Surrey Iron Railway

Origins

By the end of the eighteenth century, a number of short plateways, such as those to the Caldon Low quarries and the Little Eaton Gangway, had been built. Their purpose was to convey a mineral to a nearby canal for onward transport.

The original plan for a transport connection between Wandsworth, on the River Thames, and the industries of the Wandle Valley had been a canal scheme, put forward in 1799, but doubts about the availability of water led to the adoption of a plateway. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the world's first railway authorised by Parliament independently of a canal: that was the Middleton Railway (1758). Nor was it the first public railway or the first railway company: both of those honours go to the Lake Lock Rail Road near Wakefield, Yorkshire.

The Surrey Railways Act 1801 (41 Geo. 3. (U.K.) c. xxxiii) received royal assent on 21 May 1801, and work commenced immediately with William Jessop as engineer, George Leather as resident engineer, and joint contractor with Benjamin Outram. The line started at a wharf on the Thames at Wandsworth, and ascended gently through Tooting and Mitcham to Pitlake Mead in Croydon. There was a branch from near the site of the Mitcham Junction to oil-cake mills at Hackbridge, and a number of spurs to mills and works.

The initial share capital was £50,000 to which a further £10,000 was added in 1805–1806 having been authorised by the Surrey Iron Railway Act 1805 (45 Geo. 3. c. v). The final cost, including the dock at Wandsworth, was between £54,700 and £60,000. The main traffic was coal, building materials, lime, manure, corn and seeds. Horses were the motive power, and passengers were never contemplated.

The railway was only briefly successful financially. It lost much traffic after the Croydon Canal opened in 1809, though the full effect was not felt until the canal acquired a rail link to the two railways in 1811. Later it suffered from the closure of the underground stone quarries at Merstham in the 1820s. It covered its costs, but was unable to update its technology or to keep the track in good repair. The Surrey Iron Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. cccxxxiii) authorised its closure on 31 August 1846.

History

The advent of faster and more powerful steam locomotives spelled the end for horse-drawn railways. In 1823, William James, a shareholder in the railway, tried to persuade George Stephenson to supply a locomotive. Stephenson realised that the cast-iron plateway could not support the weight of a locomotive and declined. A steam railway arrived in Croydon with the opening of the London and Croydon Railway in 1839.

In 1844 the proprietors sold the railway to the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR), which sold it to the London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) so that the L&BR could use the trackbed to extend from Croydon to Earlsfield and then join the L&SWR line into Nine Elms and eventually Waterloo. However, the sale did not proceed, and on 3 August 1846 the Surrey Iron Railway obtained an act of Parliament authorising its closure, the Surrey Iron Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. cccxxxiii). The closure took place on 31 August 1846. Part of the route was used for part of the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line, part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1856, and some of the route is in use by London Tramlink: routes 3 & 4 between Wandle Park & Waddon Marsh, and route 3 at Mitcham.

It was a public toll railway, providing a track for independent goods hauliers to use their own horses and wagons. The company did not operate its own trains. Sometimes it leased out the track and the dock, and sometimes it collected tolls and kept the line in repair itself. From about 1836, James Lyon leased the tolls and could be hired to convey goods along the railway. There were toll or gate houses at Croydon, Wandsworth and Colliers Wood. According to the Mitcham Advertiser, the Colliers Wood gate house was still standing on 7 May 1956.

It was double-track plateway with a spacing of about five feet (1.5 m) between the centres of the stone blocks. The stone blocks were up to 16 inches (41 cm) square and 9 inches (23 cm) thick, with a hole for an octagonal oak plug, making them larger than Outram suggested. The gauge was recorded as 4 ft 2 in (1,270 mm), the same as on the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway.

The rails were of the Outram pattern 3 feet 2 inches (97 cm) long, 4 inches (10 cm) on the tread except for 5–6 inches (13–15 cm) at the ends where they were 1⁄2 inch (1.3 cm) thicker. A matching rectangular recess at the ends of each rail allowed the ends of two rails to be secured by a single iron nail or spike, hammered into the oak plug. The height of the vertical flange varied along its length from about 2+1⁄2 inches (6.4 cm) at the ends to about 3 inches (7.6 cm) in the middle. Breakages of the brittle cast iron led to modifications in the replacement rails. Some rails had a smaller downward flange or rib along the rail's trailing edge. Rails with a constant 1 inch (2.5 cm) flange were used at road crossings, as directed by the House of Lords. Farey states the crossing was made level using pavement stones. Simple points or switch plates consisting of a pivoted iron rail or bar allowed trains to pass from one track to another, connect branch lines and provide sidings at the wharves. At the Wandsworth wharf there were a pair of turnplates or turntables that allowed the wagons to be rotated through 90° so their load could be tipped into a waiting barge. This was facilitated by an overhanging pier or stage, which likely included a tipping frame.