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Thomas Grainger
Thomas Grainger FRSE (12 November 1794 – 25 July 1852) was a Scottish civil engineer and surveyor. He was joint partner with John Miller in the prominent engineering firm of Grainger & Miller. Life Grainger was born at Gogar Green near Ratho, outside Edinburgh to Helen Marshall and Hugh Grainger. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, at 16 he got a job with John Leslie, a land surveyor. He started his own practice in 1816, and in 1825 he formed a partnership with John Miller which lasted until 1847. Their firm operated from the ground floor of Grainger's house at 56 George Street, in the centre of Edinburgh's New Town. Between 1845 and 1849 his company worked on the digging of the Bramhope Tunnel and building the Arthington Viaduct as part of laying the Leeds to Stockton-on-Tees line. The first modern rail ferry, the ''Leviathan'', was designed in 1849 by Grainger for the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway to cross the Firth of Forth between Granton and Burntisland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burntisland Railway Station 1
Burntisland ( , sco, also Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn. It is known locally for its award-winning sandy beach, the 15th-century Rossend Castle, as well as the traditional summer fair and Highland games day. To the north of the town a hill called The Binn is a landmark of the Fife coastline; a volcanic plug, it rises above sea level. History Early evidence of human activity in this area has been found in rock carvings on the Binn, thought to be about 4,000 years old. The Roman commander Agricola may have used the natural harbour and set up camp at the nearby Dunearn Hill in AD 83. The earliest historical record of the town was in the 12th century, when the monks of Dunfermline Abbey owned the harbour and neighbouring lands.Lamont-Brown ''Fife in History and Legend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh, Perth And Dundee Railway
The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was a railway company authorised in 1845 to connect Edinburgh to both Perth and Dundee. It relied on ferry crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay, but despite those disadvantages it proved extremely successful. It took over a short railway on the southern shore of the Forth giving a direct connection to Edinburgh, and it changed its name to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. It operated passenger and goods ferryboats over the two Firths directly, but seeking to overcome the cost of manhandling goods and minerals at the quays, it introduced a revolutionary system in which railway goods wagons were transferred on to rails on the steamers by means of movable ramps. The wagons moved on their own wheels and this system formed the world's first roll-on roll-off railway ferry service, in use from 1850. The Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway was taken over by the North British Railway in 1862. The ferry system was a success, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Society Of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established in 1783. , there are around 1,800 Fellows. The Society covers a broader selection of fields than the Royal Society of London, including literature and history. Fellowship includes people from a wide range of disciplines – science & technology, arts, humanities, medicine, social science, business, and public service. History At the start of the 18th century, Edinburgh's intellectual climate fostered many clubs and societies (see Scottish Enlightenment). Though there were several that treated the arts, sciences and medicine, the most prestigious was the Society for the Improvement of Medical Knowledge, commonly referred to as the Medical Society of Edinburgh, co-founded by the mathematician Colin Maclaurin in 1731. Maclaurin was unhappy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Scottish Society Of Arts
The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is a learned society in Scotland, dedicated to the study of science and technology. It was founded as The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland by David Brewster, Sir David Brewster in 1821 and dedicated to ''"the promotion of invention and Entrepreneur, enterprise"''. The Society was granted a Royal Charter in 1841. Background For many years the promotion of invention and improvements of all sorts was the main business of the Society, and its meetings were the focus of a large and active cross-section of Edinburgh society - academics, gentry, professionals such as civil engineers and lawyers, and skilled craftsmen such as instrument makers, engravers and printers. The Society's published Transactions provide a record of changes in technology, and the Society's archive is held by the National Library of Scotland, and is a valuable resource to researchers. In more recent times, the Society's meeting programme has been bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leeds Northern Railway
The Leeds Northern Railway (LNR), originally the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, was an English railway company that built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk. In 1845 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission for a line from Leeds to Thirsk, part of which opened in 1848, but problems building the Bramhope Tunnel delayed trains operating into Leeds until 1849. The Leeds and Thirsk Railway Company changed its name to the Leeds Northern Railway on 3 July 1851 before its line to Stockton opened. The company formed an alliance with the West Hartlepool Harbour & Railway and was involved in a price war with the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway (YN&BR). A merger of the YN&BR with the LNR and the York & North Midland Railway was accepted by LNR shareholders, and by Royal Assent on 31 July 1854 the three companies merged to become the North Eastern Railway. Today, sections of the former Leeds Northern Railway line form the Harrogate Line between Leeds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arbroath And Forfar Railway
The Arbroath and Forfar Railway was a railway that connected Forfar with the port town of Arbroath, in Scotland. It opened in 1838–1839 and it was successful in making an operating profit, but it was always desperately short of capital. It used the track gauge of . When the Aberdeen Railway was authorised in 1845, it leased the Arbroath and Forfar line to form part of its main line connecting Forfar and Aberdeen; it opened in 1848. The Aberdeen Railway was to be a standard gauge line and the A&FR had to alter its track gauge. The A&FR line formed part of the main line from Stirling to Aberdeen, and when the North British Railway started running to Aberdeen in 1881, their trains too ran over a very short section of the A&FR. Nearly all of the A&FR line was closed in 1967 when the former NBR route was selected as the only route to Aberdeen, and the short section immediately north of Arbroath is the only section of the A&FR still in use. History Conception and authorisation I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dundee And Arbroath Railway
