Sir Rowland Hill , KCB , FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer . He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system , based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his solution of pre-payment, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters. Hill later served as a government postal official, and he is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service , including the invention of the postage stamp.
75-583: The London Pneumatic Despatch Company (also known as the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company ) was formed on 30 June 1859, to design, build and operate an underground railway system for the carrying of mail, parcels and light freight between locations in London. The system was used between 1863 and 1874. Sir Rowland Hill of the General Post Office commissioned two engineers to investigate
150-672: A 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge, whereas Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have metre-gauge railways . Narrow-gauge trams, particularly metre-gauge, are common in Europe. Non-industrial, narrow-gauge mountain railways are (or were) common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia , Greece, and Costa Rica. A narrow-gauge railway
225-672: A J D Wetherspoon pub called The Penny Black in the town centre until 2019 and a large shopping mall linking Vicar Street and Worcester Street is named The Rowland Hill Shopping Centre. In London a bronze statue by Edward Onslow Ford , also made in 1881, stands outside the King Edward Building (formerly London's principal Post Office) in King Edward Street. There is a large sculpture in Dalton Square, Lancaster, The Victoria Monument, depicting eminent Victorians and Rowland Hill
300-425: A curve with standard-gauge rail ( 1435 mm ) can allow speed up to 145 km/h (90 mph), the same curve with narrow-gauge rail ( 1067mm ) can only allow speed up to 130 km/h (81 mph). In Japan and Queensland, recent permanent-way improvements have allowed trains on 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge tracks to exceed 160 km/h (99 mph). Queensland Rail 's Electric Tilt Train ,
375-645: A design by William Mulready , were distributed in early 1840. These Mulready envelopes were not popular and were widely satirised. According to a brochure distributed by the National Postal Museum (now the British Postal Museum & Archive ), the Mulready envelopes threatened the livelihoods of stationery manufacturers, who encouraged the satires. They became so unpopular that the government used them on official mail and destroyed many others. However,
450-455: A design speed of 137 km/h (85 mph). Curve radius is also important for high speeds: narrow-gauge railways allow sharper curves, but these limit a vehicle's safe speed. Many narrow gauges, from 15 in ( 381 mm ) gauge to 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge, are in present or former use. They fall into several broad categories: 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm ) track gauge (also known as Scotch gauge)
525-474: A heavy-duty narrow-gauge line is Brazil's EFVM . 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) gauge, it has over-100-pound rail (100 lb/yd or 49.6 kg/m) and a loading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. The line has a number of 4,000-horsepower (3,000 kW) locomotives and 200-plus-car trains. Narrow gauge's reduced stability means that its trains cannot run at speeds as high as on broader gauges. For example, if
600-611: A member of the Colonization Commission, Hill convinced the Commission to give Adelaide an election system that provided for minority representation. Although not STV , the system used was based on the Hare quota. This was said to be the first application of proportional representation to a public election in the world. The Commission's annual report, written by Hill, said the novel system was to be used to "make timely provision against
675-420: A mile. The line was tested from 15 January 1863, and operation started on 20 February 1863. A capsule conveying up to 35 bags of mail could make the short journey between terminals in one minute. Thirteen journeys were operated each day, with a daily operating cost of £1 4s 5d. The Post Office was charged a nominal fee for use of the service, presumably to encourage them to accept the technology. A journalist made
750-498: A mine in Bohemia with a railway of about 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge. During the 16th century, railways were primarily restricted to hand-pushed, narrow-gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. In the 17th century, mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial , connecting mines with nearby transportation points (usually canals or other waterways). These railways were usually built to
