200 year Plus Railway Found by the Tyne

[Bill EWS]

Intersting find of a wooden railway. Such finds prove that some of the railway and track workings were known and being used well before metal rails became the norm.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...scovered-near-colliery.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Wooden waggonway built more than 200 years ago discovered near former colliery is 'oldest example of standard gauge railway ever found'

• Archaeologists expected to find Roman remains under former shipyard
• Instead they unearthed wooden waggonway running from collieries to Tyne
• Tailways provided prototype for train network in Industrial Revolution

Archaeologists looking for Roman remains have stumbled across an even more historic find - a wooden railway which was instrumental in the development of the Industrial Revolution.

An excavation on the banks of the Tyne unearthed a stretch of waggonway which is more than 200 years old, making it the earliest surviving example of the standard-gauge railway.

The discovery was originally part of a network which linked the ports of the North East with collieries in Tyneside and Northumberland in the late 18th century....

 

[flymo]

I often look at this site for some info on my home town and surroundings as a glimpse into the past, including some wooden waggonways (Navigate around using the directional links)

Certainly a lot of 'rail' history in one form or another in that neck of the woods.

 

[Eagle]

Such finds prove that some of the railway and track workings were known and being used well before metal rails became the norm.

We already knew that. Railways have been in use for over 2,500 years, notably the Diolkos at Corinth used to transport ships across land.

 

[sprinterguy]

This find is similar to, but less extensive than, the wooden waggonway unearthed at the former Lambton D pit in 1996/7, not so far away near Houghton-le-Spring:

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=1747
In 1996, excavations were carried out at the site of the former Lambton cokeworks where, in August 1995, during preliminary land reclamation works, evidence for wooden rails were spotted by an alert and interested JCB driver. The rails were covered with about 2m of well-compacted coal and coke dust, which had protected the rails and sleepers from the elements, leaving them in a remarkably good condition. After some further, more controlled clearance, the extent of the remains became evident, and a subsequent archaeological excavation revealed some 150m of wooden track, comprising substantial sections of four tracks, and fragmentary remains of another.

The Lambton D pit commenced working in the late 1770s-1780s, and its first waggonway may date from that period, although wear and tear and replacement of small sections of track would be a regular occurrence throughout the life of the waggonway. Although sections of wooden waggonway have been found elsewhere, notably at Bedlam in Shropshire and at Bersham in North Wales, the Lambton waggonway represented the most extensive, complete, and best preserved wooden waggonway yet discovered.

I wonder whether there are many more lengths of old wooden waggonway hidden away beneath the soil of North East England?

 

[Wyvern]

THe operative word here is "surviving"

The oldest "wagonway" is reckoned have been in Nottinghamshire, the Wollaton Waggonway laid by Huntingdon Beaumont to carry coal from Strelley down to a coal wharf at Wollaton.

More info here.

THere were a lot of such wagonways through the eighteenth century, often as feeders for canals. In time they were lined with iron strip to reduce wear, then iron angle (plateways) which guided the wheels. Finally edge (fish belly) rails appeared.

 

[Bill EWS]

"We already knew that. Railways have been in use for over 2,500 years, notably the Diolkos at Corinth used to transport ships across land"

Where did I say we hadn't? It was just a brief comemnt to go with the link to the article.

 

[edwin_m]

200 year Plus Railway Found by the Tyne

Did they dig down a bit further and find a Pacer?

 

[jon0844]

Did they also find a wooden Pacer in there?

 

[IanD]

"More historic" than Roman remains? Get real.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This find is similar to, but less extensive than, the wooden waggonway unearthed at the former Lambton D pit in 1996/7, not so far away near Houghton-le-Spring.

I remember reading an article some years ago that stated that in the early part of the 17th century, there were such wooden waggonways to the River Blythe from colliery workings at Bedlington, Cowpit and Bebside.

 

[bnm]

Amazing!

A Mail Online article worth reading.