to rails on the steamers by means of movable ramps . The wagons moved on their own wheels and this system formed the world's first roll-on roll-off railway ferry service, in use from 1850. The Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway
10416-540: The upgrading of the line started at the same time. There was a short tunnel under the Crossgates – Donibristle road. There were to be two inclined planes; one at Colton (332 yards with a gradient of 1 in 24) and one at Fordell House, known as the Vantage incline. Vantage was 1148 yards long with a gradient of 1 in 23.75. At Hillend an extra horse was stationed to assist waggons up the incline. The inclined planes used
10540-566: The use of cogged wheels in 1811 and in 1812, the Middleton Railway (edgeway, rack rail) successfully used twin cylinder steam locomotives made by Matthew Murray of Holbeck , Leeds . George Stephenson made his first steam locomotive in 1813 (patented 1815) for the Killingworth colliery, and found smooth wheels on smooth rails provided adequate grip. Although he later recounted that they called this locomotive 'My Lord' as it
10664-401: The waggons of a proper size and probably one which will hold 2½ tons of coals may be sufficient for about 3 tons of limestone." He said he would consult William Brown of Throckley. In 1769 Chalmers wrote to Ralph Carr of Newcastle saying that a five-mile waggonway over rough terrain had been surveyed but that he wanted Mr Brown's advice. Chalmers' ambitions were partly realised when a short line
10788-519: The wooden rollers of the wagons and towards the middle of the 18th century, led to the introduction of iron wheels. However, the iron sheathing was not strong enough to resist buckling under the passage of the loaded wagons, so rails made wholly of iron were invented. In 1760, the Coalbrookdale Iron Works began to reinforce their wooden-railed tramway with iron bars, which were found to facilitate passage and diminish expenses. As
10912-420: The wooden track system, and 50,000 tons were carried annually, considered to be double the maximum possible on the old track. The pit known as Wellington, renamed William in 1843, was also operating from 1843; coal was brought down from it to Lady Anne by a separate self-acting inclined plane. In 1847 no. 9 Pit was sunk, near to Lady Anne. Light parallel iron rails were used in the short branch connection. In 1850
11036-512: The work progressed well in the circumstances, and the Board of Trade inspection for passenger operation of the section from Burntisland to Cupar, and to Lindores on the Perth line, took place on 3 September 1847. The inspecting officer expressed himself well satisfied with the construction, and a ceremonial opening of the line took place on 17 September, with the public service commencing on 20 September. There were four passenger trains each way daily on
11160-440: The workings had to move further away from water and transport became more difficult. In the eighteenth century much of the limestone from the area around Dunfermline was exported through Brucehaven, near Limekilns, but as the agricultural revolution gathered pace the demand for lime to improve land also accelerated. Before the era of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the 1830s, many collieries used wooden waggonways to move
11284-417: The works, again re-entered their carriages, which were then, by means of a stationary engine, let down the inclined plain, [sic] and along a moveable platform, which can be adjusted to any level by means of a crane, so as to be attached to the deck of the large floating steam railway [ferryboat] "Robert Napier". The rails on the platform and on the deck of the steamer being of the same gauge, and easily adjusted,
11408-470: Was 4 ft; sleeper lengths of 5, 6 and 7 feet were used. In 1796 the system 8,230 yards of main line, 2,800 yards of bye way (i.e. sidings and passing loops) and 1,370 yards of check rails. About 1810 the track was converted to the use of iron edge rails. The waggon capacity was 50 cwt in 1784, increased to 60 cwt by 1796. In the early 1820s Elgin waggonway had spring catch points with iron rails, worked by remote control. In 1824 Alexander Scott described
11532-458: Was a difficult bog, and large quantities of brushwood were dropped into it to stabilise it. The extension was complete by 1895: the Fordell Railway was now 5.75 miles in extent. The line between the George Pit and the NBR main line was laid in mixed gauge track, so that the output of George Pit and Alice Pit could be sent either to St David's or to the main line railway. A third locomotive named Alice
11656-399: Was a geared engine (4.5 to 1 gear ratio ), driving four individually-rotating concave-rim wheels on stationary axles via chain drives; powerful but running less than 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h). Still later, modified semitrailer tractors have been used. As steam power gradually replaced horse power throughout the 19th century, the term "wagonway" became obsolete and was superseded by
11780-453: Was a railway company authorised in 1845 to connect Edinburgh to both Perth and Dundee. It relied on ferry crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay , but despite those disadvantages it proved extremely successful. It took over a short railway on the southern shore of the Forth giving a direct connection to Edinburgh, and it changed its name to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway . It operated passenger and goods ferryboats over
11904-405: Was also ordered. In addition passenger and cargo ferryboats were ordered. The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was authorised to build its lines in Fife, on the northern side of the Firth of Forth; yet to reach Edinburgh its passengers and goods would have to get from one of the harbours on the south side into the city. In 1836 the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway had been authorised to build