825-570: A network of lines between "points so important that it is unnecessary to dwell upon the magnitude of the traffic that must naturally arise between them". The first line was to have been a route linking the Camden Town and Euston (Square) stations of the London and North Western Railway. Work started on a 3 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,130 mm ) narrow gauge line from Euston to Holborn in September 1863. The tubes were constructed by
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#1732848274044900-468: A niche commercial publishing industry for machine-printed illustrated envelopes subsequently developed in Britain and elsewhere. So it is likely that it was the grandiose and incomprehensible illustration printed on the envelopes that provoked the ridicule and led to their withdrawal. Indeed, in the absence of examples of machine-printed illustrated envelopes before this, the Mulready envelope may be recognised as
975-785: A number of large 3 ft ( 914 mm ) railroad systems in North America; notable examples include the Denver & Rio Grande and Rio Grande Southern in Colorado; the Texas and St. Louis Railway in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri; and, the South Pacific Coast , White Pass and Yukon Route and West Side Lumber Co of California. 3 ft was also a common track gauge in South America, Ireland and on
1050-421: A preposterous one, utterly unsupported by facts and resting entirely on assumption". But merchants, traders and bankers viewed the existing system as corrupt and a restraint of trade. They formed a "Mercantile Committee" to advocate Hill's plan and push for its adoption. In 1839 Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system. From 1839 to 1842, Hill lived at 1 Orme Square , Bayswater , London, and there
1125-417: A report on the first scheme at Euston: Near the bottom of Euston Square, there is the mouth of the tube, and there are the travelling trucks, ready to be thrust into it; and as we look, a bell rings at some distance up the rail – this is a signal that a mail-train has arrived... At this signal we hear a shovel of coke thrown into a furnace, a small steam-engine begins to beat swiftly... the pneumatic wheel ...
1200-724: A science laboratory, a swimming pool, and forced air heating. In his Plans for the Government and Liberal Instruction of Boys in Large Numbers Drawn from Experience (1822, often cited as Public Education ) he argued that kindness, instead of caning, and moral influence, rather than fear, should be the predominant forces in school discipline. Science was to be a compulsory subject, and students were to be self-governing. Hazelwood gained international attention when French education leader and editor Marc Antoine Jullien , former secretary to Maximilien de Robespierre , visited and wrote about
1275-460: A serious interest in postal reforms in 1835. In 1836 Robert Wallace, MP , provided Hill with numerous books and documents, which Hill described as a "half hundred weight of material". Hill commenced a detailed study of these documents and this led him to publish, in early 1837, a pamphlet called Post Office Reform its Importance and Practicability . He submitted a copy of this to the Chancellor of
1350-468: A settlement without convicts at what is today Adelaide . The political economist Robert Torrens was chairman of the commission. Under the South Australia Act 1834 , the colony was to embody the ideals and best qualities of British society, shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to social progress and civil liberties . Hill, like his father, was a fan of proportional representation. As
1425-460: A significant innovation in its own right. Machine-printed illustrated envelopes are a mainstay of the direct mail industry. In May 1840 the world's first adhesive postage stamps were distributed. With an elegant engraving of the young Queen Victoria (whose 21st birthday was celebrated that month), the Penny Black was an instant success. Refinements, such as perforations to ease the separation of
1500-487: Is a track gauge of 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ). It has about 95,000 km (59,000 mi) of track. According to Italian law, track gauges in Italy were defined from the centre of each rail rather than the inside edges of the rails. This gauge, measured 950 mm ( 3 ft 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) between the edges of the rails, is known as Italian metre gauge . There were
1575-466: Is an LCC plaque there in his honour. The uniform fourpenny post rate lowered the cost to fourpence from 5 December 1839, then to the penny rate on 10 January 1840, even before stamps or letter sheets could be printed. The volume of paid internal correspondence increased dramatically, by 120%, between November 1839 and February 1840. This initial increase resulted from the elimination of "free franking" privileges and fraud. Prepaid letter sheets, with
