Wagonway

A wagonway (or waggonway; also known as a horse-drawn railway, or horse-drawn railroad) was a method of railway transportation that preceded the steam locomotive and used horses to haul wagons. The terms plateway and tramway were also used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power compared to horse haulage along roads.

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 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 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 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.

In 1610, Huntingdon introduced wooden waggonways as a form of coal transport in South East Northumberland, waggons with one horse were used to carry coals from the local pits to the port on the River Blyth. From 1692 to 1709, the Plessey Waggonway was constructed from Plessey to Blyth, following the route of Plessey Road, where it derives its name. It was constructed of a double-line of beech rails on oak sleepers. The waggons had wooden wheels with nails driven into them to reduce wear on the wheels.

The Middleton Railway in Leeds, which 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.

At Bersham Ironworks records exist from 1757-1759 of contracts to lay a railroad from coal and iron pits to the works, and in 1991 40 m (130 ft) of track were excavated at the works including a set of points. The track was made with oak sleepers and ash rails, and was 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm) gauge.