In this book review, we take a look at Tanfield Waggonway, which was written by Rob Langham and published by Amberley Publishing.

This book offers an illustrated insight into the history and operation of the Tanfield Waggonway in County Durham, where horses once hauled coal waggons on wooden rails laid on a track bed.

With some justification, it is said to be the world’s oldest railway, dating back over 300 years to 1720, and is still partly in use as the preserved Tanfield Railway.

In ten chapters, Rob Langham describes the history of the waggonway, from building and operating the original wooden waggonway, rebuilding it with iron rails and inclined planes, replacing horses with locomotives, and through to its closure in the early 1960s.

Published in September 2025 by Amberley Publishing and written by Rob Langham, this softcover book measures approximately 23.4 cm x 16.5 cm, has 96 pages, and features 100 illustrations.

It has a published price of £15.99, but at the time of writing, it can be purchased for £14.39 from Amberley Publishing and for £12.39 from Amazon.

There are some remarkable images in the book, such as the map on the left below by Gibson, showing the Tanfield Waggonway in 1788. Equally interesting is the photo on the right from 1910 showing the Causey Burn embankment, the oldest railway embankment in the world.

The waggonway made use of several inclined planes, which, with photographs and illustrations such as those below, the author explains in detail how they worked.

Throughout the book, well-chosen photographs illustrate well how the waggonway worked and what it looked like in its later years when worked by steam locomotives.

Many photographs, such as those below, clearly illustrate the challenges faced by trains when ascending the inclines. One can only imagine the strain on the horses when they were used.

This is an eminently readable account of the Tanfield Waggonway and its nearby competitors, with an excellent selection of maps and diagrams illustrating how the inclines operated.

Especially pleasing is a good selection of rare images from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

With an almost encyclopaedic level of detail, this is a superb read that never descends into the mundane, but flows without being bogged down with facts and figures.

The level of detail is astounding, and the author obviously has an affinity with the subject and knows the area well.

In the year when we are celebrating Railway 200, this is an excellent description of a railway that is over 100 years older than the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and deserves a place on every enthusiast’s bookshelf with a rating of 5/5.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Amberley Publishing.

We would like to thank Amberley Publishing for providing us with a copy of the book for review.