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#17328482740441650-783: Is buried in Westminster Abbey ; there is a memorial to him on his family grave in Highgate Cemetery . There are streets named after him in Hampstead (off Haverstock Hill, down the side of the Royal Free Hospital ) and Tottenham (off White Hart Lane ). A Royal Society of Arts blue plaque , unveiled in 1893, commemorates Hill at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Hill was one of eight children. Several of his siblings also achieved fame: Hill has two legacies. The first
1725-421: Is confined within a paddle-box, and allowed to pass out ... through a pipe in connection with the great pneumatic despatch tube... Here, then, we have the means of pulling or pushing the travelling carriages along their subterranean road, and as we speak we see it in operation: for a mail-guard opens a door, throws in two or three mail-bags just snatched out of the guard's van as it rolls into the [mainline] station,
1800-624: Is included. There are at least two marble busts of Hill, also unveiled in 1881. One, by W. D. Keyworth, Jr., is in St Paul's Chapel, Westminster Abbey . Another, by William Theed , is in Albert Square , Manchester. In recognition of his contributions to the development of the modern postal system, Rowland Hill is commemorated at the Universal Postal Union , the UN agency charged with regulating
1875-480: Is one where the distance between the inside edges of the rails is less than 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ). Historically, the term was sometimes used to refer to what are now standard-gauge railways , to distinguish them from broad-gauge railways , but this use no longer applies. The earliest recorded railway appears in Georgius Agricola 's 1556 De re metallica , which shows
1950-418: Is twenty-one feet in diameter, and is composed of two discs of iron... These discs are braced together by spoke-like partitions, and these partitions communicate with an opening for the entrance of air about the axis. As this wheel rapidly revolves, the air is sucked in at its centre, and thrown off ... at its open rim or edge. This gale is not allowed to disperse itself, however, but when any work has to be done,
2025-1013: The Isle of Man . 900 mm was a common gauge in Europe. Swedish three-foot-gauge railways ( 891 mm or 2 ft 11 + 3 ⁄ 32 in ) are unique to that country and were once common all over the country. Today the only 891 mm line that remains apart from heritage railways is Roslagsbanan , a commuter line that connects Stockholm to its northeastern suburbs. A few railways and tramways were built to 2 ft 9 in ( 838 mm ) gauge, including Nankai Main Line (later converted to 3 ft 6 in or 1,067 mm ), Ocean Pier Railway at Atlantic City , Seaton Tramway ( converted from 2 ft ) and Waiorongomai Tramway . 800 mm ( 2 ft 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge railways are commonly used for rack railways . Imperial 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ) gauge railways were generally constructed in
2100-645: The Overend, Gurney and Company collapse, a 3 ⁄ 8 -mile (0.60 km) tube from Holborn to Hatton Garden had been constructed. Total expenditure so far was £150,000 (£17,552,384 in 2023). Construction restarted in 1868, and it was completed to St. Martin's le Grand (for the General Post Office) in 1869. Capsules from the General Post Office reached Newgate Street within 17 minutes, at speeds of up to 60 mph. The Post Office made several trials of
2175-677: The Postmaster General , and then Secretary to the Post Office from 1854 until 1864. For his services, Hill was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1860. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded an honorary degree from University of Oxford . For the last 30 years of his life, and where he died in 1879, Hill lived at Bartram House on Hampstead Green. Bartram House
2250-687: The Royal Mail and the British Philatelic Trust in 1997, are annual awards for philatelic "innovation, initiative and enterprise." In 1882 the Post Office instituted the Rowland Hill Fund for postal workers, pensioners and dependents in need. The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland was founded for Ireland in 1928, to help serving or retired staff and their dependents, for the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs and continues to serve
2325-483: The Staveley Coal and Iron Company . The first 'trains' ran on 10 October 1865 after a demonstration in which the chairman, Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos , travelled from Holborn to Euston in one of the capsules. Another line from Holborn to Gresham Street via the General Post Office on St Martin's le Grand was under construction in 1865. By the time of the 1866 financial crisis caused by
London Pneumatic Despatch Company - Misplaced Pages Continue
