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Mumbles Railway
The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the venue for the world's first passenger horsecar railway service, located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Originally built under an Act of Parliament of 1804 to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles to Swansea and to the markets beyond, it carried the world's first fare-paying railway passengers under an agreement effective from 25 March 1807. It later moved from horse power to steam locomotion, and was finally converted to electric power, using the largest tram cars ever built for service in Britain, before closing in January 1960, in favour of motor buses. At the time of the railway's closure, it was claimed to have been the world's longest serving railway, although this distinction has to be qualified because other railways which were used solely for goods traffic (e.g. the Middleton Railway in Leeds, Yorkshire, dating from 1758) had been operating for longer. History In 1804 the British Parliament approved the laying of a r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Tawe
The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National Park, before the river turns south and then southwest to its estuary at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach Rivers and the Afon Twrch. The total area of the catchment is some . The Tawe passes through a number of towns and villages including Ystradgynlais, Ystalyfera, Pontardawe, and Clydach and meets the sea at Swansea Bay below Swansea. The Tawe Valley ( in Welsh) is more commonly known as the Swansea Valley. Ownership of the riverbed was granted to the Duke of Beaufort in the 17th century by Charles II resulting in exclusive mineral and fishing rights, which is extended as far as requiring permission and payment for bridges which are built over it. This was last exercised in 2008 when Swans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falcon Engine & Car Works
Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since the 1850s, producing items such as brass and iron cast parts for portable engines and thrashing machines. In 1860 Henry Hughes announced he had entered into a partnership with William March who had extensive experience in the timber trade, and this would be added to the existing business of "engineers and manufacturers of railway plant", with the business to be called Hughes and March. In March 1863, Hughes announced it was making a steam locomotive designed for contractors and mineral railways. This was an 0-4-0 saddle tank with a 200 psi boiler pressure and cylinders of 10 inch bore and 15 inch stroke. In 1866, Hughes announced a sale of timber and associated equipment from the "Falcon Railway Plant Works" as he had decided to close dow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dickson (railway Contractor)
John Dickson (c1819-13 June 1892), was a railway contractor responsible for the promotion, construction and operation of several railway lines in England and Wales, especially in and around Swansea. His finances were never securely based and he was forced into bankruptcy on three occasions. Early days (to 1857) Dickson was born in Berwick-on-Tweed in about 1819. He first appears in the historical record in Ireland in 1840 when he married Elizabeth McMurray of Drogheda. His first daughter Catherine was born the following year at Killyman in County Tyrone. He remained in Ireland until 1847, and judging by the places of birth of subsequent children he was on the move all the time – Helen was born in County Sligo (1842), James in Dublin (1844) and Anna in Drogheda (1845). He appears to have been involved in some capacity under William Dargan on the construction of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway (1841-4) and the Great Southern and Western Railway (1845-7). There is also a possibilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brush Traction
Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since the 1850s, producing items such as brass and iron cast parts for portable engines and thrashing machines. In 1860 Henry Hughes announced he had entered into a partnership with William March who had extensive experience in the timber trade, and this would be added to the existing business of "engineers and manufacturers of railway plant", with the business to be called Hughes and March. In March 1863, Hughes announced it was making a steam locomotive designed for contractors and mineral railways. This was an 0-4-0 saddle tank with a 200 psi boiler pressure and cylinders of 10 inch bore and 15 inch stroke. In 1866, Hughes announced a sale of timber and associated equipment from the "Falcon Railway Plant Works" as he had decided to close down ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edge Rail
Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramway, were used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power. Ancient systems The earliest evidence is of the 6 to 8.5 km 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. Wooden rails Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola (image right) in his work De re metallica. This line used "Hund" carts wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plateway
A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later. Plateways consisted of "L"-shaped rails, where the flange on the rail guides the wheels, in contrast to edgeways, where flanges on the wheels guide them along the track. Plateways were originally horsedrawn but, later on, cable haulage and small locomotives were sometimes used. The plates of the plateway were made of cast iron, often fabricated by the ironworks that were their users. On most lines, that system was replaced by rolled wrought iron (and later steel) "edge rails" which, along with realignment to increase the radius of curves, converted them into modern railways, better suited to locomotive operation. Plateways were particularly favoured in South Wales and the Forest of Dean, in some cases replacing existing edge rails. Other notable plateways included the Hay Railway, the Glouce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toll Road
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and Road maintenance, maintenance. Toll roads have existed in some form since Classical antiquity, antiquity, with tolls levied on passing travelers on foot, wagon, or horseback; a practice that continued with the automobile, and many modern tollways charge fees for motor vehicles exclusively. The amount of the toll usually varies by vehicle type, weight, or number of axles, with freight trucks often charged higher rates than cars. Tolls are often collected at toll plazas, toll booths, toll houses, toll stations, toll bars, toll barriers, or toll gates. Some toll collection points are automatic, and the user deposits money in a machine which opens the gate once the correct toll ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tram On The Swansea And Mumbles Railway In Wales, 1807
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys (not to be confused with trolleybus) in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States, with ''trolley'' being the preferred term in the eastern US and ''streetcar'' in the western US. ''Streetcar'' or ''tramway'' are preferred in Canada. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as "trolley-replica buses". In the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clyne Valley Country Park
The Clyne Valley Country Park is an area of parkland in Britain, at Swansea in south Wales. It lies on either side of the valley of the Clyne River and comprises an area of over of land running from the sea at Blackpill, Swansea, inland to Gowerton. It is an area of once splendid woodland with enormous beech, ash and oak trees mainly on the Mumbles side of the Clyne River, and, on the Swansea side, woods and mainly scrub land that has naturally regenerated a reclaimed refuse tip. The valley forms an important link in the ecological corridor that runs from the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountain across commons and on into the Gower AONB. The Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty forms part of the valley's boundary along Clyne Common. Now dormant – apart from the rich habitat that has formed from neglect – the valley at one time was part of the Vivian estate. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was a highly active industrial area with a long history of coa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse-drawn Vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by automobiles and other forms of self-propelled transport. General Horses were domesticated circa 3500 BCE. Prior to that oxen were used. Historically a wide variety of arrangements of horses and vehicles have been used, from chariot racing, which involved a small vehicle and four horses abreast, to horsecars or trollies, which used two horses to pull a car that was used in cities before electric trams were developed. A two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle is a cart (see various types below, both for carrying people and for goods). Four-wheeled vehicles have many names – one for heavy loads is most commonly called a wagon. Very light carts and wagons can also be pulled by donkeys (much smaller than horses), ponie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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