Evolution of the Railway 203 



very common and frequently made use of about Newcastle 

 and also at Broseley, Benthal and other places in Shropshire, 

 and are so far from being nuisances that they have ever been 

 esteemed very useful to preserve the roads, which would 

 be otherwise made very bad and deep by the carriage of 

 coal in common waggons and carts." 



The Tyneside colliery rail- way was, in fact, widely adopted ; 

 though it underwent many improvements long before there 

 was any suggestion of operating the new form of traction by 

 means of locomotives. 



The first improvement on the original wooden rail pegged 

 on to the sleepers was the fastening on it of another rail, in 

 order that this could be removed, when worn down, without 

 interfering with the sleepers. This arrangement was known 

 as the " double way " ; and Nicholas Wood says of it : 

 " The double rail, by increasing the height of the surface 

 whereon the carriage travelled, allowed the inside of the road 

 to be filled up with ashes or stone to the under side of the 

 upper rail, and consequently above the level of the sleepers, 

 which thus secured them from the action of the feet of the 

 horses." He adds that on the first introduction of the double 

 way the under rail was of oak, and afterwards of fir, mostly 

 six feet long, and reaching across three sleepers, and was 

 about five inches broad on the surface by four or five inches 

 in depth. The upper rail was of the same dimensions and 

 almost always made of beech or plane tree. 



The next improvement was the nailing of thin strips, or 

 " plates," of wrought iron on to the double rail wherever 

 there was a steep descent or a considerable curve, thus 

 diminishing the friction. These " plates " were about two 

 inches wide and half an inch thick, and they were fastened 

 on to the wooden rails with ordinary nails. They constituted 

 the first step towards the conversion of wooden rail- ways into 

 an iron road, and Nicholas Wood thinks it very likely that 

 the diminution of friction resulting from their use may have * 

 suggested the substitution of iron rails for wooden ones. 



Cast-iron rails began to come into use about 1767. Their 

 brittleness was, at first, found to be a great disadvantage ; 

 but this defect was subsequently overcome, to a certain 

 extent, by the use of smaller waggons, which allowed of a 

 better distribution of weight over the rail. Then in or about 



