Blaenavon Railroad
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The Blaenavon Railroad was a horse drawn tramroad built to link Blaenavon Ironworks with the Monmouthshire Canal in south east Wales.[1]
Background
In 1789 most of the building of Blaenavon Ironworks had been completed and the lease for the land was signed in November.[2] At this time transport of goods between Blaenavon and Newport was by teams of packhorses and mules using hillside tracks and parish roads.[3]
A more efficient method of transport was needed and Thomas Hill I, the leading partner behind the ironworks, became one of the promoters of the Monmouthshire Canal.[4] In 1791 a parliamentary bill proposed the canal and was given assent in 1792. The Canal Act also allowed for the building of tramroads to nearby collieries, quarries, and mines.[3]
Construction
The newly formed Monmouthshire Canal Company appointed Thomas Dadford, Jr. as engineer for both the canal and tramroad.[5] Construction started in 1793 and the tramroad/canal link to the port of Newport opened in February 1796.[6][7]
The tramroad was originally built with a 3 ft 4 in (1,016 mm) gauge. The route to the canal at Pontnewynydd was 5 miles (8.0 km) and descended 600 feet (180 m).[6]
Closure
In 1845 the Monmouthshire Canal Company obtained the Newport and Pontypool Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxix) authorising improvements to the Blaenavon Railroad and the connection of it to a new railway to Newport under the control of a new company, the Newport and Pontypool Railway.[8] The completed 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) gauge line opened in 1854, replacing the tramroad.[9]
Remains
Very little evidence of the tramroad is visible but an iron milepost exists on the road that was once the route of the tramroad.[10]