2400-565: The 500mm gauge tracks of their mine railway ; these locomotives were made by the Deutz Gas Engine Company ( Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz ), now Deutz AG . Another early use of internal combustion was to power a narrow-gauge locomotive was in 1902. F. C. Blake built a 7 hp petrol locomotive for the Richmond Main Sewerage Board sewage plant at Mortlake . This 2 ft 9 in ( 838 mm ) gauge locomotive
2475-557: The British Post Office's revenue recovered to its 1839 level. The Uniform Penny Post continued in the UK into the 20th century, and at one point, one penny (1d) paid for up to four ounces (113 g). There are four public statues of Hill. The earliest is in Birmingham : a Carrara marble sculpture by Peter Hollins unveiled in 1870. Its location was moved in 1874, 1891 (when it was placed in
2550-463: The Exchequer, Thomas Spring Rice , on 4 January 1837. This first edition was marked "private and confidential" and was not released to the general public. The Chancellor summoned Hill to a meeting in which the Chancellor suggested improvements, asked for reconsiderations and requested a supplement, which Hill duly produced and supplied on 28 January 1837. In the 1830s at least 12.5% of all British mail
2625-567: The Hazelwood School at Edgbaston , an affluent neighbourhood of Birmingham, as an "educational refraction of Priestley's ideas". Hazelwood was to provide a model for public education for the emerging middle classes , aiming for useful, pupil-centred education which would give sufficient knowledge, skills and understanding to allow a student to continue self-education through a life "most useful to society and most happy to himself". The school, which Hill designed, included innovations such as
2700-928: The Philippines demonstrate that if track is built to a heavy-duty standard, performance almost as good as a standard-gauge line is possible. Two-hundred-car trains operate on the Sishen–Saldanha railway line in South Africa, and high-speed Tilt Trains run in Queensland. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge; in New Zealand, some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service), and Auckland One Rail (Auckland suburban services). Another example of
2775-600: The Postmaster General for the sale (for £7,500) of the remaining infrastructure of "the tube" to the Postmaster General. The agreement recognised that "the Company has not for many years past worked the tube and the same is not now in working order" and that various persons had made unauthorised breaches in the tube as originally constructed. The agreement was confirmed by the Post Office (Pneumatic Tubes) Act 1922, which also repealed enactments from 1859, 1864 and 1872 authorising
2850-844: The US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) standard gauge . Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm ( 1 ft 11 + 5 ⁄ 8 in ) and 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves , smaller structure gauges , and lighter rails ; they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where
2925-458: The arbitrary power that under popular governments the majority exercise over the minority.... [By use of the quorum], parties shall bear the same proportion to each other in the Council that they may bear in the elective body [the electorate]." Rowland Hill's sister, Caroline Clark, her husband Francis , and their large family migrated to South Australia in 1850. Rowland Hill first started to take
3000-717: The city's General Post Office ) and 1934. In 1940 it was removed for safekeeping for the duration of the Second World War . It is now in the foyer of the Royal Mail sorting office in Newtown , Birmingham. A marble statue in Kidderminster, Hill's birthplace, was sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock and unveiled in June 1881. It is at the junction of Vicar and Exchange Streets. Hill is prominent in Kidderminster's community history. There used to be
3075-911: The coal industry. Some sugar cane lines in Cuba were 2 ft 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 699 mm ). 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge railways were generally constructed in the former British colonies. The U.S. had a number of railways of that gauge , including several in the state of Maine such as the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway . 1 ft 11 + 3 ⁄ 4 in ( 603 mm ), 600 mm ( 1 ft 11 + 5 ⁄ 8 in ) and 1 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 597 mm ) were used in Europe. Gauges below 1 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 597 mm ) were rare. Arthur Percival Heywood developed 15 in ( 381 mm ) gauge estate railways in Britain and Decauville produced
London Pneumatic Despatch Company - Misplaced Pages Continue
3150-592: The company tested the technology and constructed a pilot route at the Soho Foundry of Boulton and Watt in Birmingham. The first full-scale trial was at Battersea during the summer of 1861. A single tube was installed, 452 yards long, with curves of up to 300 feet (91 m) radius and gradients of up to 1 in 22. 2 ft ( 610 mm ) narrow gauge track was cast inside the tube. Wheeled capsules were fitted with vulcanised rubber flaps to make an air seal. Power