12028-508: Was always short of money, and it sought a larger business to which it might sell its concern. The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was the obvious partner, and the E&NR absorbed the EL&;GR by Act of 22 July 1847, taking effect on 7 August 1847. The E&NR had not yet opened any of its lines. In the slump that followed the frenzy of railway promotion of 1845, money became difficult to obtain, and contract prices rose considerably. However
12152-449: Was an accident at Burntisland in which a workman was killed; the newspapers reported: The Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway Company have just completed two moveable slips or platforms, one on each side of the Forth,—viz. at Granton and Burntisland,—for the purpose of conveying across the ferry, by means of their floating railway, or large steamer Leviathan, goods, minerals, &c., without breaking bulk. The platforms are moved up and down
12276-515: Was an insuperable limitation. During World War II the Admiralty was the only customer, it was agreed that the coal output would all be taken north to the Alice Pit (a little to the east of the George Pit, and adjacent to the former ED&PR line) and taken away by main line railway. The last load of coal went to St David's on 10 August 1946. The line between Fordell Village and Alice Pit (and
12400-410: Was asked to comment on the technical changes, and he proposed a further tunnel at Hillend bridge, under the Inverkeithing road, and a third inclined plane near St David's ending near the south pier. It was 480 yards long on a gradient of 1 in 28. The gauge of the new iron railway line was the same as the wooden railway and it was 4.6 miles in length, falling continuously from Lady Anne pit 440 feet above
12524-472: Was available on the Broomhall estate, and Elgin was dependent on supplies from workings at Pitfirrane and Urquhart. The road transit was difficult, and he attempted to interest his neighbouring landowners, Sir John Wedderburn of Gosforth, now of Pitfirrane, and Robert Wellwood of Garvock and Pitliver, in improving transport facilities; in 1762 he was corresponding with them over a possible waggonway, but little
12648-478: Was being promoted, but which ultimately failed to gain Parliamentary approval). In the 1848 session the E&NR finally obtained sanction for a level crossing and the extension to Dunfermline itself was opened on 13 December 1849. The route for passengers from Dunfermline to Edinburgh was extremely circuitous, and this was a source of considerable friction with the railway company for many years. In 1850
12772-429: Was built at Limekilns to serve the kilns themselves, and a wooden waggonway was built from limestone quarries and coal pits at Berrylaw (west of Dunfermline) to the coast at Limekilns. Some time between 1765 and 1780 a small network of lines to Charlestown was built, with an incline on a gradient of 1 in 6.7 on the final approach to Charlestown. Thomas Pennant in 1772 called in during one of his tours, and noticed that
12896-580: Was built in 1758 as a wagonway, later became the world's first operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in America was built in Lewiston, New York as a wagonway. Wagonways improved coal transport by allowing one horse to deliver between 10 and 13 long tons (10.2 and 13.2 t ; 11.2 and 14.6 short tons ) of coal per run— an approximate fourfold increase. Wagonways were usually designed to carry
13020-469: Was by Thomas Grainger and John Miller , who had made their name on the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 1823, and a number of other Scottish lines subsequently. However the costs of building the line were beyond the resources of the Company, and nothing was done for some time. After a change of northern terminal location, the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway opened in 1842 as far as Trinity,
13144-534: Was done. Lord Elgin gradually acquired land to the foot of the Pittencrieff Coal Road with a view to construction of a waggonway. In 1765 George Chalmers of Edinburgh tried to persuade the Earl to grant a wayleave for a waggonway to replace the road transport. He had been to great trouble to discover the best Newcastle method, and wrote: "I suppose we can have people from Bo'ness or Carron who can make
13268-436: Was dug from outcrops at the surface, and was taken away by boat. As the outcrops became exhausted, overlying strata further from the coast had to be worked, and transport of the mineral to market was a significant challenge. The coal was carried in panniers on pack horses to a gathering point near Fordell Castle, and there by a coal road to Inverkeithing Harbour. In 1752 Sir Robert Henderson, the fourth baronet, acquired lands on
13392-604: Was enthusiasm for such a line, only about half the subscription required to present a Bill in Parliament was forthcoming, and the Chairman of the Provisional Committee proposed that a more modest scheme be drafted, and the intended presentation in the 1844 session of Parliament had to be deferred. The revised scheme was for a railway from Burntisland to Kingskettle and then through Newburgh to Perth, crossing
13516-597: Was erratic, and the E&NR set about taking control. In February 1846 the directors announced that they had taken possession of the Tayport ferry for £12,600, and in July 1847 the E&NR took possession of the ferry operating between Granton and Burntisland; it paid £90,000. In July 1847 it obtained an Act of Parliament authorising improvements at Tayport. The Tayport improvements and the augmented ferry service did not commence until May 1851, by which time £65,900 had been spent on harbour works and £18,000 on steamers. Nonetheless
13640-460: Was far worse: now the Admiralty stepped in, together with the Magistrates of Perth, objecting to the bridge at Mugdrum, on the grounds of interference with navigation, and it appeared that this opposition could not be overcome: the whole of the Perth line was under threat. The E&NR promoters saw that a Strathearn Junction Railway had been authorised, to build a short connecting line between
