68-661: The Treffry Tramways were a group of mineral tramways in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, constructed by Joseph Treffry (1782–1850), a local land owner and entrepreneur. They were constructed to give transport facilities to several mines and pits producing non-ferrous metal, granite and china clay in the area between the Luxulyan Valley and Newquay, and were horse-operated, with the use of water and steam power on inclines, and at first operated in conjunction with
136-483: A narrow gauge tramway on an inclined plane to bring the mineral from the shaft heads to Pontsmill. The line was 1,127 feet long and self-acting, with a short tunnel under the St Blazey to Lostwithiel road. A second inclined plane was built, according to Bodman a little to the south of the first; it was 2,640 feet long, including a tunnel section 840 feet (256 m) long; it was double track and narrow gauge. It
204-406: A commercial success. However 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
272-649: A country (for example, 1,440 mm or 4 ft 8 + 11 ⁄ 16 in to 1,445 mm or 4 ft 8 + 7 ⁄ 8 in in France). The first tracks in Austria and in the Netherlands had other gauges ( 1,000 mm or 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in in Austria for the Donau Moldau line and 1,945 mm or 6 ft 4 + 9 ⁄ 16 in in
340-434: A difficult and dangerous passage. In 1835 Treffry let it be known that he intended to connect Par and Newquay by tramway or railway. There was a small harbour at Newquay, and its location on the north coast favoured communication with South Wales. Treffry repeated the technique of inclined plane tramways to connect Par Consols mine, located on high ground to the north-west of Par Harbour. It was 870 ft (265 m) long on
408-486: A difficult passage around Land's End, and coal fuel was an expensive commodity. By 1860 the technical shortcomings of Treffry's lines were becoming obvious, and an investigation was made into the possibility of converting to locomotive traction. The Carmears incline was an insurmountable obstacle to that, and the initiative seems to have been based on the Newquay to St Dennis section. However a report by Captain H W Tyler of
476-425: A gradient of 1 in 7. Although the bulk of the traffic was downhill, coal had to be brought up to the mine head, and it was not possible to bring leats to the location, so that Treffry had to install a steam engine (rather than a water wheel) to power the uphaul. The tramway started work in 1841. Undaunted by the difficult topography that a route to Newquay would have to traverse, Treffry had an initial section planned:
544-474: A line from Newquay Harbour to East Wheal Rose , an important lead mine a short distance south-east of the village of St Newlyn East , itself 4 miles (7 km) south of Newquay. Work was also in progress in connecting to St Dennis and Hendra, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Newquay, and destined to be on the line to Molinnis. An Act of Parliament was secured in 1844 for the "Treffry Estate Railway, or Newquay Railway", and this may have been due to
612-479: A line from Pontsmill to Colcerrow Quarry, a distance of a little under two miles (about 3 km). The first part was to be another 1 in 9 incline, Carmears Incline , about 950 yards (870 m) long, followed by a longer nearly-level section at the head. This line opened in 1841; the incline was cable-operated, driven by a water wheel. The wheel was 30 feet (9.1 m) diameter by 8 ft 6in (2.6 m) and it generated 76 hp, lifting 30 tons up
680-572: A logistics centre and the Volkswagen factory. Standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ). The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson ), international gauge , UIC gauge , uniform gauge , normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It
748-778: A mineral section until the Great Western Railway (GWR), which had taken over the CMR in 1896, built its line from Newquay to Perranporth and Chacewater , partly taking over the line of route. In due course the GWR became part of the nationalised British Railways , and the Fowey line and the Perranporth lines closed. Newquay and Par remain connected by a passenger railway formed on much of Treffry's original route, and his Par Harbour remains (at 2014) rail connected. Treffry Viaduct
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#1732790742084816-510: A standard gauge of 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ), and those in Ireland to a new standard gauge of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ). In Great Britain, Stephenson's gauge was chosen on the grounds that existing lines of this gauge were eight times longer than those of the rival 7 ft or 2,134 mm (later 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in or 2,140 mm ) gauge adopted principally by
884-423: A time-consuming and expensive process. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a "standard gauge" of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ), allowing interconnectivity and interoperability. A popular legend that has circulated since at least 1937 traces the origin of the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge even further back than
952-557: A tramway, including street-running passenger lines in urban areas. Today sections of the tramway route are still in use by passenger trains operating as the Atlantic Coast Line between Par and Newquay. Joseph Treffry inherited large estates in Cornwall, including non-ferrous mines in high ground on both sides of the Luxulyan Valley. Transport of the heavy extracted minerals to market was a significant challenge, relying on horse-drawn carts on inferior roads. Treffry's home
