was laid to Blacksyke, with a spur to serve a limestone quarry. Considerable earthworks were required to build the new line to a satisfactory gradient. Connecting to the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway For decades there had been consideration of linking Newcastle and Carlisle, representing the North Sea and the Solway Firth, by some improved means of transport. A canal had been the preferred solution for some time, and after 1823 a branch canal to Kirkhouse was proposed, to connect with the waggonways. It was a railway that was authorised by Parliament on 22 May 1829, when the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Act was passed. The route to be taken by the line had been controversial, and the Earl of Carlisle had insisted on alterations to the route to protect his interests, including his near-monopoly of coal extraction in the area. The new railway was to intersect his waggonway at an inconvenient location, and it was agreed that the waggonway would be diverted, crossing the Newcastle and Carlisle line at Milton on the level. (Priestley reported that "At thirteen miles from Carlisle the line crosses a private colliery railway belonging to the Earl of Carlisle." The opportunity was taken to modernise the technology of the waggonway as well. The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway opened on 19 July 1836, although the Earl of Carlisle's mineral traffic had already been running for a short time (since 13 July), from Milton to Carlisle. In those few days his traffic had used gravitation from Milton down to Carlisle, the horses riding in dandy carts, and hauling the empty wagons back. In fact the inclined plane was nearly a mile long with gradients varying from 1 in 22 to 1 in 17½. A wire rope ran the length of the plane supported on rollers, and passed round a drum at the top; it operated on the balanced principle so that full wagons attached at the top drew up empties from the lower level. The 13 July opening of the Earl of Carlisle's line was a celebratory occasion, and the Earl of Carlisle's two locomotives Gilsland and Atlas worked trains from Kirkhouse to Brampton and back. A regular passenger service was then operated from Milton station to Brampton by horse traction. A steep downward gradient on a portion of the line allowed the horse to ride at the rear of the passenger vehicle. The horse-drawn passenger coach