Surrey Iron Railway

In 1801 Parliament passed an Act authorizing the Surrey Iron Railway Company to build a nine-mile (15 km) line between Croydon and the River Thames at Wandsworth. The line followed closely the River Wandle along whose banks many factories had been built. The owners of these factories were strong supporters of the decision to build the railway. William Jessop was appointed chief engineer of the project.

The line was opened on 26th July, 1803. It was therefore the first horse railway for public transport which was independent of a canal. The railway was fairly level and a horse could pull five or six loaded wagons carry over 20 tons of coal at just under 3 mph.

The line was a great success and the company successfully obtained a further Act of Parliament that gave permission to extend the line southwards to Godstone. This line was opened in 1805 and was mainly used to transport material from the quarries in the neighbourhood to the River Thames. The original intention was to extend the line to Portsmouth but the company ran out of money and the idea was abandoned.

Poster for the Surrey Iron Railway

Schools Wikipedia: History

The Railways

Time Search: Spartacus Educational

Forum Debates

Interviews with Historians

History Resources

History Debates

Philosophy of History

(1) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

There is one outstanding lesson I have learned is that wealth can only be acquired at the expense of others. I say this with the absolute assurance that it is an indisputable statement of fact. Also, that all of us, no matter how skilled we are, or however much ability we possess, do in fact depend on our daily bread, our comforts, and material pleasures on the toil and labour of the masses who often live unrequited lives of toil and hardship.

The Victorian Railway

Fire & Steam

Educational Websites

Standards Site, BBC History, PBS Online, Open Directory Project, Schools Wikipedia,
Education Forum, History GCSE, Design & Technology, Music Teacher Resource,
Freepedia, ATW, Science Active, Brighton Photographers, Sussex Photo History,
Compton History, Industrial Revolution, English Teaching, HistoryWorld, Virtual Library
E-HELP, Ed Podesta Blog, Macgregorish History, Historiasiglo20, I Love History, ICT4LT

Spartacus Educational

First World War, Second World War, The Tudors, British History, Vietnam War,
Military History, Watergate, Assassination of JFK, Assocation Football, Normans,
American West, Famous Crimes, Black People in Britain, The Monarchy, Blitz,
United States, Cold War, English Civil War, Making of the United Kingdom,
Russia, Germany, The Medieval World, Nazi Germany, American Civil War,
Spanish Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, McCarthyism, Slavery, Child Labour,
Women's Suffrage, Parliamentary Reform, Railways, Trade Unions, Textile Industry,
Russian Revolution, Travel Guide, Spartacus Blog, Spartacus Review, Latest Books

News and Search

Guardian Unlimited, Times Online, SOS Children Charity News, The Independent, New York Times,
Daily Telegraph, BBC, CNN, Yahoo News, New Scientist, Google News, Channel 4,
Google, Excite, Yahoo, MSN, Lycos, AOL Search, Hotbot, Metacrawler, Netscape, Ask, Search,
Go, Looksmart, Dogpile, Raging Search, All the Web, Kartoo, Search Engine Watch, About
Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Queen Victoria