List of horse-drawn railways

Namaqualand Railway mule train, c. 1876.

This is a worldwide list of horse-drawn railways, an early form of rail transport that utilised horses and other similar animals to pull rail cars. Horses were also used for shunting.

Examples

Before 1800

Horses were used to pull railways in funiculars and coal mines as early as early 16th century. The earliest recorded example is the Reisszug, a. inclined railway dating to 1515. Almost all of the mines built in 16th and 17th century used horse-drawn railways as their only mode of transport^[citation needed].

1800–1849

Name	Years of operation	Gauge	Location	Image	Notes
Ticknall Tramway	1802–1913	4 ft 2 in (1,270 mm)	Ticknall, England
Swansea & Mumbles Railway	1804–1877	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	Swansea, Wales		The world's first passenger railway service. Later electrified[1][2]
Leiper Railroad	1810–1828	4 ft (1,219 mm)	Delaware County, Pennsylvania		The first permanent tramway in America
Bryn Oer Tramway	1814–1861	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)	Talybont-on-Usk, Wales
Hill's Tramroad	c. 1815 – c. 1926	2 ft (610 mm)	Llanfoist, Wales
Hay Railway	1816–1860	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)/ 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	Eardisley, England to Brecon, Wales		Converted from 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge plateway to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge edgeway
Blaafarveværket	Opened c. 1820s		Norway
Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway	1823–1888, 1860) ^[clarification needed]	4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm)	Princetown, England
Stockton and Darlington Railway	1825–1833	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	Darlington, England		Operated with both horses and engines between 1825 and 1833
Granite Railroad	1826–1871	1,524 mm (5 ft)	Quincy, Massachusetts
Saint-Étienne–Andrézieux railway	1827–	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	France
České Budějovice–Linz Railway	1828–	1,106 mm (3 ft 7+1⁄2 in)			The first public railway in continental Europe
Bavarian Ludwig Railway	1835–1863	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	Fürth, Germany
Whitby and Pickering Railway	Opened 1836	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	Whitby, England
Port Arthur, Tasmania Tramway	1836–				Human powered
Festiniog Railway	1836–1863[3]	1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm)	Porthmadog, Wales		Horses hauled empty trains uphill, and rode down in Dandy waggons under gravity power. Later replaced by steam locomotives.
Patent (1838–1844) G. Peppercorne[4]					^[What railway is this?]
Bratislava to Svätý Jur to Trnava Váh horse railway	1840 – 10 October 1872	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)[5][6]
Bazias to Anina via Oravița	1846–1863		Present-day Romania		Used for coal transport to a port on the river Danube
Leith and Musselburgh Tramway	1841– [7]

1850–1879

Name	Years of operation	Gauge	Location	Image	Notes
Fintona Railway	1853–1957	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)[8]	Ireland
Goolwa Port Elliot Railway	1854–1884	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)			Extended to Victor Harbor and Strathalbyn by 1869. Used up to 16 horses,[9] 29 to Strathalbyn[10]
Treffry Tramways	1835–				Clay mining
	1861-?[11]		Nelson, New Zealand
Dun Mountain Railway	1861–1901	914 mm (3 ft)
Wallaroo (smelter and port) to Moonta (mines) – tramway	1862–1890s[12][13]		South Australia
Port Macdonnell to Mount Gambier – proposal			South Australia		Proposed, but never built[14]
Omaha Horse Railway	1867–1889		Omaha, Nebraska
Port Wakefield Railway	1870–1876	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)	South Australia		Converted to locomotive haulage
Kingston-Naracoorte railway line	1871	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)	South Australia		Operated with horses for first six months after construction before locomotives were available
Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia	1873–1876	762 mm (2 ft 6 in)	Chile		Mule-drawn
Douglas Bay Horse Tramway	1876–present	3 ft (914 mm)	Douglas, Isle of Man		Shires and Clydesdales are used to pull a fleet of original tramcars along the seafront.
Port Broughton	1876–1926	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)	South Australia		Always isolated; locomotives proposed in 1906[15]
Namaqualand Railway	opened 1869–1876	762 mm (2 ft 6 in)			Steam followed gradually
Kailan – Lutai Canal	1878–1881				Mule-drawn for coal[16]

After 1880

Name	Years of operation	Gauge	Location	Image	Notes
Horse Tramways in Fiji	1884–	762 mm (2 ft 6 in) 610 mm (2 ft)	Fiji		Some assisted by manpower. Cane tramways.
Spiekeroog tramways	1885-1949	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)	East Frisian Islands, Germany		The last horse-drawn railway in Germany. Horses were replaced by diesel locomotives on 31 May 1949
McKenzie Creek Tramway	1887–1925		Horsham, Victoria		Shire-operated, 8 kilometres (5 mi) long
Nasik Tramway	1889–1930s		India
Bärschwil gypsum railway	1894–1952	2 ft (610 mm)	Switzerland
Welshpool Jetty railway	1905–1941	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)	Port Welshpool, Victoria, Australia
Finton Tramway	Closed 1957	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) [17]	Ireland
Gawler[18]	1879–1931	5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)	Gawler, South Australia
Moonta[18]			Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

Bibliography

• Discovering Britain's First Railways - A guide to Horse-drawn Tramroads and Waggonways, by Mark Jones. The History Press 2012. (144 pp). Map shows locations of 40 waggonways with a bibliography of 40 books.

See also

• Corduroy road
• Horsecar

References

1. "Horse-Drawn Train". The Examiner. Launceston, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 12 December 1908. p. 3 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
2. "The Oldest Railway". The Horsham Times (Vic. : 1882–1954). Vic.: National Library of Australia. 24 January 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
3. "The Festiniog Railway". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 27 May 1872. p. 2. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
4. "Correspondence". Illustrated Sydney News. NSW: National Library of Australia. 25 March 1854. p. 3. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
5. "There is still interest in the building of the first horse railway". Zeleznicne.info. Zeleznice.info. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
6. "The history of public transport in Bratislava before 1895". imhd.sk. imhd.sk. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
7. "To the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 17 November 1856. p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
8. Ireland lost lines, Ian Allan, 2006, p71
9. "Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 17 August 1867. p. 3. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
10. "Along the Line - Goolwa to Pt Elliot". SteamRanger. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
11. "Cheap Railways". Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser. NSW: National Library of Australia. 28 November 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
12. "House of Assembly". South Australian Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 31 July 1889. p. 6. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
13. "Meeting at Moonta". Kadina and Wallaroo Times. SA: National Library of Australia. 12 July 1890. p. 2. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
14. "Horse-Drawn Railway Was Once Proposed For Port MacDonnell". The Border Watch. Mount Gambier, SA: National Library of Australia. 23 June 1953. p. 13. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
15. "THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 25 July 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
16. "China's Moral Debt to Great Britain". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 10 December 1918. p. 5. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
17. Steaming through Briton p28
18. "Railway Management". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 22 November 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 24 November 2011.

External links

• The oldest surviving horse drawn tramway operating in Douglas on the Isle of Man