page_title: Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Tranent to Cockenzie waggonway, East Lothian, Scotland
context_page_description: The Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway was an early waggonway, possibly the first in Scotland, opened in 1722. It was 2 ¹⁄₂ miles miles long and connected coal pits at Tranent with the salt pans at Cockenzie and harbour at Port Seton in East Lothian, Scotland. The track was wooden, and wagons were drawn by horses. The Battle of Prestonpans in 1745 was fought across the line.
  It was converted to use iron rails in 1815, and was connected to the new main line North British Railway from 1846, later becoming superseded by a branch line of that railway. A section of the original line of route was still in railway use until 1968. Some of the route can be traced at the present day.
context_section_description: Before the eighteenth century, salt production on the shore of the Firth of Forth was a considerable activity; salt water was evaporated in salt pans. This required considerable quantities of coal, and this formed the largest demand for coal at this early date. While at the earliest date, it was possible to extract coal close to the salt pans, these deposits were soon worked out and coal had to be transported in from a more remote location.
  The landowner, the Earl of Winton, supported the Old Pretender in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 and as a result his estates were forfeit to the Crown. They were later acquired by the York Buildings Company of London, in 1719. Following a series of financial speculations, the Company became the largest in Scotland, but (because of the difficulty of communication in those days) it found it difficult to manage its business. It resolved the problem by leasing local businesses to tenants, providing incentives for them to improve their holdings.
  This resulted in improvements taking place at Port Seton harbour. The waggonway connected the harbour to salt pans at Cockenzie and the coal pits at Tranent. The cost of all the works was £3,500, completed in 1722. This original wooden railway followed a route along what is now School Lane in Cockenzie, before heading eastwards along the High Street to Port Seton Harbour.  Photographs of the waggons used (circa 1854) have been discovered at Cockenzie House, showing waggonway similar to Shropshire design being used. 
  The railway used small wagons in short trains, and with the smaller track gauge this indicates the influence of Shropshire waggonway designs.
  The track gauge was 3 ft 3 in (991 mm); the wagons could carry one Scots chalder (30 cwt); the wagon ends were removable for unloading.
  The installation was let to William Adam for £1,000 per annum. The rent was halved in 1733, reflecting Adam's lack of success in making a profit. He was unable to continue even at this lower rent, and he gave up the lease. Other tenants tried their hand, also without success.
  In 1745 the railway was the scene of part of the Battle of Prestonpans, during the Jacobite rising of 1745. The forces of Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie were advancing southwards, and the opposing forces of Sir John Cope brought them to battle. On 20 September 1745 Cope's troops and artillery ranged along the waggonway. Dendy Marshall says that they used an embankment formed for the railway as cover. Bonnie Prince Charlie cut through Cope's forces, and put them to flight.
  The York Buildings Company was sequestered in 1777, and in 1779 the former Winton estate was sold to the Cadell family.
  The offer for sale declared that: "There is still an extensive field of coal, whereof no part has hitherto been wrought by fire engine or other proper machinery. The whole of the coal lies at a small distance from the sea. The port and harbour of Seaton make part of the estate to be sold; and there is a waggon-way from the coal-pits to the salt-pans and the shore."
  It was stipulated that: "The waggon-way is to be communicated to the purchasers in Lots 2d [2nd] and 3d [3rd] of Tranent, and a liberty reserved, on paying damages, to carry the waggon-way through the links of Seaton to the harbour of Port-Seaton, in the direction it formerly went, when the coal was wrought for the Company's account."
  Worling concludes: "Obviously, the lower part of the waggonway, as originally built, had been allowed to fall into disuse by the tenant... Clearly, in these early times, horses were used to haul the waggons. It may be that gravity was used in the downward direction, as happened later, but it is impossible to ascertain how free running the crude vehicles were. Even allowing for intervening changes in the landscape, an inspection of the route today reveals that the gradient on some parts of the route is slight, and in one place is even uphill against the general lie of the land (around Meadowhill)."
  Robertson's earlier view is not entirely the same: "The line was built to give a steady downhill gradient 
caption: Map of the Tranent waggonway
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