1020-766: Is currently operated by the Ghana Railway Company Limited . Kojokrom-Sekondi Railway Line (The Kojokrom-Sekondi line is a branch line that joins the Western Railway Line at Kojokrom ) Indian nationwide rail system ( Indian Railways ) uses 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) broad gauge. 96% of the broad gauge network is electrified. The railway tracks of Java and Sumatra use 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Planned and under construction high-speed railways to use 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ) to maintain interoperability with
1088-480: Is defined in U.S. customary / Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches", which is equivalent to 1,435.1 mm. As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge met – a " gauge break " – loads had to be unloaded from one set of rail cars and reloaded onto another,
1156-774: Is marked "Rail Road for conveying the Ore from the Floors over the Inclined Plane to the Canal from whence it is taken for Sampling and Shipment per Water to the Wharfs at Par." The incline was in operation from 1835, and Pontsmill became a centre for the processing of mineral; china clay was carted to the canal basin from the Hensbarrow area to the north-west of the Luxulyan Valley. Treffry had also installed an 80-inch steam engine, at
1224-571: Is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with about 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia , Finland , Uzbekistan , and some line sections in Spain . The distance between the inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1,435 mm except in the United States, Canada, and on some heritage British lines, where it
1292-608: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway , authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The extra half inch was not regarded at first as very significant, and some early trains ran on both gauges daily without compromising safety. The success of this project led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Thus the 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) gauge became widespread and dominant in Britain. Robert
1360-604: The Par Canal and Par Docks , also constructed by Treffry. One of the routes crossed the Luxulyan Valley on a large viaduct, the largest in Cornwall when it was built. The tramways were opened in stages from 1835 to 1870. They provided a dramatic improvement in mineral transport, but they were technically obsolescent, and they were taken over in 1874 by the Cornwall Minerals Railway , a cash-rich company which invested heavily in improving railway transport in
1428-488: The United Kingdom and elsewhere where British railway terminology and practices influenced management practices, terminologies and railway cultures, such as Australia , New Zealand , and those parts of Asia, Africa and South America that consulted with British engineers when undergoing modernization. In New Zealand, they are commonly known as " bush tramways " and are often not intended to be permanent. In Australia
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#17327907420841496-592: The Bugle Inn, gave access to numerous mineral workings in that area, particularly china clay, china stone and tin. This section of Treffry's tramway opened in early 1844. In 1855 the Pontsmill to Bugle line was extended to Par Harbour alongside the Par Canal, thus removing the need to transship goods at Pontsmill. While Treffry's emphasis had been at the southern end of his planned line, work started by 1844 on
1564-913: The Great Western Railway. It allowed the broad-gauge companies in Great Britain to continue with their tracks and expand their networks within the "Limits of Deviation" and the exceptions defined in the Act. After an intervening period of mixed-gauge operation (tracks were laid with three rails), the Great Western Railway finally completed the conversion of its network to standard gauge in 1892. In North East England, some early lines in colliery ( coal mining ) areas were 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ), while in Scotland some early lines were 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm ). The British gauges converged starting from 1846 as
1632-647: The Netherlands for the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij ), but for interoperability reasons (the first rail service between Paris and Berlin began in 1849, first Chaix timetable) Germany adopted standard gauges, as did most other European countries. The modern method of measuring rail gauge was agreed in the first Berne rail convention of 1886. Several lines were initially built as standard gauge but were later converted to another gauge for cost or for compatibility reasons. 2,295 km (1,426 mi) Victoria built
1700-526: The Railway Inspectorate was unfavourable: The greater part of the line is laid with light rails ... in light chairs ... The chairs rest upon stone blocks about 3 feet apart ... On portions the permanent way is still less substantial ... There is a timber viaduct near Newquay which would require to be strengthened if locomotive engines were employed and the tunnels and bridges over the line are low and narrow, less than 12 feet high above
1768-645: The advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. By the 1890s, the entire network was converted to standard gauge. The Royal Commission made no comment about small lines narrower than standard gauge (to be called "narrow gauge"), such as the Ffestiniog Railway . Thus it permitted a future multiplicity of narrow gauges in the UK. It also made no comments about future gauges in British colonies, which allowed various gauges to be adopted across
1836-418: The area, making the lines suitable for locomotive operation and extending them. The original sections were laid without the need for an act of Parliament, as a private venture, and the name of the lines is not defined; some writers refer to them as Treffry's Railway and other variants of the title. Tramway means a lightly constructed railway which is not generally fenced off. This is the essential character of
