No. 673: Ram Street, SW18
Ram Street, London, SW18. Photo © Roger Dean 2012
From the plaque on the wall in Ram Street, London, SW18:
The Surrey Iron Railway
was the first public railway in England, probably
the first in the world. The railway ran along
this road on it’s route from Croydon to the
mouth of the river Wandle, a distance of nearly
nine miles. Goods waggons were pulled by horses
along a track of cast iron plates laid on stone
sleepers, […].
The gauge was 4′ 2″.
It opened in 1803, following the passing of the
Surrey Iron Railway Act of 1801, and closed in
1846, the victim of the success of newer railways
powered by steam.
Wandsworth Society 1994
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