List of horse-drawn railways

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Namaqualand Railway mule train, c. 1876.

This is a worldwide list of horse-drawn railways, an early form of rail transport that utilised horses and other similar animals to pull rail cars. Horses were also used for shunting.

Examples[edit]

Before 1800[edit]

Horses were used to pull railways in funiculars and coal mines as early as early 16th century. The earliest recorded example is the Reisszug, a. inclined railway dating to 1515. Almost all of the mines built in 16th and 17th century used horse-drawn railways as their only mode of transport[citation needed].

1800–1849[edit]

Name Years of operation Gauge Location Image Notes
Ticknall Tramway 1802–1913 4 ft 2 in (1,270 mm) Ticknall, England
Swansea & Mumbles Railway 1804–1877 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Swansea, Wales The world's first passenger railway service. Later electrified[1][2]
Leiper Railroad 1810–1828 4 ft (1,219 mm) Delaware County, Pennsylvania The first permanent tramway in America
Bryn Oer Tramway 1814–1861 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Talybont-on-Usk, Wales
Hill's Tramroad c. 1815 – c. 1926 2 ft (610 mm) Llanfoist, Wales
Hay Railway 1816–1860 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)/
1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 		Eardisley, England to Brecon, Wales Converted from 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge plateway to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge edgeway
Blaafarveværket Opened c. 1820s Norway
Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway 1823–1888, 1860)
[clarification needed] 		4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) Princetown, England
Stockton and Darlington Railway 1825–1833 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Darlington, England Operated with both horses and engines between 1825 and 1833
Granite Railroad 1826–1871 1,524 mm (5 ft) Quincy, Massachusetts
Saint-Étienne–Andrézieux railway 1827– 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) France
České Budějovice–Linz Railway 1828– 1,106 mm (3 ft 7+1⁄2 in) The first public railway in continental Europe
Bavarian Ludwig Railway 1835–1863 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Fürth, Germany
Whitby and Pickering Railway Opened 1836 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Whitby, England
Port Arthur, Tasmania Tramway 1836– Human powered
Festiniog Railway 1836–1863[3] 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) Porthmadog, Wales Horses hauled empty trains uphill, and rode down in Dandy waggons under gravity power. Later replaced by steam locomotives.
Patent (1838–1844) G. Peppercorne[4] [What railway is this?]
Bratislava to Svätý Jur to Trnava Váh horse railway 1840 – 10 October 1872 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)[5][6]
Bazias to Anina via Oravița 1846–1863 Present-day Romania Used for coal transport to a port on the river Danube
Leith and Musselburgh Tramway 1841– [7]

1850–1879[edit]

Name Years of operation Gauge Location Image Notes
Fintona Railway 1853–1957 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)[8] Ireland
Goolwa Port Elliot Railway 1854–1884 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Extended to Victor Harbor and Strathalbyn by 1869.
Used up to 16 horses,[9] 29 to Strathalbyn[10]
Treffry Tramways 1835– Clay mining
1861-?[11] Nelson, New Zealand
Dun Mountain Railway 1861–1901 914 mm (3 ft)
Wallaroo (smelter and port) to Moonta (mines) – tramway 1862–1890s[12][13] South Australia
Port Macdonnell to Mount Gambier – proposal South Australia Proposed, but never built[14]
Omaha Horse Railway 1867–1889 Omaha, Nebraska
Port Wakefield Railway 1870–1876 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) South Australia Converted to locomotive haulage
Kingston-Naracoorte railway line 1871 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) South Australia Operated with horses for first six months after construction before locomotives were available
Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia 1873–1876 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) Chile Mule-drawn
Douglas Bay Horse Tramway 1876–present 3 ft (914 mm) Douglas, Isle of Man Shires and Clydesdales are used to pull a fleet of original tramcars along the seafront.
Port Broughton 1876–1926 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) South Australia Always isolated; locomotives proposed in 1906[15]
Namaqualand Railway opened 1869–1876 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) Steam followed gradually
Kailan – Lutai Canal 1878–1881 Mule-drawn for coal[16]

After 1880[edit]

Name Years of operation Gauge Location Image Notes
Horse Tramways in Fiji 1884– 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
610 mm (2 ft) 		Fiji Some assisted by manpower. Cane tramways.
Spiekeroog tramways 1885-1949 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) East Frisian Islands, Germany The last horse-drawn railway in Germany. Horses were replaced by diesel locomotives on 31 May 1949
McKenzie Creek Tramway 1887–1925 Horsham, Victoria Shire-operated, 8 kilometres (5 mi) long
Nasik Tramway 1889–1930s India
Bärschwil gypsum railway 1894–1952 2 ft (610 mm) Switzerland
Welshpool Jetty railway 1905–1941 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) Port Welshpool, Victoria, Australia
Finton Tramway Closed 1957 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) [17] Ireland
Gawler[18] 1879–1931 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Gawler, South Australia
Moonta[18] Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

Bibliography[edit]

  • Discovering Britain's First Railways - A guide to Horse-drawn Tramroads and Waggonways, by Mark Jones. The History Press 2012. (144 pp). Map shows locations of 40 waggonways with a bibliography of 40 books.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Horse-Drawn Train". The Examiner. Launceston, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 12 December 1908. p. 3 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  2. ^ "The Oldest Railway". The Horsham Times (Vic. : 1882–1954). Vic.: National Library of Australia. 24 January 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  3. ^ "The Festiniog Railway". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 27 May 1872. p. 2. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  4. ^ "Correspondence". Illustrated Sydney News. NSW: National Library of Australia. 25 March 1854. p. 3. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  5. ^ "There is still interest in the building of the first horse railway". Zeleznicne.info. Zeleznice.info. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  6. ^ "The history of public transport in Bratislava before 1895". imhd.sk. imhd.sk. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  7. ^ "To the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 17 November 1856. p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  8. ^ Ireland lost lines, Ian Allan, 2006, p71
  9. ^ "Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 17 August 1867. p. 3. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  10. ^ "Along the Line - Goolwa to Pt Elliot". SteamRanger. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Cheap Railways". Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser. NSW: National Library of Australia. 28 November 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  12. ^ "House of Assembly". South Australian Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 31 July 1889. p. 6. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Meeting at Moonta". Kadina and Wallaroo Times. SA: National Library of Australia. 12 July 1890. p. 2. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Horse-Drawn Railway Was Once Proposed For Port MacDonnell". The Border Watch. Mount Gambier, SA: National Library of Australia. 23 June 1953. p. 13. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  15. ^ "THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 25 July 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  16. ^ "China's Moral Debt to Great Britain". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 10 December 1918. p. 5. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  17. ^ Steaming through Briton p28
  18. ^ a b "Railway Management". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 22 November 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 24 November 2011.

External links[edit]

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