ABSTRACT
Few of the really epoch-making developments m technology can be said to be the exclusive product of any one nation, but it is probably true to say that railway locomotion in all its essentials was a uniquely English contribution. As has often been pointed out, all the prerequisites for railway locomotion were worked out in connection with collieries, and it was at collieries that the earliest wooden rails known to us were laid down. These were at Wollaton and Strelley, near Nottingham, Broseley on the Severn, and Bedlington, Cowpen and Bebside on the North-East coast. Nicholas Strelley does not claim that the two miles of railway has been laid within Strelley and Bilborough, and he is almost certainly referring to the rails laid across Wollaton. The explanation of the special term ' tilting rails ' is no doubt to be sought in the local circumstances.
