History
For many years, as in other parts of the country, Nottinghamshire quarry owners and miners had built wagonways to transport heavy goods. As larger projects were proposed, usually where the terrain made canal building impracticable, outside investment was required. Railway promoters became required to justify their plans and their likely viability before Parliament, as had been the case with canal building. Thus the Mansfield and Pinxton became the first railway in the East Midlands to be incorporated by Act of Parliament, in 1817.
Although the idea of the railway was first mooted in 1803 there was considerable delay while a decision was taken as to what form it should take. Wagonways had developed into iron plateways, for which Benjamin Outram of the Butterley Company had gained considerable expertise. His partner, William Jessop, had however, pioneered the use of fish-bellied iron edge rails on the earlier Charnwood Forest Canal. In the end, his son Josias, as engineer, used the latter.
Read more about this topic: Mansfield And Pinxton Railway
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