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Fordell railway, Fife |
Long before the earliest steam railways, horses were being used to haul wagons of coal, on wagonways fitted with rails, from mines to ports and towns.
The first wagonway, from the Tranent mines to the harbour of Cockenzie, East Lothian, operated from 1722. The second, established in the 1750s or 60s, was the Fordell, Fife wagonway. This linked the Fordell mines to the purpose-built St David's Haven, three miles (approx. 4.8km) away.
At Fordell, the original wagons carried four tons (over 4000kg) each, on wooden wheels and rails of four feet four inches (over 1.3m) gague. Other lines followed these early ones, mostly around the Firth of Forth. |
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