The Archaeology of an Early Railway System: The Brecon Forest Tramroads

Front Cover
Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales, 1990 - Transportation - 367 pages

 The structures discovered on the Brecon Forest Tramroads illustrate the beginnings of modern railway practice. This first detailed archaeological study of a railway illuminates parallels located elsewhere in Britain. Developments that were to be of world importance. Did iron railway bridges exist before George Stephenson? This book shows that such bridges were built in south Wales thirty years before the construction of Stephenson's Gaunless Viaduct on the Stockton and Darlington Railway and explains where to see these bridges today. Numerous stone viaducts, bridges and causeways were built over gorges. Monumental building detail existed years before the Euston Arch. Even the foundations of American Industrial might were laid here.

  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • The Planning and Construction of the Railways
  • The Use and Local Impact of the Railways
  • The Engineering of the Lines
  • Rolling Stock, Buildings and Equipment
  • The Railway Route
  • Bibliography and Abbreviations
  • Appendices
  • Early Railway Sites in Wales
  • Index
 

Contents

Preface
7
The Use and Local Impact of the Railways
39
The Engineering of the Lines
103
Rolling Stock Buildings and Equipment
171
The Railway Route
209
Bibliography and Abbreviations
283
Early Railway Sites in Wales
311
Index
341
Copyright

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About the author (1990)

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales has a leading national role in developing and promoting understanding of the archaeological, built and maritime heritage of Wales, as the originator, curator and supplier of authoritative information for individual, corporate and governmental decision makers, researchers, and the general public 

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