The Alloa Waggonway, also known as the Alloa Railway was an early tramway. It was miles long and connected coal pits above Alloa with the harbour and a bottle manufacturer at Alloa in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. The track was wooden with an iron running surface, and wagons were drawn by horses.

History

The Earls of Mar owned extensive lands in the hinterland of Alloa, and for some centuries coal had been produced from pits on the estate. Edinburgh was the biggest market for coal in the area, and it could easily be carried along the Forth by boat, but getting the mineral to the shore of the Forth was the problem. John, 7th Earl of Mar opened a railway in about 1768 that ran from Alloa Harbour and up through Sauchie, serving the colliery there, to Devon Colliery north of

Fishcross Fishcross is a small village in Clackmannanshire in central Scotland, situated to the north of Sauchie at a crossroads just south of Tillicoultry. Formerly a mining village, the population is 484 as at 2003. A golf course and equestrian centre a ...

. It was a close copy of the

Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway The Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway was an early waggonway, possibly the first in Scotland, opened in 1722. It was miles long and connected coal pits at Tranent with the salt pans at Cockenzie and harbour at Port Seton in East Lothian, Scotland ...

in gauge, wagon size and operating practices. At first it was a single line wooden wagonway; the track gauge was and the wagons were of capacity. There were several branches and the system became extensive, there were branches to Collyland (this branch required an inclined plane) and to Sherriffyards Colliery at Gartmorn Dam. By 1806 the system was extended to Tillicoultry, and an alternative route to the Forth at Kennetpans (Clackmannan) Pier was opened. A useful contemporary commentary about the wagon way is provided by Sinclair (1793).

Coal mining

Ultimately the waggon way linked the mines to each other, and provided connections to the standard gauge railways in Alloa, the Devon Valley, Tillicoultry as well as the harbour, Devon Iron Works and a bottle manufactory The line was used to gather

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

from pits in and near Sauchie for delivery to industry in Alloa and to the harbour for export. In 1879, 159,699 tons were shipped to foreign countries and 15,392 to UK ports.

Closure

The Alloa Waggonway lost its importance with the opening of the Tillicoultry Branch of the Stirling & Dunfermline Railway in 1851 but continued for many years until closed in 1924.

The line today

Today the line has been converted into a cyclepath running from Castle Street, through the earliest railway tunnel in Scotland which passes under Bedford Place, to near

Alloa railway station Alloa railway station is a railway station in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, which was re-opened on Monday, 19 May 2008. History The original Alloa station was opened by the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway (S&DR) on 28 August ...

and along the north side of Gartmorn Dam.

References

Bibliography

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External links

The Alloa Waggonway
Railway lines opened in 1768 1768 establishments in Scotland Transport in Clackmannanshire History of Clackmannanshire Companies established in 1768 Closed railway lines in Scotland Horse-drawn railways Railway lines closed in 1924 Alloa {{Scotland-rail-transport-stub