The Butterley Gangroad was an early tramway in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

of approximately gauge, which linked Hilt's Quarry and other limestone quarries at

Crich Crich is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. Besides the village of Crich, the civil parish includes the nearby villages of Fritchley, Whatstandwell and Wheatcroft, Derbyshire, Wheatcroft. The population of the civi ...

with the

Cromford Canal The Cromford Canal ran from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 canal lock, locks. From Crom ...

at Bullbridge. The first railway project of Derbyshire civil engineer

Benjamin Outram Benjamin Outram (1 April 1764 – 22 May 1805) was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways. Life Born at Alfreton in Derbyshire, he began his career assisting his father ...

(1764–1805), the line was originally a horse-drawn and gravity-driven

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 ...

, a form of tramway that Outram popularised. Unlike modern edgeways, where flanges on the wheel guide it along the track, plateways used L-shaped rails where a flange on the rail guided the wheels. The line was constructed in 1793, with the construction of

Fritchley Tunnel Fritchley Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel at Fritchley in Derbyshire, England, which is believed to be the oldest surviving example in the world. The tunnel was constructed in 1793 by Benjamin Outram as part of the Butterley Gangroad, altered ...

, now believed to be the world's oldest railway tunnel, being required to go under a road junction at

Fritchley Fritchley is a small village in Derbyshire, England, situated to the south of Crich and north of Ambergate. It falls under the civil parish of Crich. To the east of the village is the ruin of a windmill. Fritchley has an active Congregational Ch ...

. A

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

using a walking mechanism, known as the

Steam Horse locomotive The ''Steam Horse'' was an early railway steam locomotive constructed by the Butterley Company in Derbyshire in 1813 by William Brunton (1777–1851). Also known as the ''Mechanical Traveller'', it had a pair of mechanical legs, with feet tha ...

, was trialled on the line in 1813. In the 1840s, upgrading took place to accommodate steam locomotives, and part of the original line was moved. The railway remained in use until 1933.

References

External links

* http://www.butterleygangroad.co.uk/ {{coord, 53.07315, N, 1.46629, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in England Closed railway lines in the East Midlands Railway lines opened in 1793 Horse-drawn railways 1793 establishments in England 1933 disestablishments in England

See also

References

External links