The 200th Anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway
But also, the 200th Anniversary of the proposed Stroud and Severn Railroad
And the 190th Anniversary of the Prospectus for the C & GWUR
The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway
There are national celebrations this year to mark the 200th anniversary of the first public steam railway in the world: the Stockton & Darlington Railway. But few people know that this year also sees a similar anniversary for a proposed local line: a railroad with horse-drawn wagons, connecting the River Severn with Brimscombe on the Thames & Severn Canal: the Stroud and Severn Railroad.
The line would have run from Framilode Passage, through Frampton, Alkerton, King’s Stanley and so to what was the second-largest inland port in the country at Brimscombe. Branch lines were also envisaged for Nailsworth from Dudbridge via Woodchester, with a line to Iron Mills at Avening too.
Dissatisfaction with the tolls levied by the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames & Seven Canal and narrowness of some towpaths (so preventing horse-power) prompted this proposal and this proposal prompted criticism from the canals – such an impractical, duplicative and inefficient pipedream! Nevertheless, the canals did reduce tolls and did widen towpaths. And as it happened, Parliament rejected the Bill for the railroad – but dissatisfaction with the canals continued and so many were pleased to see some ten years later …
Prospectus for the C & GWUR
‘The Stockton and Darlington, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railways – the only experiments of the kind in this country which have been subjected to the test of some years of operation – have established beyond all question, the fact, that this mode of conveyance exceeds all others, hitherto adopted, in the great requisites of safety, regularity, speed, and cheapness.’
Happy Anniversary to the Stockton & Darlington Railway
Happy Anniversary to the Stroud and Severn Railroad
Happy Anniversary to the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway