Description
As a plateway, the Middlebere Plateway differed from the edge railway that eventually became the norm, in that the flanges retaining the truck wheels on the line were on the rails (plates) rather than on the wheels. The plates were three feet long, L-shaped and made of cast iron, weighing 40 lb. They were supported on stone sleepers weighing 60-70 lb; the ends of the plates were held down by nails driven into wooden plugs inserted into holes in the sleepers. The gauge is generally quoted as being about 3 feet 9 inches, although some recent archeological investigations suggest it may have been as narrow as 3 feet 6 inches.
The clay trucks were flange-less. They were hauled by horses and remained so throughout the line's 100-year life. Two horses worked in tandem pulling 5 wagons weighing almost a ton each and with a 2 ton capacity and making 3 round trips a day, giving an annual total of 9,000-10,000 tons. By 1865 and additional team of horses and wagons had been brought into use and passing places constructed to raise the annual tonnage to 22,000 tons.
The plateway was one of the first users of the patent axle that was designed by John Collinge of Bridge Road, Lambeth. This axle was largely used for road vehicles and a few other applications to rail vehicles. It implies that the wheels rotated on fixed axles, and, until its introduction, wheels had to be removed and axle arms greased at least once a day when travelling any distance.
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