What is a waggonway / plateway? (Page last updated 12 August 2007)
Wheeled trucks with various forms of guidance had been used by miners underground in mainland Europe for centuries before 1600 but circa that date the use of waggons running overland on wooden rails developed in England. Recent archaeological findings have confirmed that the continental "hund" system was used in the UK at the Mines Royal at Caldbeck near Keswick, in what is now Cumbria, but was only used underground. This early form of underground mine tub with roller wheels on flat board rails was steered by a guide pin. It was known as a “hund” from the German word for dog as when the running the noise the wheels make sounds like a dog barking.
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| The National Railway Museum at York has built a replica Hund and these photographs are of that replica. Photo © John New | |
An additional form of early, and primitive, railway used abroad was was called a riesen. This is a drawing based on photograph dating from 1936 of an example in Berlin.
The English waggonway (or wagonway) was an embryonic form of railway using wooden bodied vehicles, hauled by horses. Although written records of the construction details of the very earliest designs are unrecorded the unbroken line of descent to the modern railway from the two earliest, proven, examples at Wollaton and Broseley built in the early 1600s indicate they had flanged wheels running on wooden beams, or edge, rails. A wheel found at Broseley is shown below.
For the very earliest examples a style similar to the continental riesen is the most probable but with a wider gauge than that of the Berlin example shown. The body style is also unknown but initially likely to have been derived from the standard coal wains in use at the time. The NE "Chaldron" shape matched both the weight carried and the practical needs of unloading and soon became the standard design in that region. A slightly different evolutionary pattern emerged from the Shropshire examples at Broseley and Willey. For more information on the first 20 years of known waggonway spread in Britain, with a map etc, see our linked page. Waggonway spread the first 20 years.
The wheels and rails continued to be made from wood until much later in the development of waggonway systems when iron began to be introduced.
As use of the vehicles continued experience gained indicated a hopper body to be the best shape. The chaldron measure for coal used in the North East became a standard measure with waggons built to take that load, the name becoming synonymous for the style of waggon. A modern replica of one of these waggons is on show at the Causey Arch Museum Site. (See Causey Waggon replica page) As waggonways evolved and had longer running lengths the civil engineering required also increased. The Tanfield Waggonway and the Causey Arch being one of the most notable examples. (See Causey Arch page)
The style continued in use in the North East into the 1960s and a photograph of the type in use in 1969 is included elsewhere on the Site. (See Chaldron photograph page)
The modern rapid discharge hopper vehicles used on “merry go round” workings to power stations are the latest incarnation of the this type of vehicle.
In a period in the late 1700s and early 1800s some waggonways were also built using an L shaped iron rail system and plain flanged, normal, cart wheels. This style of line became known as a plateway. However despite some merits to the system when routes were operating on small scale with horse haulage as the railway era with steam locomotives expanded the L rail system was seen as a "blind alley" and it faded from the scene. The most significant of the L plate systems was England’s first public railway, the Surrey Iron Railway of 1803 and sections of track from that have survived to be preserved. Of related East Midlands interest is the fact that one of the other, notable, L plate rail systems existed at Little Eaton in Derbyshire.
Photographs shown are linked from a related page on the SLS web Site. The items are at the Carshalton Heritage Centre and are examples from the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone extension of the SIR.
From that earliest short route linking Strelley and Wollaton was to evolve a railway network circling the world!
* Northumbrian spelling; wagonway if you prefer the Shropshire spelling back to text
© Photographs/drawings on this page are all copyright John New. They may be linked to/reproduced for non-commercial purposes only.