3225-553: The company. Two of the original vehicles survive, having been recovered in 1930, one in the Museum of London and the other in the National Railway Museum at York. Rowland Hill (postal reformer) Hill made the case that if letters were cheaper to send, people, including the poorer classes, would send more of them, thus eventually profits would go up. Proposing an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage – with
3300-497: The distance and the number of sheets in the letter. Richard Cobden and John Ramsey McCulloch , both advocates of free trade, attacked the policies of privilege and protection of the Tory government. McCulloch, in 1833, advanced the view that "nothing contributes more to facilitate commerce than the safe, speedy and cheap conveyance of letters." Hill's pamphlet, Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability , referred to above,
3375-455: The fares from London to Brighton, expanded the routes, offered special excursion trains, and made the commute comfortable for passengers. In 1844 Edwin Chadwick , Rowland Hill, John Stuart Mill , Lyon Playfair , Dr. Neil Arnott , and other friends formed a society called "Friends in Council," which met at each other's houses to discuss questions of political economy. Hill also became a member of
3450-533: The fastest train in Australia and the fastest 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge train in the world, set a record of 210 km/h (130 mph). The speed record for 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow-gauge rail is 245 km/h (152 mph), set in South Africa in 1978. A special 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge railcar was built for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company with
3525-516: The feasibility of a pneumatic tube-based system between the General Post Office and the West District Central Post Office. In 1855 and 1856 they reported favourably but there would be significant cost. The scheme was not progressed. In 1859 Thomas Webster Rammell and Josiah Latimer Clark proposed an underground tube network in central London "for the more speedy and convenient circulation of despatches and parcels". The company
3600-604: The first being the Penny Black – in 1840, the first year of Penny Post, the number of letters sent in the UK more than doubled. Within 10 years, it had doubled again. Within three years postage stamps were introduced in Switzerland and Brazil, a little later in the US, and by 1860, they were used in 90 countries. Rowland Hill was born in Blackwell Street, Kidderminster , Worcestershire, England. Rowland's father, Thomas Wright Hill ,
3675-519: The former British colonies . 760 mm Bosnian gauge and 750 mm railways are predominantly found in Russia and Eastern Europe. Gauges such as 2 ft 3 in ( 686 mm ), 2 ft 4 in ( 711 mm ) and 2 ft 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 724 mm ) were used in parts of the UK, particularly for railways in Wales and the borders, with some industrial use in
3750-517: The influential Political Economy Club , founded by David Ricardo and other classical economists, but now including many powerful businessmen and political figures. Mill and Hill were both advocates of proportional representation. In 1846, the Conservative Party split over the repeal of the Corn Laws and was replaced by a Whig government led by Lord John Russell . Hill was made Secretary to
3825-568: The international postal system. His name appears on one of the two large meeting halls at the UPU headquarters in Bern , Switzerland. At Tottenham , north London, there is now a local history museum at Bruce Castle (where Hill lived during the 1840s) including some relevant exhibits. In Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, both Hill Street, North Adelaide and Rowland Place in the city centre are named in his honour. The Rowland Hill Awards , started by
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#17328482740443900-406: The iron carriages are shoved into the tube, the air-tight door at its mouth is closed... and we hear them rumbling off on their subterranean journey at a rate, we are informed, of twenty miles an hour... a bell connected with an electric telegraph warns him that the attendant at the other end of the tube is about to thrust the carriage into the tube on its return journey. It has been pushed along... by
3975-528: The message and the address. In addition, Hill proposed to lower the postage rate to a penny per half ounce, without regard to distance. He first presented his proposal to the government in 1837. In the House of Lords the Postmaster, Lord Lichfield , a Whig, denounced Hill's "wild and visionary schemes." William Leader Maberly , Secretary to the Post Office, also a Whig, denounced Hill's study: "This plan appears to be