The Dundee and Arbroath Railway was an early railway in Scotland. It opened in 1838, and used the unusual track gauge of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm). In 1848 it changed to standard gauge and connected to the emerging Scottish railway network. It was absorbed by the larger Caledonian Railway, but when the North British Railway completed the construction of the Tay Bridge in 1878, it was granted part ownership of the line to enable it to form its main line to Aberdeen, so the line became the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Line. The main line is in use at the present day (except for the terminals at each end) as part of the Dundee to Aberdeen main line. History A scheme agreed Dundee had for centuries been a centre of trade on the Firth of Tay, but Arbroath too was an important port and manufacturing centre. The turnpike road and coastal shipping were both in heavy use connecting the two places. A railway had been proposed in 1826, but not proceeded with. In 1831 an inland-facing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paisley And Renfrew Railway
The Paisley and Renfrew railway was an early Scottish railway company that constructed and operated a line between Paisley and the River Clyde at Renfrew Wharf, enabling journeys between Glasgow and Paisley by connecting river boat. The railway was built to the track gauge of 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) on stone block sleepers. The line opened in 1837 and used locomotive power at first. Its operating costs were much higher than expected, and its income was disappointing, and horse traction was used to save expenditure. The company sold its line to the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway in 1847, but horse traction continued until 1866 when a connecting curve to the main line was opened, and through trains between Renfrew and Glasgow operated. Never a flourishing line, it closed to passengers in 1967, and to goods traffic in 1981. History Paisley was an important Burgh at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and most passenger and goods journeys involved a pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wishaw And Coltness Railway
The Wishaw and Coltness Railway was an early Scottish mineral railway. It ran for approximately 11 miles from Chapel Colliery, at Newmains in North Lanarkshire connecting to the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway near Whifflet, giving a means of transport for minerals around Newmains to market in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Shortage of capital made construction slow, and the line was opened in stages from 1833, opening fully on 9 March 1844. It was built to the track gauge of , commonly used in Scotland for coal railways. It had several branches serving pits and ironworks. In 1849 it became part of the Caledonian Railway and sections of the original network form part of the modern West Coast Main Line railway. Formation of the railway In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the pace of industrialisation in central Scotland accelerated considerably, generating a huge demand for the raw materials of coal and iron ore. Transport of these heavy materials to market was a key issu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garnkirk And Glasgow Railway
The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway was an early railway built primarily to carry coal to Glasgow and other markets from the Monkland coalfields, shortening the journey and bypassing the monopolistic charges of the Monkland Canal; passenger traffic also developed early in the line's existence. It opened officially on 27 September 1831 using horse traction, and had the track gauge of that had been adopted by the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, with which it was to connect. It was dependent on the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway for access to the best areas of the coalfields, but eventually it by-passed this constraint by extending its line southwards through Coatbridge, enabling a direct link with another coal railway, the Wishaw and Coltness Railway. Widening its horizons it changed its name to the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway. The track gauge originally chosen was now a limitation and it altered its gauge to the standard of . When the Caledonian Railway advanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballochney Railway
The Ballochney Railway was an early railway built near Airdrie, Lanarkshire, now in Monklands, Scotland. It was intended primarily to carry minerals from coal and ironstone pits, and stone quarries, in the area immediately north and east of Airdrie, to market, predominantly over the adjoining Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway. Passengers were carried later. Trains were pulled by horses at first, although locomotives were employed later on. The mineral extraction was located in high ground and rope-worked inclines were incorporated into the line to bring loaded wagons down. The line used the track gauge of , which was already in use on the Monkland and Kirkintilloch line. It opened in 1828, and in 1848 it amalgamated with two associated railways, forming the Monkland Railways. All of the route is now closed, although much of it can still be discovered. Origins In 1794 the Monkland Canal was completed, enabling the cheap transport of coal from the Monklands coalfields, south of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monkland And Kirkintilloch Railway
The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was an early mineral railway running from a colliery at Monklands to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland. It was the first railway to use a rail ferry, the first public railway in Scotland,Henry Grote Lewin, ''The British Railway System'', G Bell and Sons Ltd, London, 1914 and the first in Scotland to use locomotive power successfully, and it was a major influence in the successful development of the Lanarkshire iron industry. It opened in 1826. It was built to enable the cheaper transport of coal to market, breaking the monopoly of the Monkland Canal. It connected with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, giving onward access not only to Glasgow, but to Edinburgh as well. The development of good ironstone deposits in the Coatbridge area made the railway successful, and the ironstone pits depended at first on the railway. Horse traction was used at first, but steam locomotive operation was later introduced: the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
