Lake Lock Railroad - Stanley, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 42.897 W 001° 28.156
30U E 601018 N 5952894
This blue plaque records a place on the route of the Lake Lock Railroad.
Waymark Code: WM179N5
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/08/2023
Views: 0
WAKEFIELD CIVIC SOCIETY
RECORDS
THE LAKE LOCK RAILROAD.
PROBABLY THE WORLD'S FIRST PUBLIC
RAILWAY. CROSSED ABERFORD ROAD
HERE. IT WAS OPENED IN 1798
TO CARRY COALS FROM THE OUTWOOD
AREA TO THE AIRE AND CALDER
NAVIGATION AT LAKE LOCK
2000
The Lock Railroad.
"The Lake Lock Rail Road was an early, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long, horse drawn narrow gauge railway built near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The railway is recognised as the world's first public railway, though other railway schemes around the same time also claim that distinction.
The Lake Lock Rail Road Company was formed in 1796 with the capital being raised from 128 shares. These were purchased by a broad range of people including a lawyer, banker, doctor, clergyman, merchant and widow. The initial route opened to traffic in 1798, pre-dating the Surrey Iron Railway by five years. It is thus the world's first public railway. The line was built to allow many independent users to haul wagons along the line on payment of a toll, so whilst other railways pre-dated the Lake Lock Railroad, its act of 1793 under the Wakefield Inclosure Act, meant that its status was defined as being public from the outset (unlike the nearby Middleton Railway, which was a private railway).
The railway commenced at Lake Lock, near Stanley, Wakefield on the Aire & Calder Navigation and ran broadly in a westerly direction to Outwood, a distance of approximately 3 miles (4.8 km). In 1804 the route was changed to avoid a steep incline and this resulted in the terminus relocating from Lake Lock to nearby Bottomboat."
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