1904-567: The china clay workings on high ground with the St Dennis section at Gullies Wharf near Hendra Crazey. It was powered by a beam engine. About 1855 a branch was made from the Colcerrow branch to serve minor quarries at Cairns, north-east of Luxulyan. The Pontsmill section of tramway was extended down to Par Harbour in 1855, avoiding the transshipment to canal at Pontsmill, as the tramway could now reach ships at Par Harbour. The Cornwall Railway
1972-483: The coal mines of County Durham . He favoured 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham , and used it on his Killingworth line. The Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington railway (S&DR) was built primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees . Opening in 1825,
2040-493: The coalfields of northern England, pointing to the evidence of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the Roman Empire . Snopes categorised this legend as "false", but commented that it "is perhaps more fairly labeled as 'Partly true, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons. ' " The historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles around 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) apart probably derives from
2108-534: The colonies. Parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. The American gauges converged, as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. Notably, all the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) over
Treffry Tramways - Misplaced Pages Continue
2176-459: The course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States . In continental Europe, France and Belgium adopted a 1,500 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 16 in ) gauge (measured between the midpoints of each rail's profile ) for their early railways. The gauge between the interior edges of the rails (the measurement adopted from 1844) differed slightly between countries, and even between networks within
2244-583: The depressed state of the market for the minerals delayed his plans. In fact he died on 29 January 1850, and his estate was beset with legal claims. His cousin Edward Willcocks LlD managed the estate while it was in chancery , and he changed his name to Edward Willcocks Treffry on 16 May 1850. Under his stewardship the Hendra Downs incline was made ready for use in 1852, although it may not have been actually operational until 1857. It linked
2312-509: The financial resources to carry out the work. In 1872 William Richardson Roebuck concluded negotiations with the estate trustees and on 21 February 1872 he leased the tramways. He formed a limited company, the Cornwall Minerals Railway Limited and his company obtained parliamentary authority on 21 July 1873 to acquire the lines, form a new railway to connect them, and to make an extension to Fowey, and to improve
2380-740: The first railways to the 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) Irish broad gauge. New South Wales then built to the standard gauge, so trains had to stop on the border and passengers transferred, which was only rectified in the 1960s. Queensland still runs on a narrow gauge but there is a standard gauge line from NSW to Brisbane. NMBS/SNCB 3,619 km (2,249 mi) Brussels Metro 40 km (25 mi) Trams in Brussels 140 km (87 mi) 1,032 km (641 mi) The Toronto Transit Commission uses 4 ft 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 in ( 1,495 mm ) gauge on its streetcar and subway lines. Takoradi to Sekondi Route,
2448-547: The greater involvement in public works of the Newquay line construction. (A further Act, the Treffry's Estate (Newquay Railway) Act of 1857 confirmed the right of the trustees to operate and maintain the lines already built, but allowed the abandonment of some sections authorised but not built; this latter Act forbade the use of locomotives without the approval of the Board of Trade.) The line from Newquay Harbour to East Wheal Rose
2516-567: The ground they were less likely to be blocked by debris, but they obstructed other traffic, and the wagons could not be used beyond the limits of the rails – whereas plateways had the advantage that trucks with unflanged wheels could be wheeled freely on wharves and in factories. Edge rails were the forerunners of the modern railway track. These early lines were built to transport minerals from quarries and mines to canal wharves. From about 1830, more extensive trunk railways appeared, becoming faster, heavier and more sophisticated and, for safety reasons,
2584-479: The ground to transport materials around a factory, mine or quarry. Many use narrow-gauge railway technology, but because tramway infrastructure is not intended to support the weight of vehicles used on railways of wider track gauge , the infrastructure can be built using less substantial materials, enabling considerable cost savings. The term "tramway" is not used in North America, but is commonly used in
2652-485: The incline in 10 minutes. A considerable extent of new leats were made to bring water to the wheel, later augmented by a leat taken over the Treffry Viaduct. The track was formed of T-section rail on stone blocks, and was single line to the standard gauge . The line was built on land owned by Treffry or by agreement with the owner and the commissioners of the turnpike trust , and no authorising Act of Parliament
2720-429: The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made, debuting around 1850, to the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge. The historic Mount Washington Cog Railway ,
2788-607: The old 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ) plateway was relaid to 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) so that Blenkinsop's engine could be used. Others were 4 ft 4 in ( 1,321 mm ) (in Beamish ) or 4 ft 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,410 mm ) (in Bigges Main (in Wallsend ), Kenton , and Coxlodge ). English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for
