250 years old and still going

L

leswell

New member
This year the Middleton Railway is celebrating 250 years of continuous operation predating the Stockton to Darlington (1821) by some 63 years.

http://www.middletonrailway.org.uk/index.htm

Originally built as a plate railway to a gauge of 4' 1" it went on to become the first railway to operate steam traction (1821) on a commercially viable basis using engines designed by John Blenkinsop and locally built by Matthew Murray using a rack and pinion system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleton_Railway

The line originally connected the Middleton Colliery (now defunct) with Leeds. These days the line begins alongside the M621 motorway close to the centre of Leeds, and terminates in Middleton Park the former site of the colliery



Les
 
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That's way cool, Les, and it's operational to boot!

Our oldest railway in the US is the Quincy Granite Railroad used to haul granite blocks used for buildings and monuments. This dates to the much later period of 1825. There are still pieces of it left intact in the reservation near the old quarries.

John
 
Hi leswell,

Do you have any other internet web links giving the history of the line, or is this info available through the link you have just provided??.

This certainly looks very interesting & I will be back later to check it all out.
The line predates the route I am currently involved with, by abot 70-80 years.

:wave:
 
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