4050-528: The postal system; he apparently noticed a young woman too poor to claim a letter sent to her by her fiancé. At that time, letters were normally paid for by the recipient, not the sender. The recipient could simply refuse delivery. Frauds were commonplace: for example, coded information could appear on the cover of the letter; the recipient would examine the cover to gain the information, and then refuse delivery to avoid payment. Each individual letter had to be logged. In addition, postal rates were complex, depending on
4125-453: The pressure of air thrown out by the wheel, but it has to be pulled back by suction; the valve of the suction-pipe, in the connection with the centre of the disc, is accordingly opened, and speedily we hear a hollow rumbling, and out shoots the carriage, ready once more for fresh bags. The company sought to develop further lines within London, and attempted to raise an additional £125,000 (£15,107,276 in 2023), of capital. The prospectus proposed
4200-473: The reorganised companies An Post and eircom . The fund assists more than 300 people annually. For the centenary of the first stamp, Portugal issued a miniature sheet with 8 stamps mentioning his name. Later, on his death centenary, an omnibus issue of stamps commemorating Hill was produced by about 80 countries. Altogether, 147 countries have issued stamps commemorating him. Narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway ( narrow-gauge railroad in
4275-426: The same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed. The world's first steam locomotive , built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick for the Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a 3 ft ( 914 mm ) plateway . The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's Salamanca built in 1812 for the 4 ft 1 in ( 1,245 mm ) Middleton Railway in Leeds . Salamanca
4350-453: The school in the June 1823 issue of his journal Revue encyclopédique . Jullien even transferred his son there. Hazelwood so impressed Jeremy Bentham that in 1827 a branch of the school was created at Bruce Castle in Tottenham , London. In 1833, the original Hazelwood School closed and its educational system was continued at the new Bruce Castle School , of which Hill was headmaster from 1827 until 1839. The colonisation of South Australia
4425-449: The sender, the prepayment to be proven by the use of prepaid letter sheets or adhesive stamps (adhesive stamps had long been used to show payment of taxes, on documents for example). Letter sheets were to be used because envelopes were not yet common; they were not yet mass-produced, and in an era when postage was calculated partly on the basis of the number of sheets of paper used, the same sheet of paper would be folded and serve for both
4500-428: The stamps, were instituted with later issues. Rowland Hill continued at the Post Office until the Conservative Party won the 1841 General Election . Sir Robert Peel returned to office on 30 August 1841 and served until 29 June 1846. Amid rancorous controversy, Hill was dismissed in July 1842. However, the London and Brighton Railway named him a director and later chairman of the board, from 1843 to 1846. He lowered
4575-419: The system, but there were not substantial time savings to be made, and by 1874, the Post Office abandoned its use, and the company went into liquidation in 1875. The Edinburgh Evening News reported in 1876 that the trucks containing the parcels continually stuck in the tunnels, and this was the reason for the failure of the company. In late 1921, an agreement was reached between the Pneumatic Despatch Company and
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#17328482740444650-416: The traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge . In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard: Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states of Queensland , Western Australia and Tasmania have
4725-460: The world; 19th-century mountain logging operations often used narrow-gauge railways to transport logs from mill to market. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland, and narrow-gauge railway equipment remains in common use for building tunnels. In 1897, a manganese mine in the Lahn valley in Germany was using two benzine -fueled locomotives with single cylinder internal combustion engines on
4800-475: Was a project of Edward Gibbon Wakefield , who believed that many of the social problems in Britain were caused by overcrowding and overpopulation. In 1832 Rowland Hill published a tract called Home colonies: sketch of a plan for the gradual extinction of pauperism, and for the diminution of crime , based on a Dutch model. [2] Hill then served from 1833 until 1839 as secretary of the South Australian Colonization Commission , which worked successfully to establish
