The Mother of All Inventions?

[rogerfarnworth]

When and why were railways created? What were the circumstances which brought about their existence?

History does not make it easy to take out one example from a steady continuum of change. ... There have been tracks or plateways since Roman times. You might say that these could be brought within the term railway and therefore the Romans invented the railway.

Except there were railways of a sort, at least as far back at 600 BCE, possibly going back even further, maybe as far back as 1000 BCE. The clearest example being the Diolkos Trackway, a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth.

For many people, however, the railways began with the Stockton and Darlington (S&D), though I’m sure people appreciate that history is not always as simple as it may seem.

The linked article is based on a short three page article by David Wilson which he wrote in the early 1990s, entitled, 'Mother of Inventions'. It explores some of the significance of the development of the railways and why they seem to hold a special place in our national consciousness.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/03/03/th ... inventions

There will always, and inevitably, be more to say about the development of railways than can be covered in a short article. Some discussion of how those development occurred would be worthwhile in the context of the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway later in 2025. I have been asked to prepare a talk about Stockton & Darlington railway for a special interest group in East Shropshire and considering its importance will preoccupy me in coming months. I hope this first article will be of interest to some readers.

[centenary]

In the north east, at least, the countryside was criss crossed with what were called 'wagon ways.' These were used to transport mainly coal from mines to boats and ships on the Tyne and Wear rivers for transport elsewhere. I dare say other good may also have been transported on these wagon ways.

I personally dont think it's a coincidence that when locomotion and iron rails replaced the horses pulling the wagons, the term 'rail way' came into the venacular.

I personally dont think we can call other historic tracks, whether just a worn area of ground, wooden or 'L' shaped rails true rail ways. With the coming of the industrial revolution and mass production of rails on top of which a flanged wheel could run, that's when I think we can truely use the term 'rail way.'

Just my opinion though!

[Mountain]

The Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway was actually planned and mapped out in 1797.
There was all another tramway in operation prior to this in the Llanelly to Dafen area which does not appear on recent publications or maps. Don't forget that Llanelly area (Later spelt Llanelli after a misguided Welsh movement which wrongly assumed the name had connections with St Elli, where the church and area was origionally abbreviated from the name "Llan-Y-Lliw" which refers to the church of many colours, named after its stained glass windows. But one must also not forget that the area only had a few industrial concerns in the area con enter to the Furnaces, as local people refused to live there due to the area and surrounding areas being totally wiped out by the 1607 tsunami which involved both much loss of life and loss of records held in the local churches. The town of Llanelly (Later Llanelli)'s population along with many of the coastal industrial towns of South Wales were populated by incomers who came into Wales from England, Ireland and elsewhere due to the industrial revolutions desparate needs for workers and various professional experts in their day. Hence why Travithic and many other Cornishmwn made their way into Wales to develop deeper coal mines, as though coal mining in parts of Wales were recorded as far back as the 1500's such as the southern end of the Gwendraeth Valley, they were cell mining which meant they only followed the coal seems in the side of the coal rich mountain to form a cell so they could have just enough oxygen (Hence the cell shape) to breath and the cell would need to be dug higher than the water table, thus limiting the amount of coal they could extract, as they could only go in so far. Lots of these cell mines still exist (Or the remains of them) in the side of that mountain along with a great many later mining operations once adits, shafts and later, pumps were invented and used for both water and ventilation. The transport of first wood, and then later from the 1500's onwards, coal would find their way transported to furnaces in the Burry Port (Used to all be called Pembrey) and Llanelly areas. The cell mines coal was first taken by donkey or horse on their backs in sacks on a trail that went towards Burry Port, and also towards a sea inlet there around where the sand dredge was being parked. This was before the two harbour systems were dug, first the Pembrey Harbour which was in three parts, a large inner harbour to hold water which was fed by the old Swan Pools (Later drained out via "Swan Pool Drain") and a second inner harbour to house ships etc where water could be transferred from the reservoir of the first larger inner harbour, and the outer harbour which was tidal and had no gates to hold the water in. Remember that this area has the worlds greatest difference between high and low tides in the world, hence the need for inner and outer harbours.
Pembrey harbour was soon found to be a battle stopping it from sitting up with the very fine sand in the area and their clearing technique of flushing water through using the reservoir fed by the Swan Pools wasn't enough, so another similar three part harbour was then dug at Burry Port, but this time they used three reservoirs up in the mountain behind with a series of large holes in the harbour walls themselves twice a year a family was given the job to let the water from these upper reservoirs go at the same time, so it would flush out the silt from the harbour. This proved to be highly successful until the last remaining man employed to do this task was made redundant (Or retired?) in the 1990's and the upper reservoirs in the hills were demolished. (After this Burry Port itself flooded as no one was tending these river flows to ensure they were kept clear for the yearly flushing out of the harbour, and the locos athority diverted watercourses on top of the mountain to combat this and ever since then, homes and farms on the other side of the mountain ended up having problems with flooding, where in the past they never had in the past!)
Anway. In the late 1990's to early 2000's they built a water barage system over the front of the outer harbour despite many local concerns from very experienced people saying it would silt up. And silt up it did!
But going back to the history of the coal movement there, when larger amounts of coal were needed then the donkeys could carry could take, they dug out a few canal systems, the most well known of these being Kyle's Canal named after the gentleman who had it dug, Thomas Kymer. These canals were quite some thing, and spanned from Burry Port to Kidwelly and right up the Gwendraeth Valley! (I seem to remember something about one of the canals heading further east but not sure if that was to join the origional sea inlet used before the harbours were dug).
When the railways became popular, the canals were filled in and the railways were placed on top or by side of the main route of the canals. The canal bridges were lower than the standard railway height so all trains used had to be altered or built with this in mind. Two bridges remain which are just 10 inches too low for standard rail height vehicles to be used. Much has been written about the line and its past including the canals in this area. What little has been written about other than in old books such as "Old Llanelly" which itself became out of print in the 1700's, is because the 1607, along with the other tsunamis of around 1200's and 800's (Roughly every 400 years) had wiped out a lot of people. Villages were wiped out and rebuilt. Some were rebuilt to be later abandoned such as Hortin (Also spelt Hawtin, Hawton, Horton etc as there was no universal spelling) whose remains can be seen to this day near St Ishmaels in the Kidwelly to Ferryside area being rather well known locally. Online they claim it was just a pair of fishing huts, but if one goes down and explores before the tides eventually take the last remains, it is clear there was either a church or some sort of hall with lovely blue dressed stones (Stones brought in from afar, way too ornate and costly to be used on a "Fishing hut!") and the remains of many other fine buildings, most of which have now been carried towards the sea. One can even make out old gardens with the plants they planted as some of these plants, not natrually found by the sea were once planted for food or ornamental purposes many years ago! Some of the remains were used to create the railway in the 1840's to 1850's, though they needed a lot more in the form of sea defences at later dates, but now the sand dunes have eroded, whole areas of the old village are slowly being uncovered which are fascinating to explore! This village was formed around the main crossing point of one of the legs of the three rivers. Ferryside was another village crossing point with Llanstephan being on the other side. Horton was destroyed in the 1607 tsunami, and rebuilt, only to be destroyed again during a storm in the late 1700's (Can't remember exact date) where the villagers fled up to the smugglers village (Llansaint) on top of the hill behind. Only a few houses remain of the old Hortin village along with a remaining nearby church which is now known as St Ishmaels.

This is just one area of Wales that has a story to tell. Much history never gets recorded and modern day "Experts" do not realize when they have the wrong take on things from the past. It is a giant learning curve where little snippets of info get handed down and discovered with the more people one talks to about their own families history which then tie into other local aspects to complete the jigsaw of pieces. So many "Qualified" historians miss the details because they blindly follow their pre-learned information and are not willing to keep an open mind and actually talk to the local people! It is really fascinating what one can discover!

[rogerfarnworth]

I enjoyed reading that, Mountain, thank you.

[Mountain]

I am glad.