Engineers
began constructing wooden railways in the mines of central Europe
during the early 16th century. The first wooden railway in England
was built at Wollaton in 1604. The original idea was to use the horse-drawn
wooden railway to transport coal from Wollaton Colliery to the population
of Nottingham. Soon afterwards similar
railways were built in Shropshire and Northumberland.
Where possible, wagonways were laid out so that loaded wagons could
travel downhill to a river or harbour. Horses were then used to take
the empty wagons up the hill. In 1758 Parliament decided that colliery
owners would have to seek permission before they built a wagonway.
Later that year, Charles Brandling, became the first to have an Act
of Parliament passed when he asked for permission to build a wagonway
between his Middleton Colliery and Leeds.
Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery, had a five mile
wooden wagonway that took coal to the River Tyne. In 1804 Blackett
employed Richard Trevithick to build
a locomotive that would replace the use of horse-drawn coal wagons.
However, the Wylam locomotive weighed
five tons, it was too heavy for Blackett's wooden wagonway.
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
