Author: John Van Laun
Publisher: The Newcomen Society
ISBN: 0904685098
Publication: 2001
Number of pages: 252
Format: Hardback
How Obtained: Purchased
A popular misconception about railway history is that primitive tramroads or plateways developed first before being superseded by modern edge rails, which accommodated rolling stock with flanged wheels. The truth is far more complicated!
John Van Laun’s book Early Limestone Railways deals with the engineering solutions to a single fundamental problem. Focussing on South East Wales, he examines how the bulk transport of minerals on tracks was achieved. Published in 2001 by The Newcomen Society, it is now rare and makes it the first of our Collectors Reviews. However, it is possible to download the basic material of the book free of charge, as I will show later.
Exhaustive study the early limestone railways in South East Wales
Van Laun structures the book in an academic manner, revealing its origins as a research dissertation. Summarizing and introducing his subject he pinpoints the time (mainly 1790 to 1840) and location under consideration. An overview of the local contemporary industrial background is presented along with a detailed description of the variety of track designs for both plateways and edge rails.
Eleven chapters follow which deal with individual limestone railway systems serving industries from Abersychan in the east to Penderyn and Glyn Neath in the west. Extensive notes, appendices and a bibliography back up the text.
Challenging the popular ideas of railway evolution
The quality of the research presented by Van Laun is extraordinary. Much of the information is based on extensive field work in the area. The result is a comprehensive analysis of just when, where and why the tramroads were built along with a technical analysis of the track. Details include rail, plateway and sleeper design together with materials employed and the various ways they were anchored to the ground. The many decades since these railways were operational have seen extensive reworkings of both industrial and railway infrastructure. This means some ingenious deduction and educated guesswork has been employed in places.
A picture emerges which challenges the simple narrative of canals being replaced by plateways/tramroads which were themselves superseded by ‘modern’ edge rails. Instead, a vastly more nuanced understanding is presented of simultaneous development of all three systems. In some cases an edge rail system was replaced by a tramroad.
Exquisitely illustrated by an experienced artist
The detailed technical nature of the book means it will not appeal to the casual reader. Inevitably this book has a close relationship with the previous review of Barber’s ‘Hill’s tramroad: Blaenavon World Heritage Site’. Local artist the late Michael Blackmore, whose artwork graced Barber’s book, is well in evidence here proving him to be a skilled draughtsman as well as insightful illustrator.
The book is effectively a published version of Van Laun’s Hull University PhD thesis. If you want to access the content of the book but are unable to locate a copy you can download a public version of the thesis here.
In Summary
The book is a superbly illustrated tour de force in industrial archaeology along the heads of the valleys limestone outcrop region. A must for serious students of early South Wales railways. But not a work for the casual reader.
The Good
- Incredible attention to detail resulting from painstaking research.
- Excellently illustrated by a knowledgeable and skillful artist.
- High quality and well presented book.
The Not So Good
- Now rare and copies are difficult to obtain and relatively expensive.
Outline Contents
- Introduction
- The Industrial Background
- Early Railways
- Abersychan
- Blaenavon Area
- South Clydach
- Clydach
- Disgwylfa
- Llangattock
- Trevil
- Twynau Gwynion
- Morlais
- Gurnos
- Penderyn and Glyn Neath
- Conclusion
About the Author
Dr John van Laun is a noted industrial archaeologist who has worked in the field for more than 30 years. After gaining initial qualifications he obtained a doctorate in history at Hull University under the supervision of Dr Michael Lewis. He has run extra mural classes on industrial archaeology at a number of universities over the past 30 years and was the founder secretary of the Tramroads Group of the Railway and Canal Historical Society.
He started John van Laun Associates to carry out fieldwork and surveys, heritage investigations, documentary research, reconstructions and other consultancy. He has carried out work for Cadw (Welsh Historic Monuments), the Royal Commission on Ancient & Historic Monuments (Wales), British Waterways, English Heritage and county boroughs in Wales. He has published widely in learned journals and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
(From The Newcomen Society)
Related reviews
A Description of the Faults or Dykes of the Mineral Basin of South Wales by George Overton
Hill’s Tramroad: Blaenavon Heritage Site by Chris Barber
Merthyr Tydfil Tramroads and their Locomotives by Gordon Rattenbury and M.J.T. Lewis
Steam on the Sirhowy Tramroad and its Neighbours by Michael Lewis