The Fawdon Wagonway was from 1818 to 1826 a long horse-drawn and partially rope-operated industrial railway in Fawdon near

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. It was the first

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** Bi ...

employing a moving rope that could be picked up or released by a grip on the cars.

History

Fawdon Colliery was set-up around 1810, and its coal was originally transported via the Kenton and Coxlodge Waggonway to

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

. In 1818, the Fawdon Wagonway was built by Benjamin Thompson, one of the partners owning Fawdon Colliery on a new route to transport the coal south to Scotswood. The line used

inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

s and

stationary steam engine Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars ...

s. The re-routing was the cause of controversial discussions between Thompson and the owners of the properties, over which the track ran. Benjamin Thompson installed a series of stationary steam engines along the rail track between the Kenton Bank and Hotchpudding Planes. Stationary steam engines transported the coal wagons through the hilly landscape at a speed of .Jennifer Morrison
''Tyne and Wear HER(1078): Fawdon Wagonway - Details.''
/ref> Each rope ran between two steam engines and could be alternately wound onto drums at the ends by the engines. Its length corresponded to twice the distance between the steam engines. The rope could be clamped by a grip that looked like a vice attached to the carriage. At the point where the railway crossed a public road, the rope was guided by friction rollers down a cable duct and under a plank bridge to the other side of the road, where it again rose above the ground. Before the car came to the public road, the boy who rode on it released the rope from the vice. The momentum of the car carried it across the road, and the boy hung the rope back into the vice as the car continued its movement. The inclined plane was used until 1826, when the Brunton and Shields Wagonway (later

Seaton Burn Wagonway The Seaton Burn Wagonway (originally known as the Brunton and Shields Railway) was from 1826 to 1920 a partially horse-drawn and partially rope-operated industrial railway with a gauge of near Newcastle upon Tyne. History The Brunton and Shiel ...

) was built to the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

at Whitehill Point. The routes of the Fawdon and Seaton Burn Wagonways were used in the 1890s together with the route of the Coxlodge Wagonway for building the Fawdon Railway. The 1920s Ordnance Survey map showed a new Fawdon wagonway leading to the Coxlodge Colliery Jubilee Pit.''Weetslade Colliery.''
/ref> The wagonway is still preserved as a low earthwork on which an asphalt road runs. Archeological excavations were conducted in

Newcastle Great Park Newcastle Great Park is a new suburb in the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Much of Newcastle Great Park is still under development and is sandwiched in between older areas of Newcastle, namely Gosforth, Fawdon and Kingston Park to the so ...

in 2003.

References

{{Coord, 55.0236, -1.644, display=title Rail transport in Tyne and Wear Defunct railroads