4875-466: Was adopted by early 19th-century railways, primarily in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland. 4 ft 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,384 mm ) lines were also constructed, and both were eventually converted to standard gauge. 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) between the inside of the rail heads, its name and classification vary worldwide and it has about 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi) of track. As its name implies, metre gauge
4950-444: Was also the first rack-and-pinion locomotive. During the 1820s and 1830s, a number of industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In 1842, the first narrow-gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for the 1,100 mm ( 3 ft 7 + 5 ⁄ 16 in )-gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium. The first use of steam locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway
5025-505: Was an innovator in education and politics, including among his friends Joseph Priestley , Tom Paine and Richard Price . Hill worked at the Assay Office in Birmingham and painted landscapes in his spare time. In 1827, he married Caroline Pearson, originally from Wolverhampton, who died on 27 May 1881. Together they had four children: three daughters (Eleanor, Clara and Louisa), and one son (Pearson). In 1819 he moved his father's school "Hill Top" from central Birmingham, establishing
5100-401: Was circulated privately in 1837. The report called for "low and uniform rates" according to weight, rather than distance. Hill's study reported his findings and those of Charles Babbage that most of the costs in the postal system were not for transport, but rather for laborious handling procedures at the origins and the destinations. Costs could be reduced dramatically if postage were prepaid by
5175-431: Was conveyed under the personal frank of peers, dignitaries and members of parliament, while censorship and political espionage were conducted by postal officials. Fundamentally, the postal system was mismanaged, wasteful, expensive and slow. It had become inadequate for the needs of an expanding commercial and industrial nation. There is a well-known story, probably apocryphal, about how Hill gained an interest in reforming
5250-462: Was founded in 1859 with offices at 6 Victoria Street, Westminster. Capital of £150,000 was sought through 15,000 shares at £10 each. The company's directors were its chairman Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos , deputy chairman Mark Huish , Thomas Brassey , Edwin Clark , the Hon. William Napier, John Horatio Lloyd , William Henry Smith and Sir Charles Henry John Rich . With initial funding of £25,000 (£3,163,086 in 2023),
5325-441: Was his model for the education of the emerging middle classes. The second was his model for an efficient postal system to serve businesses and the public, including the postage stamp and the system of low and uniform postal rates, which is often taken for granted in the modern world. In this, he not only changed postal services around the world, but also made commerce more efficient and profitable, even though it took 30 years before
5400-552: Was in 1865, when the Ffestiniog Railway introduced passenger service after receiving its first locomotives two years earlier. Many narrow-gauge railways were part of industrial enterprises and served primarily as industrial railways , rather than general carriers. Common uses for these industrial narrow-gauge railways included mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and conveying agricultural products. Extensive narrow-gauge networks were constructed in many parts of
5475-582: Was probably the third petrol-engined locomotive built. Extensive narrow-gauge rail systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I . They were a short-lived military application, and after the war the surplus equipment created a small boom in European narrow-gauge railway building. The heavy-duty 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow-gauge railways in Australia (Queensland), New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and
5550-537: Was provided by a 30 horse-power steam engine with a 21 feet (6.4 m) diameter Waddle fan . Single capsules weighed up to 3 tonnes, and achieved speeds up to 40 mph (60 km/h). A permanent line of 2 ft ( 610 mm ) narrow gauge was constructed between Euston railway station and the North West District Post Office in Eversholt Street, a distance of approximately a third of
5625-488: Was the largest house in a row of four Georgian mansions which were demolished at the start of the twentieth century to make way for Hampstead General Hospital, which was itself demolished in the 1970s and replaced by The Royal Free Hospital . For twenty years his next-door neighbour on Hampstead Green was the Gothic revival architect Samuel Sanders Teulon , who designed St Stephen's Church, Rosslyn Hill , facing their houses. Hill
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