"MartinM" wrote in message ...
"Henry Law" wrote in message
.. .
Chris Cook wrote:
"Matthew Church" wrote in message
om...

...built for a public railway which is still in-situ and still
performing the service for which it was built?

Clue: it lies within the M25.


Beddington Lane level crossing - age about 200 years
(Surrey Iron Rly/LBSCR/SR/BR/Tramlink)

Chris Cook
Beckenham, Kent



Isn't the main line north of Redhill on the line of the Surrey Iron
Railway? But is it the original line or the Quarry line?

The Surrey Iron Railway served the stone quarries (underground) at Quarry
Dean, Merstham; remains of one of the bridges may be seen by the Happy Eater
cafe at Hooley just N of the M23, above the old main line tunnel (not the
Quarry line). There is some original SIR rail on the corner of the A23 by
the Feathers pub in Merstham.

Thanks for that I have never found that bit of line, I will try and do
so today, but I drive past the bridge every afternoon, as do 10,000
other people, and I bet no more than 10 of us recognise it for what it
is.

Starting on the east side of Youngs Brewery on the Thames (east of The
Crane pub), The Surrey Iron Railroad followed (roughly) Garratt Lane,
passed Colliers Wood at perpendicular to the current underground track
and slightly to the west of the LU station, then meandered down to
Carshalton terminating near the ponds.

Later it was extended to link with the Croydon Canal:

MORE TRIVIA:

WTF has the Croydon Canal got to do with uk.railway ???

And then - as you say - follows roughly the existing line past Stoats
Nest Station (alight here for the Derby in Epsom when it was first
built).

The bridge by the Happy Eater is intact and is the original AFAIK,
there is another bridge very close which has been partially demolished
to allow access to a field. No other remnant of the line exists but
you can "walk it" - start at The Goat in Mitcham and follow Tramway
Passage until you reach the London to Wimbledon tram line, then the
tram follows the old railroad for some distance.

--- Matthew Church said:


MORE TRIVIA:

WTF has the Croydon Canal got to do with uk.railway ???


IIRC it was filled in and became the trackbed on the line via Forest
Hill and Sydenham.

"Solar Penguin" wrote in message ...
--- Matthew Church said:

MORE TRIVIA:

WTF has the Croydon Canal got to do with uk.railway ???

IIRC it was filled in and became the trackbed on the line via Forest
Hill and Sydenham.

The track runs along the bottom of the canal, the brickwork and the
old basin form part of an earlier transport system.

Quite a nice link for the SIR:

"In 1803, the Surrey Iron Railway was opened in Mitcham. It was the
first public railway to be sanctioned by Parliament and made Mitcham
the first place in the world to be served by a public railway. It used
horse drawn wagons to carry coal from the Thames at Wandsworth as far
as Croydon. On the way back from Croydon to Wandsworth, these wagons
carried flour, copper, paper and the town's most famous product -
Mitcham Lavender. The Georgian station at Mitcham is still in use, and
is one of the oldest railway stations in the world."

http://tinyurl.com/3rgo4

"The line was opened on 26th July, 1803. It was therefore the first
horse railway for public transport which was independent of a canal.
The railway was fairly level and a horse could pull five or six loaded
wagons carry over 20 tons of coal at just under 3 mph."

http://tinyurl.com/4h9wc

I drove over, and looked under, the bridge at the Dean Lane junction
with the busy A23 by the Happy Eater today and it is still very much a
bridge. When those old engineers (Jessop in this case) took on
projects they didn't do things by halves did they?! The first ever
public railway and they wanted to extend it to Portsmouth! The
Liverpool and Manchester had to go for a swim in Chat Moss, and the
next one IIRC was the London & Chatham with a colossal viaduct which
shattered the wheels of the carriages.

Matthew Church wrote:
"Solar Penguin" wrote in message ...

--- Matthew Church said:

MORE TRIVIA:

WTF has the Croydon Canal got to do with uk.railway ???


IIRC it was filled in and became the trackbed on the line via Forest
Hill and Sydenham.


The track runs along the bottom of the canal, the brickwork and the
old basin form part of an earlier transport system.

If you allow reused infrastructure from older transport forms
incorporated into new ones, then the Higham and Strood tunnels must
count, as they were dug for the Thames & Medway canal in 17xx.

Robin

"R.C. Payne" wrote in message
...

If you allow reused infrastructure from older transport forms
incorporated into new ones, then the Higham and Strood tunnels must
count, as they were dug for the Thames & Medway canal in 17xx.

1819-24
Peter

Peter Masson wrote:
"R.C. Payne" wrote in message
...

If you allow reused infrastructure from older transport forms
incorporated into new ones, then the Higham and Strood tunnels must
count, as they were dug for the Thames & Medway canal in 17xx.


1819-24
Peter

Are they really that new? I had always assumed they were older than
that, but a quick google confirms these dates.

Robin

--- Matthew Church said:

Quite a nice link for the SIR:

"In 1803, the Surrey Iron Railway was opened in Mitcham. It was the
first public railway to be sanctioned by Parliament and made Mitcham
the first place in the world to be served by a public railway. It used
horse drawn wagons to carry coal from the Thames at Wandsworth as far
as Croydon. On the way back from Croydon to Wandsworth, these wagons
carried flour, copper, paper and the town's most famous product -
Mitcham Lavender. The Georgian station at Mitcham is still in use, and
is one of the oldest railway stations in the world."

http://tinyurl.com/3rgo4

If this is the answer to the original posted question, I am not sure
it is correct. The building was built as a house and only adapted as a
station in the 1850's when the SIR was replaced by the 'conventional'
railway. There is no evidence that I know of to suggest it was
anything other than a private house when the SIR was built. The SIR
didn't have stations in the accepted sense as it served various
wharves and sidings etc for goods only. There was a loop and sidings
for a coal merchant here but it was on the south side of the line and
not where the station building is. The web site quoted is a bit
misleading here. Also, Mitcham was hardly the first place to be served
by a public railway. It was simply near the route of the line that
went to Croydon (much more important) and intended to go on to
Portsmouth.

