An early form of railway track where the rail stands vertically and the carriage wheels ride on the top surface. It replaced earlier plateways or flat rails that had L-shaped flanges on the rail itself. The edge rail required the wheels to have flanges to keep the train on the track, setting the standard for all subsequent railway designs.
Heard on the job
The museum's oldest exhibit shows the transition from cast iron plateways to the first wrought iron edge rail.