CHAP. I. THE FIRST RAILROADS. 7 



of the line was selected by General Cope as a position 

 for his cannon at the battle of Prestoiipans. 



In these rude wooden tracks we find the genii of the 

 modern railroad. Improvements were gradually made 

 in them. Thus, at some collieries, thin plates of iron 

 were nailed upon their upper surface, for the purpose of 

 protecting the parts most exposed to friction. Cast-iron 

 rails were also tried, the wooden rails having been found 

 liable to rot. The first iron rails are supposed to have 

 been laid down at Whitehaven as early as 1T38. This 

 cast-iron road was denominated a " plate-way," from the 

 plate-like form in which the rails were cast. In 1767, 

 as appears from the books of the Coalbrookdale Iron 

 Works, in Shropshire, five or six tons of rails were cast, 

 as an experiment, on the suggestion of Mr. Reynolds, 

 one of the partners ; and they were shortly after laid 

 down to form a road. 



In 1776, a cast-iron tramway, nailed to wooden 

 sleepers, was laid down at the Duke of Norfolk's col- 

 liery near Sheffield. The person who designed and 

 constructed this coal line was Mr. John Curr, whose 

 son has erroneously claimed for him the invention of 

 the cast-iron railway. He certainly adopted it early, 

 and thereby met the fate of men before their age ; 

 for his plan was opposed by the 

 labouring people of the colliery, 

 who got up a riot in which they tore 

 up the road and burnt the coal-staith. 

 whilst Mr. Curr fled into a neigh- 

 bouring wood for concealment, and 

 lay there perdu for three days and 

 nights, to escape the fury of the 

 jH'pulace. 1 The plates of these 

 early tramways had a ledge cast 

 on their edge to guide the wheel along the road, after 

 the manner shown in the annexed cut, 



1 * Railway Locomotion and Steam Navigation, their Principles and Practice.' 

 By John Curr. London, 1847. 