Peter Heather

(Peter Heather) wrote in message . com...
--- Matthew Church said:

Quite a nice link for the SIR:

"In 1803, the Surrey Iron Railway was opened in Mitcham. It was the
first public railway to be sanctioned by Parliament and made Mitcham
the first place in the world to be served by a public railway. It used
horse drawn wagons to carry coal from the Thames at Wandsworth as far
as Croydon. On the way back from Croydon to Wandsworth, these wagons
carried flour, copper, paper and the town's most famous product -
Mitcham Lavender. The Georgian station at Mitcham is still in use, and
is one of the oldest railway stations in the world."

http://tinyurl.com/3rgo4

If this is the answer to the original posted question, I am not sure
it is correct. The building was built as a house and only adapted as a
station in the 1850's when the SIR was replaced by the 'conventional'
railway. There is no evidence that I know of to suggest it was
anything other than a private house when the SIR was built. The SIR
didn't have stations in the accepted sense as it served various
wharves and sidings etc for goods only. There was a loop and sidings
for a coal merchant here but it was on the south side of the line and
not where the station building is. The web site quoted is a bit
misleading here. Also, Mitcham was hardly the first place to be served
by a public railway. It was simply near the route of the line that
went to Croydon (much more important) and intended to go on to
Portsmouth.

Peter Heather

The original question envisaged the Happy Eater bridge as being the
correct answer. They are quibbling by saying, "Okay it's a bridge but
it's no longer a bridge over a railway".

"Matthew Church" wrote in message
om...

Starting on the east side of Youngs Brewery on the Thames (east of The
Crane pub), The Surrey Iron Railroad followed (roughly) Garratt Lane,
passed Colliers Wood at perpendicular to the current underground track
and slightly to the west of the LU station, then meandered down to
Carshalton terminating near the ponds.

Later it was extended to link with the Croydon Canal:

And then - as you say - follows roughly the existing line past Stoats
Nest Station (alight here for the Derby in Epsom when it was first
built).

The bridge by the Happy Eater is intact and is the original AFAIK,
there is another bridge very close which has been partially demolished
to allow access to a field. No other remnant of the line exists but
you can "walk it" - start at The Goat in Mitcham and follow Tramway
Passage until you reach the London to Wimbledon tram line, then the
tram follows the old railroad for some distance.

The Surrey Iron Railway ran from Wandsworth to Croydon, with branches to
Hackbridge and the Croydon Canal Basin. After the London & Croydon and
London & Brighton Railways opened (by 1841), the Surrey Iron Railway was
effectively defunct, and was closed, and the company dissolved, in August
1846. Part of the trackbed was subsequently used for the Wimbledon & Croydon
Railway (and recently converted for Tramlink).

The nominally separate Croydon, Merstham & Godstone Railway extended the
Croydon Iron Railway to the Greystone Lime Works. Its trackbed was not used
by the London & Brighton, except incidentally, but the Brighton's route did
intersect it and obliterate its route, and the London & Brighton purchased
the earlier company in 1838.

Peter

Peter Masson wrote:
"Matthew Church" wrote in message
om...

Starting on the east side of Youngs Brewery on the Thames (east of
The
Crane pub), The Surrey Iron Railroad followed (roughly) Garratt
Lane,
passed Colliers Wood at perpendicular to the current underground
track
and slightly to the west of the LU station, then meandered down to
Carshalton terminating near the ponds.

Later it was extended to link with the Croydon Canal:

And then - as you say - follows roughly the existing line past
Stoats
Nest Station (alight here for the Derby in Epsom when it was first
built).

The bridge by the Happy Eater is intact and is the original AFAIK,
there is another bridge very close which has been partially
demolished
to allow access to a field. No other remnant of the line exists but
you can "walk it" - start at The Goat in Mitcham and follow Tramway
Passage until you reach the London to Wimbledon tram line, then the
tram follows the old railroad for some distance.

The Surrey Iron Railway ran from Wandsworth to Croydon, with branches
to
Hackbridge and the Croydon Canal Basin. After the London & Croydon
and
London & Brighton Railways opened (by 1841), the Surrey Iron Railway
was
effectively defunct, and was closed, and the company dissolved, in
August
1846. Part of the trackbed was subsequently used for the Wimbledon &
Croydon
Railway (and recently converted for Tramlink).

The nominally separate Croydon, Merstham & Godstone Railway extended
the
Croydon Iron Railway to the Greystone Lime Works.

It never got to Godstone although IIRC some of the rails ended up in
the underground stone quarry there

Its trackbed was not used
by the London & Brighton, except incidentally, but the Brighton's
route did
intersect it and obliterate its route, and the London & Brighton
purchased
the earlier company in 1838.

The mainline spur to the limeworks is still there complete with track,
between the two tunnel approaches S of the Merstham tunnels; but the
bridge which took it over the Quarry line just before the tunnel has
gone.