Tramway

Tramway may refer to:

• Tramway (mineral), a railway particularly one used for the carriage of minerals
• A tram system
• An aerial tramway
• In some Australian states, "tramway" was historically the legal title of a railway not owned by a state government, as in the Powelltown Tramway or Silverton Tramway. "Tramway" was also commonly used for any light railway associated with a single industry, as in "timber tramway".
• In the United Kingdom a tramway is a precise term in law and in regulations for a class of railway that shared a road. While a railway required an act of Parliament to resume private land for its right of way, a tramway could operate on a public road with a permit from local government. The majority of railways operating under this class were passenger tram networks, although some were industrial and at least one example at Weymouth was part of the main railway network and saw full freight and passenger trains traversing the streets of Weymouth down to the quay.
• Tramway (arts centre), a theatre and arts complex in Glasgow, Scotland, based in the city's former tram depot.
• Hong Kong Tramways, a service running since the 1900s

Historical background

The term was originally applied to wagons running on primitive tracks in early England and Europe. The name seems to date from around 1517 and to be derived from an English dialect word for the shaft of a wheelbarrow - in turn from Low German traam, literally, beam.

The tracks themselves were sometimes known as gangways, dating from before the 12th century, being usually simply planks laid upon the ground literally "going road"

The alternative term is "Wagonway" under which heading there is further information. Usually the wheels would be guided along grooves. In time, to combat wear, the timber would be reinforced with an iron strip covering. This developed to use steel "L" shaped plates, the track then being known as a plateway.

An alternative appeared, the so-called "edge-rail" where the wagons were guided by having the wheels flanged instead of running in grooves. Since these rails were raised above the ground they were less likely to be blocked by debris, but they obstructed other traffic. They were, however, the forerunners of the modern railway. The origin of many of its features is uncertain, but Benjamin Outram was referring to his lines as railways in the early 19th century. The fact that many of these lines were built for horse-drawn vehicles, and were dimensioned accordingly, is thought to be behind the modern standard gauge of 4 ft. 8½ in.

These early lines were built to transport minerals from quarries and mines to canal wharves. From about 1830, more extensive trunk railways appeared, becoming faster, heavier and more sophisticated and, for safety reasons, the requirements placed on them by Parliament became more and more stringent. See Rail tracks.

These restrictions were excessive for the small mineral lines and it became possible in the United Kingdom for them to be categorised as Light railways subject to certain provisos laid down by the Light Railways Act 1896.

Meanwhile, in England the term tramway became the term for passenger vehicles (a tram) that ran on tracks in the public highway, sharing with other road users. Initially horse-drawn, they developed to use electric power from an overhead line. A development of the tramway in the United Kingdom which dispensed with tracks, but retained electric power from overhead wires was the trolley bus.

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