Editing Rail transport (section)

====Wooden rails introduced====
[[File:Berlin_Technikmuseum_Holzbahn.jpg|thumb|A 16th-century mine-cart, an early example of un-powered rail transport, used man power to operate.]]
In 1515, [[Matthäus Lang|Cardinal Matthäus Lang]] wrote a description of the [[Reisszug]], a [[funicular]] railway at the [[Hohensalzburg Fortress]] in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a [[hemp]] haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a [[treadwheel]].<ref name="fm1">{{cite web |url=http://www.funimag.com/funimag10/RESZUG01.HTM |title=Der Reiszug: Part 1{{Snd}} Presentation |publisher=Funimag |access-date=22 April 2009 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020015136/https://www.funimag.com/funimag10/RESZUG01.HTM |url-status=live }}</ref> The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway.<ref>{{cite news |first=Reinhard |last=Kriechbaum |url=http://www.die-tagespost.de/Archiv/titel_anzeige.asp?ID=8916 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628225245/http://www.die-tagespost.de/Archiv/titel_anzeige.asp?ID=8916 |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 June 2012 |title=Die große Reise auf den Berg |work=der Tagespost |date=15 May 2004 |access-date=22 April 2009 |language=de }}</ref>

Wagonways (or [[tramway (industrial)|tramways]]) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate the transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in [[Germany]] in 1556 by [[Georgius Agricola]] in his work [[De re metallica]].<ref>Georgius Agricola (trans Hoover), ''[[De re metallica]]'' (1913), p. 156.</ref> This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons ''Hunde'' ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lee |first=Charles E. |title=The Evolution of Railways |edition=2nd |year=1943 |magazine =Railway Gazette|location=London |page=16 |oclc=1591369}}</ref>

There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century.<ref>Lewis, ''Early wooden railways'', pp. 8–10.</ref> Such a transport system was later used by German miners at [[Caldbeck]], [[Cumbria]], England, perhaps from the 1560s.<ref>Warren Allison, Samuel Murphy and Richard Smith, ''An Early Railway in the German Mines of Caldbeck'' in G. Boyes (ed.), ''Early Railways 4: Papers from the 4th International Early Railways Conference 2008'' (Six Martlets, Sudbury, 2010), pp. 52–69.</ref> A wagonway was built at [[Prescot]], near [[Liverpool]], sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about {{convert|1/2|mi|m|spell=in}} away.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Mark |title=Lancashire Railways{{Snd}} The History of Steam |publisher=Countryside Books |location=Newbury |date=2012 |page=5 |isbn=978-1-84674-298-9}}</ref> A funicular railway was also made at [[Broseley]] in [[Shropshire]] some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the [[River Severn]] to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns.<ref>Peter King, ''The First Shropshire Railways'' in G. Boyes (ed.), ''Early Railways 4: Papers from the 4th International Early Railways Conference 2008'' (Six Martlets, Sudbury, 2010), pp. 70–84.</ref> The [[Wollaton Wagonway]], completed in 1604 by [[Huntingdon Beaumont]], has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from [[Strelley, Nottingham|Strelley]] to [[Wollaton]] near [[Nottingham]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/huntingdon-beaumonts-wollaton-to-strelley-waggonway/ |title=Huntingdon Beaumont's Wollaton to Strelley Waggonway |publisher=Nottingham Hidden History |access-date=23 August 2017 |date=30 July 2013 |archive-date=27 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127031058/https://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/huntingdon-beaumonts-wollaton-to-strelley-waggonway/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Middleton Railway]] in [[Leeds]], which was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in [[Lewiston, New York]].<ref name="Porter">{{cite book | last=Porter |first=Peter |title=Landmarks of the Niagara Frontier |publisher=Privately printed |year=1914 | oclc=1044424468}}</ref>