Talk:Horse operation

Horse Haulage

Uphill

A horse hauling waggonload(s) uphill can be connected to those waggons with ropes, as there is little risk of those waggons hitting the horses' hooves.

On the Festiniog Railway, horses were only used on the continuously uphill section.

Downhill

Were horses to be used on a downhill section, or the downhill sections of an undulating line, how would the horses be connected to the waggons?

Rope(s) would be inadequate, and thingymajigs used instead.

This problem may be so taken for granted, that the answer may be undocumented in text or in drawings. FarleyBrook (talk) 02:32, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Good question. Perhaps a pole or pair of thills could have helped in some cases? But often, I suspect, the brakes would have had to be used perhaps more than the horses downhill. As eloquently documented for the FR. --IP (talk) 16:35, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

And now it dawns at me: perhaps you havent seen this? --IP (talk) 00:19, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

Dandy Wagon doesn't have a picture of how the horse is connected to its train. :-) FarleyBrook (talk) 10:50, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

• I don't know about thingymajigs etc, but carthorses are often worked between shafts. With 2 horses side by side, one pole can be used between them. 2 horses in line ahead are said to be "in tandem". See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem . Anthony Appleyard (talk) 12:08, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Horse and Sleepers

Transverse sleepers appear to to be a tripping hazard if horses trot between the rails.

Some early railways/tramways used separate stone blocks for each rail, so that there is smooth space between the rails for horses to tread on.

However, stone blocks do not hold the gauge well to its true value.

Multiple horses

(QNNA) When there are two or more horse hauling a load, do they pull side by side, or two in line?

I imagine the horses would be in line as there is not any great width on the FR. If they were side by side there would be a tendency to trip on the rails. However, I think it more likely that they would make up two trains and run one behind the other and within sight. - I am only guessing. Heritagejim (talk) 14:05, 1 December 2017 (UTC)