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2856-478: The original tramway sections so as to make them suitable for operation by steam locomotive. So 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. This
2924-471: The public highway, sharing with other road users. Initially horse-drawn, they were developed to use electric power from an overhead line . A development of the tramway in the United Kingdom was the trolleybus , which dispensed with tracks but drew electricity from overhead wires . Between 2001 and 2020, two trams built to carry automotive parts (the " CarGoTram ") operated in Dresden , Germany between
2992-487: 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. By 1959 the Colcerrow route at Luxulyan had been shortened to a stub siding. Passenger operation, not part of Treffry's plan, came into action in 1876. The East Wheal Rose branch remained
3060-436: The rails is better, thus the minimum distance between the wheels (and, by extension, the inside faces of the rail heads ) was the important one. A standard gauge for horse railways never existed, but rough groupings were used; in the north of England none was less than 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ). Wylam colliery's system, built before 1763, was 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), as was John Blenkinsop 's Middleton Railway ;
3128-460: The rails, by about 10 feet wide. Under present circumstances, the railway is not fitted for locomotive engines of any description ... The Fowey Consols Mine proved to have a limited life, and by 1865 it was geologically exhausted, and together with the connecting tramways it closed. In fact copper extraction in the Luxulyan Valley area declined irrevocably around that time, and although some efforts were made to mine tin ore, this never proved to be
3196-520: The requirements placed on them by Parliament became more and more stringent. See rail tracks . These restrictions were excessive for the small mineral lines and it became possible in the United Kingdom for them to be categorised as light railways subject to certain provisos laid down by the Light Railways Act 1896 . Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom the term tramway became the term for passenger vehicles (a tram ) that ran on tracks in
3264-411: The rest of the network. All other railways use 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ) ( broad gauge ) and/or 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) metre gauge . BLS , Rigi Railways (rack railway) 449 km Several states in the United States had laws requiring road vehicles to have a consistent gauge to allow them to follow ruts in
3332-540: 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. Joseph Treffry's original decision in 1844 to use horse operation had made his tramways technically obsolescent, and by the 1870s they were significantly inefficient. It was clear that modernisation was required, but the Treffry Estate did not have
3400-503: The shaft of a wheelbarrow—in turn from Low German traam , meaning a beam. The tracks themselves were sometimes known as gangways , dating from before the 12th century, being usually simply planks laid upon the ground literally "going road". In south Wales and Somerset the term "dramway" is also used, with vehicles being called drams. An alternative term, " wagonway " (and wainway or waggonway), originally consisted of horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons. Usually
3468-429: The term "narrow gauge" for gauges less than standard did not arise for many years, until the first such locomotive-hauled passenger railway, the Ffestiniog Railway , was built. In 1845, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , a Royal Commission on Railway Gauges reported in favour of a standard gauge. The subsequent Gauge Act ruled that new passenger-carrying railways in Great Britain should be built to
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#17327907420843536-516: The term was widely used in connection with logging, no longer extant. Today in the state of Queensland , however, there remain several thousand kilometres of sugar-cane tramways . Passengers do not generally travel aboard tramways, although employees sometimes use them, either officially or unofficially. The term was originally applied to wagons running on primitive tracks in mediaeval Great Britain and Europe . The name seems to date from about 1517 and to be derived from an English dialect word for
3604-464: The time the most powerful in Cornwall, at Fowey Consols, and this engine, known as the Austen engine, was symbolic of Treffry's exploitation of industrial progress. Copper production was very demanding of transport: of coal inwards to fuel the engines, and of the ore outwards to the refining plant. In both cases this traffic was from and to South Wales, and the coastal shipping route was round Land's End,
3672-483: The tramway it contained a leat conveying water down to the Carmears waterwheel. The viaduct cost £6,708 to build; the civil engineer for the scheme was James Meadows Rendel , and William Pease acted as project manager. As part of the construction process for the viaduct, a temporary inclined plane tramway was made, about 100 m in length leading due south up from the watercourse nearby. The Molinnis terminal, near
3740-561: The use of his land. Treffry turned his thoughts to developing a harbour at Par, and he had one built there to the west of the mouth of the Par River; it was in operation from 1833. He built the Par Canal, connecting Pontsmill with the harbour. It was operational in 1840. He had a mine at Lanescot to the east of Pontsmill; it proved to be founded on a rich source of copper and developed into the Fowey Consols mine , and Treffry built
