A section of a historic tramway, which has been buried for nearly 150 years, has been unearthed. The track is believed to be part of a line between Castle Cary and Somerton in Somerset, commissioned in the 1880s to transport stone from local quarries, but never completed.
The short section was discovered outside the Cross Keys pub near East Lydford during recent roadworks on the B3153. Archivists from the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York have confirmed that the rail could be a type of rack rail, most commonly used for steep gradients.
Local historian David Lawson described the discovery of the metre-long section as intriguing. He noted that the track was laid at 90 degrees to its intended direction and was lined up with an old cellar door, leading to the conclusion that a former publican may have used it to move barrels into the pub.
The tramway was designed by the Somersetshire Tramway Company to take stone to Castle Cary railway station. An ordnance survey map from 1895 shows sections of the rail around East Lydford were used, but the full track was reportedly never laid, and the company eventually went bankrupt.