Jamaica Railway History.

[TDowl]

“The railway is the most important element of transport anywhere in the world and Jamaica has the second oldest railway in the world, connecting every port in Jamaica. We exist in a just-in-time world, where you need to deliver goods and services as early as possible in order to be on top of the niche markets and be able to grow your economy,” he explained.
Can anyone prove that Jamaica has the second oldest railway in the world? What does he mean connecting every port in Jamaica?

[Willi]

UK first...Jamaica or Cuba 2nd. So only doubt is if its 2nd or 3rd.

Airports and Seaports should have rail cargo connections for economy of scale and preservation of asphalt which has a finite life to its coefficient of elasticity (vs weight per axle applied).

[TDowl]

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...istory_8865003

[Mosiah]

I doubt very much that is true.

[Mosiah]

Wi not even close!

From Wikipedia:

19th century to 1850[edit]
1802 - The Carmarthenshire Tramroad, later the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway, located in south west Wales, was established by the Act of Parliament. This line was used for coal transportation. It was a plateway of about 4 foot gauge, and powered with a pair of horses.[citation needed]
1802 - Unable to construct a canal like the nearby Cyfarthfa Ironworks, three of the four principal ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales : Dowlais, Plymouth and Penydarren collaborated in building the 9.5 mile Merthyr Tramroad between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon. It was a single track plateway with a gauge of 4 ft 4 in over the flanges of the L shaped cast iron plate rails. The plates were 3 ft long. One horse pulled about five trams.
1803 - The first public railway, the Surrey Iron Railway, London.[11] It linked the towns of Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham on the south of the Thames. It was double track plateway throughout with a spacing of about 5 feet. The rails were of the Outram pattern are L-shaped in cross-section and 3 feet 2 inches long. The line was closed in 1846. A part of the route is now used by London Tramlink between Wimbledon and West Croydon.
1804 - First steam locomotive railway known as Penydarren or "Pen-y-Darren" locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick, used to haul iron from Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon, Wales. The first train carried a load of 10 tons of iron. On one occasion it successfully tried hauling 25 tons. However, the weight of the locomotive was about 5 tons and broke many of the cast iron plate rails.
1807 - First fare-paying, passenger railway service in the world was established on the Oystermouth Railway in Swansea, Wales. Later this became known as the Swansea and Mumbles Railway although the railway was more affectionately known as "The Mumbles Train" (Welsh: Tren Bach I'r Mwmbwls). The railway was laid in the form of a plateway, with the rails being approximately 4 ft (1,219 mm) and used a horse-drawn vehicles. At the beginning the railway survived using various forms of traction until 1960.
1808 - The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was the first railway in Scotland authorised by Act of Parliament. It was a plateway, using L-shaped iron plates as rails. In 1817 It was also the first in Scotland to use a steam locomotive. It was the Blücher from George Stephenson used at Killingworth Colliery. This locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph (6.4 km/h). It was used to tow coal wagons along the wagonway from Killingworth to Wallsend. It was withdrawn from service because of damage to the cast iron rails.
1808 - Richard Trevithick sets up a "steam circus" (a circular steam railway with locomotive Catch Me Who Can) in London for some months, for the public to experience for 1 shilling each.
1812 - First commercial use of a steam locomotive on the Middleton Railway, Leeds. Matthew Murray of Fenton, Murray and Wood, in Holbeck, designed a locomotive with a pinion that meshed with a rack. Murray's design was based on Richard Trevithick's locomotive, Catch me who can, adapted to use Blenkinsop's rack and pinion system, and probably was called Salamanca. It was the first two-cylinder locomotive.
1813 - Wylam Waggonway to haul coal chaldron wagons from the mine at Wylam to the docks at Lemington-on-Tyne in Northumberland : steam locomotive Puffing Billy started commercial operation. Designer William Hedley, blacksmith Timothy Hackworth. Ran for 50 years hauling coal. Wylam is the birthplace of George Stephenson.
1814 - George Stephenson constructs his first locomotive, Blücher for the Killingworth wagonway. The locomotive was modelled on Matthew Murray’s. It could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph (6.4 km/h) but was too heavy to run on wooden rails or iron rails which existed in that time.
1825 - Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first publicly subscribed, adhesion worked railway using steam locomotives, carrying freight from a Colliery to a river port (Passengers were conveyed by horse-drawn carriages).
1826 January - the first section of the Springwell Colliery Railway, latter to become known as the Bowes Railway opened, this was the first six miles of what would become a 15-mile railway, using a mix of locomotive and rope (cable) haulage. Part of the original line is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
1827 June 30 - The first railway in continental Europe opened in France between Saint-Etienne and Andrézieux (horse-drawn carriage). Some tests had been run since May 1, 1827. The official opening ceremony on October 1, 1828 never really took place, this date being in fact the first fiscal year of the railway company.
1828 July 4 - the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) began constructing a track.[12] The Charleston & Savannah commenced construction a few months later.[citation needed]
1829 - George and Robert Stephenson's locomotive, Rocket, sets a speed record of 47 km/h (29 mph) at the Rainhill Trials held near Liverpool.
1830 - The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway opened in Kent, England on 3 May, three months before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Engineered by George Stephenson, a 5¾ mile line running from Canterbury to the small port and fishing town of Whitstable, approximately 55 miles east of London. Traction was provided by three Stationary Winding Engines, and "Invicta"; Invicta was an 0-4-0 Loco, built by the Stevenson company, but only operated on a level section of track because she produced a meagre 9 hp.
1830 - The first horse-drawn railway in the United States, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), opened with 23 miles of track, with mostly hardwood rail topped with iron. The steam locomotive, Tom Thumb (locomotive), was designed and built by Peter Cooper for the B&O — the first American-built steam locomotive. Trials of the locomotive began on the B&O that year.
1830 - The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened, and the first steam passenger service, primarily locomotive-hauled, began. The line proved the viability of rail transport. Large scale railway construction started in Britain, then spread throughout the world, beginning the Railway Age.
1830 - The first portion of the Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway opened between Givors and Rive-de-Gier on 1 July 1830. The rest of the line opened on 1 October 1832 for passenger use only, accepting freight a few months later. It use iron rails on dice stones. The line was 58 km long and had an 375 meters elevation with 112 bridges and three tunnels. The locomotives were based on George Stephenson Locomotion, but with a tubular boiler that produced six times more power.
1831 - First railway in Australia, for the Australian Agricultural Company, a cast iron fishbelly gravitational railway servicing the A Pit coal mine.
1831 - First passenger season tickets issued on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.
1832 - The Leicester and Swannington Railway opened in Leicestershire - the first steam railway in the english Midlands.
1832 - Railway switch patented by Charles Fox.
1833 - The Great Western Railway Works, near Swindon, England are founded by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
1834 - Ireland's first railway, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) opened between Dublin and Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), a distance of six miles.
1835 - In Belgium, a railway opened on May 5 between Brussels and Mechelen : The line 25. In 1836 a second section between Mechelen and Antwerp opened. The line still exists and is used by a high speed train between Paris and Amsterdam.
1835, December 7 - Bavarian Ludwigsbahn, the first steam-powered German railway line, opened for public service between Nuremberg and Fürth.
1836, July 21 - First public railway in Canada, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, opened in Quebec with a 16-mile run between La Prairie and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
1837 - London and Birmingham Railway Line (L&BR) running from Euston to Birmingham, 112-miles (180 km), becoming Britain's first inter-city line. Euston was London's first railway terminus.
1837 - The first Cuban railway line connected Havana with Bejucal. In 1838 the line reached Güines. This was also the first railway in Latin America and the Iberian world in general.
1837 - Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company opened the first long-distance German railway line, connecting Leipzig with Althen near Wurzen. In 1839 the line reached Dresden.
1837 - The first Austrian railway line connected Vienna with Wagram. In 1839 the line reached Brno.
1837 - The first rail line in Russia connected Tsarskoye Selo and Saint Petersburg.
1837 - The first line in Paris (Paris-Saint Germain Line) opened between Le Pecq near the former royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Embarcadère des Bâtignoles (later to become Gare Saint-Lazare). It is the first railway from Paris, but also the first of France designed solely for the carriage of passengers and operated with steam locomotives. It is still open to this day.
1837 - Robert Davidson built the first electric locomotive
1837 - First railway line in Cuba between Havana and Güines.
1838 - Edmondson railway ticket introduced.
1839 - The first railway in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Italy, opened from Naples to Portici.
1839 - The first rail line in the Netherlands connected Amsterdam and Haarlem.
1840 - The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in North Carolina becomes the longest railroad in the world with 161.5 miles (259.9 km) of track.
1841 - The Great Western Railway was completed from London, to Bridgewater, via Bristol, a total of 152 miles (245 km).
1842, November 6 - First border crossing by rail between Mouscron (Belgium) and Tourcoing (France)
1843 - The first international rail line, connecting Brussels (Belgium) with Cologne (then Prussia) via Liège and Aachen (see Rhenish Railway Company)
1844 - The first rail line in Congress Poland was built between Warsaw and Pruszków.
1844 - The first Atmospheric Railway, the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway opened for passenger service between Kingstown & Dalkey in Ireland. The line was 3 km in length & operated for 10 years.
1845 - The first railway line built in Jamaica opened on November 21. The line ran 15 miles from Kingston to Spanish Town. It was also the first rail line built in any of Britain's West Indies colonies. The Earl of Elgin, Jamaica's Governor presided over the opening ceremonies, by the late 1860s the line extended 105 miles to Montego Bay.
1845 - Royal Commission on Railway Gauges to choose between Stephenson's gauge and Brunel's gauge.
1846 - James McConnell met with George Stephenson and Archibald Slate at Bromsgrove. It was at this meeting that the idea of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers came about.
1846 - The first railway line in Hungary, connects Pest and Vác
1846 - First international railway connection between two capitals, Paris and Brussels.
1847 - First train in Switzerland, the Limmat, on the Spanisch-Brotli-Bahn Railway line.
1848 - First railway line in Spain, built between Barcelona and Mataró.
1848 - First railway in South America, British Guyana. The railway was designed, surveyed and built by the British-American architect and artist Frederick Catherwood. John Bradshaw Sharples built all the railway stations, bridges, stores, and other facilities. Financing was provided by the Demerera Sugar Company, who wished to transport their product to the dock of Georgetown. Construction was in sections with the first, from Georgetown to Plaisance, opening on 3 November 1848. The opening day's festivities were marred when the locomotive ran over and killed one of the railway's directors.

[TDowl]

Thanks Mo, why do we get caught up in wi ah de first, I am more into where did Ska, Dub, Reggae music went to..

[Gamma]

I finally figured it out! Wales is middle earth!!!!

[Mosiah]

Thanks Mo, why do we get caught up in wi ah de first, I am more into where did Ska, Dub, Reggae music went to..

I have often wondered.

I'm still trying to find out if Kingston Harbour is indeed the 7th largest natural harbour in the world fi real. Hard to imagine that we could occupy such a lofty position with our little size.

[Willi]

Dem lie to us all dem years??