13764-471: Was financed by Lord Ravensworth , it seems that it was known at the time as Blücher . In 1814 William Stewart was engaged by Parkend Coal Co in the Forest of Dean for the construction of a steam locomotive, which when trialled was reported to be successful. Stewart did not receive his expected reward and the two parties parted on bad terms. Stewart was 'obliged to abandon the engine to that Company'. In 1821,
13888-543: Was first used by William Jessop on a line that was opened as part of the Charnwood Forest Canal between Loughborough and Nanpantan in Leicestershire in 1789. This line was originally designed as a plateway on the Outram system, but objections were raised to laying rails with upstanding ledges or flanges on the turnpike . This difficulty was overcome by paving or "causewaying" the road up to
14012-444: Was generally established. Wheels tended to bind against the flange of the plate rail and mud and stones would build up. The manufacture of the rails themselves was gradually improved. By making them in longer lengths, the number of joints per mile was reduced. Joints were always the weakest part of the line. Another advance was the substitution of wrought iron for cast iron, though that material did not gain wide adoption until after
14136-419: Was necessary at the harbours, and quickly. Consideration was given to installing hydraulic cranes to lift loaded railway wagons on to the deck of steamers. On 13 or 14 January 1849 the innovative young engineer Thomas Bouch was appointed engineer and manager of the E&NR. Bouch saw that the proposals for hydraulic cranes at the harbours would only partly mitigate the problem, and he immediately put forward
14260-399: Was not the originator. This type of rail was known as the plate-rail, tramway-plate or way-plate, names that are preserved in the modern term " platelayer " applied to the workers who lay and maintain the permanent way . The wheels of flangeway wagons were plain, but they could not operate on ordinary roads as the narrow rims would dig into the surface. Another form of rail, the edge rail ,
14384-417: Was obtained in 1880 from Grant, Ritchie & Co of Kilmarnock. It was an 0-4-0 saddle tank. This time the engine arrived by rail, at Crossgates, and was then drawn through the streets on temporary rails, drawn by horses. About 1870 the waggons began to be fitted with brakes. This enabled greater loads to be taken by the locomotives, as controlling the waggons on the downward run was the limiting factor. When
14508-432: Was progressively improved in the nineteenth century as volumes of coal handled increased. It was deepened in 1826 and again in 1832 together with an extension to the pier. In 1844 an improved siding layout was installed, together with coal hoists. In March 1832 the mine manager, William L Gofton, submitted a plan for upgrading the line, which was agreed upon. A new pit called Lady Anne was sunk south of Cuttlehill in 1833 and
14632-471: Was put in to Charlestown in 1801. Though the original Berrylaw - Limekilns waggonway survived for a time, most of it was finally removed, thus converting the two branches into the main line. This was probably done by 1812. The gauge of Elgin's lines was 4 ft 3in. The waggon capacity increased from 50 cwt to 60 cwt between 1784 and 1796. The waggons had two iron wheels and two plain wooden wheels, and were drawn by two horses. In 1794 Elgin's successor built
14756-441: Was reached in 1911 when 87,111 tons were mined and all of that output was carried on the Fordell Railway. The First World War reduced the volume of trade enormously, and after the cessation of hostilities, the trade at St David's never recovered, as shippers preferred to use nearby harbours which were better suited to handling larger vessels. That process accelerated to 1945, when the now-obsolete coal handling equipment at St David's
14880-472: Was ready by early September 1849, but the shore works took longer. Leviathan was destined for the Tay crossing at first, but it was decided to transfer her to the Forth crossing instead. Leviathan was a flat bottomed paddle steamer with two railway tracks aboard; a smaller vessel, PS Robert Napier, 296 tons, was constructed for the Tay passage. The flying bridge system was nearly ready in January 1850 but there
15004-418: Was taken over by the North British Railway in 1862. The ferry system was a success, but competing land routes had a considerable advantage, and the North British Railway determined to bridge the Forth and the Tay, as part of a strategy to create an efficient and modern route from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. This was achieved in 1890. Much of the network remains in use, although the northern extremity from Leuchars to
15128-478: Was to pass through the rich West Fife coalfield. It was opened as far as Crossgates, a little short of Dunfermline, in September 1848. It was halted there while a vexatious battle took place in Parliament over the arrangement to cross, on the level or otherwise, the long-established Halbeath Railway which intersected its proposed route. The opposition was encouraged by the hostile Edinburgh and Perth Railway (which
15252-554: Was used by individual operators, vehicles would vary greatly in wheel spacing ( gauge ) and the plate rail coped better. In South Wales again, where in 1811 the railways were connected with canals, collieries, ironworks, and copper works, and had a total length of nearly 150 miles (241 km), the plateway was almost universal. But in the North of England and in Scotland the edge-rail was held in greater favor, and soon its superiority
15376-475: Was vested in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway by Act of 28 June 1858. Sunday trains were introduced from December 1848. This resulted in constant criticism at subsequent Shareholders' Meetings from convinced sabbatarians. The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was dependent for its success on efficient crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay. Historically there had been ferry operators (or simply boat operators) plying on these routes, but their service
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