Hay Railway - Misplaced Pages

The Hay Railway was a narrow gauge horse-drawn tramway in the district surrounding Hay-on-Wye in Brecknockshire, Wales. The railway connected Eardisley in Herefordshire, England, with Brecon in Wales. The Brecon terminus was Watton Wharf on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal.

Parliamentary authorisation, construction and opening

United Kingdom legislation

Hay Railway Act 1811
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	51 Geo. 3. c. cxxii
Dates
Royal assent	25 May 1811
Other legislation
Amended by	Hay Railway Act 1812

United Kingdom legislation

Hay Railway Act 1812
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for enabling the Company of Proprietors of the Hay Railway to amend, vary, and extend the Line of the said Railway, and for altering and enlarging the Powers of an Act passed in the Fifty-first Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for making and maintaining the said Railway.
Citation	52 Geo. 3. c. cvi
Dates
Royal assent	20 May 1812
Other legislation
Amends	Hay Railway Act 1811

The railway was authorised by the Hay Railway Act 1811 (51 Geo. 3. c. cxxii) on 25 May 1811. Construction of its winding 24-mile-long route took nearly five years and the line was opened on 7 May 1816. The tramway was built to a gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm). The railway adopted the use of cast-iron L-shaped tramroad plates in its construction. The vertical portions of the two plates were positioned inside the wheels of the tramway wagons and the plates were spiked to stone blocks for stability. The size of the stones, and their spacing, was such that the horses could operate unimpeded.

Operation of the railway

From 1 May 1820, the Hay Railway was joined at its Eardisley terminus, in an end on junction, by the Kington Tramway. Together, the two lines totalled 36 miles in length, comprising the longest continuous plateway to be completed in the United Kingdom.

The Hay railway operated through rural areas on the borders of England and Wales and was built to transport goods and freight. Passengers were not carried on any official basis.

United Kingdom legislation

Hay Railway Act 1860
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	23 & 24 Vict. c. clxxix
Dates
Royal assent	6 August 1860
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Hay Railway was absorbed into the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway by virtue of the Hay Railway Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. clxxix) and the line was converted to standard gauge for operation by steam locomotives.

References

Notes

Awdry 1990, p. 80
Simmons 1997, pp. 134–135
Simmons 1997, p. 134
Baughan 1980, p. 205

Bibliography

Awdry, Christopher (1990), Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies, Patrick Stephens Ltd, ISBN 1-85260-508-1
Baughan, Peter E. (1980). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 11 North and Mid Wales (1st ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7850-3. OCLC 6823219.
Baughan, Peter E. (1991). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 11 North and Mid Wales (2nd ed.). Nairn: David St John Thomas. ISBN 0-9465-3759-3. OCLC 26361284.
Simmons, Jack, ed. (1997), British Railway History, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-211697-5

v t e Historic Welsh railway companies
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Parliamentary authorisation, construction and opening

Operation of the railway

See also

References