page_title: Wagonway
section_title: Wooden rails
hierarchical_section_title: Wagonway / Wooden rails
caption_attribution_description: Română: Vagonet de lemn din secolul al XVI-lea. Vagonetul şi şinele provin din fosta mină de aur “Sf.Apostoli” de lȃngă Brad.Deutsch: Holzbahn aus dem 16. Jahrhundert. Wagen und Gleis wurden aus der Goldgrube "Apostelgrube Brad-Siebenbürgen" im Jahr 1889 geborgen. German Museum of Technology &#160;&#160;Native nameDeutsches Technikmuseum BerlinLocationBerlinCoordinates52°&#160;29′&#160;55″&#160;N, 13°&#160;22′&#160;39″&#160;E &#160;Established1983Web pagewww.sdtb.deAuthority control : Q706530 VIAF:&#8201;150642200 ISNI:&#8201;0000 0001 0121 6426 LCCN:&#8201;n97103087 GND:&#8201;2162237-1 SUDOC:&#8201;075899728 WorldCat institution QS:P195,Q706530
context_page_description: Wagonways consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway and dramway were used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power.
context_section_description: Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola (image right) in his work De re metallica. This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks.
  Around 1568, German miners working in the Mines Royal near Keswick used such a system. Archaeological work at the Mines Royal site at Caldbeck in the English Lake District confirmed the use of "hunds".
  In 1604, Huntingdon Beaumont completed the Wollaton Wagonway, built to transport coal from the mines at Strelley to Wollaton Lane End, just west of Nottingham, England. Wagonways have been discovered between Broseley and Jackfield in Shropshire from 1605, used by James Clifford to transport coal from his mines in Broseley to the Severn River. It has been suggested that these are somewhat older than that at Wollaton.
  The Middleton Railway in Leeds, which was built in 1758 as a wagonway, later became the world's first operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the America was built in Lewiston, New York as a wagonway.
  Wagonways improved coal transport by allowing one horse to deliver between 10 to 13 long tons (10.2 to 13.2 t; 11.2 to 14.6 short tons) of coal per run— an approximate fourfold increase. Wagonways were usually designed to carry the fully loaded wagons downhill to a canal or boat dock and then return the empty wagons back to the mine.
caption: Minecart from 16th century, found in Transylvania
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