3808-424: The wheels would be guided along grooves. In time, to combat wear, the timber would be reinforced with an iron strip covering. This developed to use L-shaped steel plates, the track then being known as a plateway . An alternative appeared in 1789, the so-called " edge-rail ", which allowed wagons to be guided by having the wheels flanged instead of running, flangeless, in grooves. Since these rails were raised above
3876-479: The width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Research, however, has been undertaken to support the hypothesis that "the origin of the standard gauge of the railway might result from an interval of wheel ruts of prehistoric ancient carriages". In addition, while road-travelling vehicles are typically measured from the outermost portions of the wheel rims, it became apparent that for vehicles travelling on rails, having main wheel flanges that fit inside
3944-426: The world's first mountain -climbing rack railway , is still in operation in the 21st century, and has used the earlier 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge since its inauguration in 1868. George Stephenson introduced the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge (including a belated extra 1 ⁄ 2 in (13 mm) of free movement to reduce binding on curves ) for
4012-421: Was a considerable project, involving relaying the track and forming a new route up the Luxulyan Valley so as to avoid the rope-worked Carmears Incline. This involved a longer conventional gradient following a sinuous course through the valley, and remained a challenge for steam traction. The new line in the Luxulyan Valley by-passed the Treffry Viaduct, but Colcerrow Quarry continued to be rail served. Traffic from
4080-566: Was at 1 in 4.5 and was worked by stationary engine and wire rope. The main line crossed the Trenance Valley on a viaduct 98 feet (30 m) high and 210 yards (192 m) long, of timber trestles on seventeen stone piers. Its frail appearance led to its being known as the Tolcarne Spider . Treffry intended to connect the two sections of tramway, forming the coast-to-coast system he had conceived, but ill health and
4148-491: Was by-passed as part of the CMR developments but remains as a listed structure, and a monument to Treffry's work. Tramway (mineral) Tramways are lightly laid industrial railways , often not intended to be permanent. Originally, rolling stock could be pushed by humans, pulled by animals (especially horses and mules), cable-hauled by a stationary engine, or pulled by small, light locomotives. Tramways can exist in many forms; sometimes simply tracks temporarily placed on
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#17327907420844216-418: Was in Fowey where there was deep water berthing for coastal shipping; he had built improved quay facilities there in 1811 and 1813. He hoped to build a tramway to bring mineral products from the Luxulyan Valley to Fowey, but Charles Rashleigh owned intermediate lands that Treffry would need. Rashleigh also owned the harbour at Charlestown , which would be disadvantaged by Treffry's scheme, and he refused to allow
4284-550: Was in operation by February 1849, and the line to St Dennis and Hendra Crazey was opened in June 1849. There were china clay workings on Hendra Downs , high above St Dennis on the east, and for the time being the intended connection there was not made. There were three tunnels on the line; one on the incline to Newquay Harbour, one at Coswarth—at 44 yards (40 m) in length, really a bridge—and Toldish Tunnel , 500 yards (460 m) in length. The incline from Newquay Harbour
4352-639: Was only a start, and the tramway was continued to Molinnis, near Bugle. While the gradients were easier here, it was necessary to cross to the west side of the valley, and a large viaduct was built to carry the line. Known as the Treffry Viaduct , it was 648 feet in length with ten arches, and was 98 feet high. It was the first large granite viaduct in Cornwall: the foundation stone was laid in March 1839 and weighed 10 tons. As well as carrying
4420-476: Was powered by a 30 hp water wheel, and the leat to power it was four miles in length, being brought from Molinnis. A contemporary plan seems to suggest the north and south sections are reversed: the northern line is double track and the tunnel mouth is close to the pit head; it is marked "Tunnel and Rail Road on an inclined Plane for conveying Materials from Mr. Treffry's Canal to the Mine". The southern tramway
4488-533: Was reported to have said that if he had had a second chance to choose a gauge, he would have chosen one wider than 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ). "I would take a few inches more, but a very few". During the " gauge war " with the Great Western Railway , standard gauge was called " narrow gauge ", in contrast to the Great Western's 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) broad gauge . The modern use of
4556-567: Was sought. Although by this time locomotive traction had proved itself as effective in railway use, Treffry settled for horse operation as it would be three-quarters of the cost of locomotives. Treffry also used water wheels in preference to stationary steam engines where water was available, in view of the low operating cost. Coal was not naturally available in Cornwall and was expensive. Minerals brought down to Pontsmill were transshipped to barges on Treffry's canal for onward conveyance to Par Harbour and coastal shipping. The short section to Colcerrow
4624-495: Was under construction at this time, but it did not open until 1859, then forming a link throughout southern Cornwall passing through Par; however that lien was on the broad gauge and no direct connection with the tramway lines was possible at first. In the beginning, Treffry had opted for horse operation of his tramways on the basis of their lower operating cost; and the inclines were worked by water wheel wherever practicable. At that time coal had to be brought in from South Wales by
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