Lake Lock Rail Road
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The Lake Lock Rail Road was an early public railway built near Wakefield, UK.
[edit] The Company
The Lake Lock Rail Road Company was formed in 1796 with the capital being acquired from 128 shares. These were purchased by a broad range of people including a lawyer, banker, doctor, clergyman, merchant and widow. The initial route opened to traffic in 1798 (predating the Surrey Iron Railway), and commenced at Lake Lock, near Stanley on the Aire & Calder Navigation and ran broadly in a westerly direction to Outwood, a distance of approximately 3 miles. In 1804 the route was changed to avoid a steep incline and this resulted in the terminus relocating from Lake Lock to Bottomboat. There were also a number of branches to collieries and a stone quarry. Extensions were constructed to East Ardsley and Kirkhamgate.
[edit] The Operation
The primary purpose of the line was the carriage of coal from the various coal pits surrounding the line to the Aire & Calder Navigation for shipment elsewhere. Other goods carried include roadstone, timber and burnt lime. The load of three waggons was hauled by one horse with an average gradient of 1 in 70 down to the navigation. The track used edge rails to a gauge of 3 ft 4 ¾ in. Goods were charged by toll, initially at 6d per ton, subsequently increasing to 10 ½ d per ton. In 1807 110,000 tons were being carried each year, however this had reduced to 81,000 tons by 1819 with a further reduction to 76,000 tons in 1823. The line gradually declined and was closed in 1836 when the major colliery owner J & J Charlesworth built an alternative railway.
[edit] Reference
Goodchild, J. (2006), Early Railways 3, Six Martlets Publishing
