The Kington Tramway was an early narrow gauge

Narrow gauge

A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...

 horse tramway that linked limestone quarries

Quarries

Quarries - The "Royal Quarries" — not found in Scripture — is the namegiven to the vast caverns stretching far underneath the northern hill, Bezetha, on which Jerusalem is built. Out of these mammoth caverns stones, a hard limestone, have been quarried in ancient times for the buildings in the...

 at Burlinjob in Radnorshire

Radnorshire

Radnorshire is one of thirteen historic and former administrative counties of Wales. It is represented by the Radnorshire area of Powys, which according to the 2001 census, had a population of 24,805...

 to Eardisley

Eardisley

Eardisley is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire about south of the centre of Kington. Eardisley is in the Wye valley in the northwest of the county, close to the border with Wales....

 in Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

.

Parliamentary authorisation, construction and opening

The tramway received parliamentary authorisation on 23 May 1818. Construction started immediately and was completed in two sections. The tramway was built to a gauge of . The tramway adopted the use of cast iron 'L'-shaped tramroad plates in its construction. The vertical portions of the two plates were positioned inside the wheels of the tramway wagons and the plates were spiked to stone blocks for stability. The first section from Eardisley to Kington

Kington

- Places :In England* Kington * Kington, Herefordshire* Kington, Worcestershire* Kington Langley, Wiltshire* Kington Magna, Dorset* Kington St Michael, Wiltshire* West Kington, Wiltshire- People :* L. Brent Kington, American Artist and Metalsmith...

 was opened on 1 May 1820. The western section from Kington to quarries at Burlingjob, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of New Radnor

New Radnor

New Radnor is a village in Powys, mid Wales. It was the original county town of Radnorshire. The population today is around 400, a higher than normal proportion of which are pensioners...

 opened on 7 August 1820.

Operation of the tramway

For the tramway's opening, an end-on connection was made with the Hay Railway

Hay Railway

The Hay Railway was an early Welsh narrow gauge horse tramwaythat connected Eardisley Hay-on-Wye with Watton Wharf on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal.-Parliamentary authorisation, construction and opening:...

, also a plateway. This co-operative arrangement allowed the through working of wagons, pulled by horses, along a continuous 36 miles (57.9 km) line to wharves on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal.

The tramway was intended solely for the carriage of goods and minerals, and therefore did not carry any passengers.

Merger and subsequent use

The Kington Tramway was acquired by the Kington and Eardisley Railway in 1862. The new company used much of the line of the tramway to build its standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

 railway, utilising normal rails and steam locomotives, between Eardisley and Kington.