Red Wheel Sites

Research & development site of the early British aviators. Royal Aero Club's flying ground. Naval Flying School. Short Brothers' factory.

Established 1910

Warehouse of the Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway 'Innocent' line, opened 1831.
The city's first railway, built to carry coal and agricultural goods. Horse and rope hauled until 1846. Closed 1968

Opened 1816 for the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. At 145m, this cast iron aqueduct is the longest canal aqueduct in England

Major port complex, developed from 1795 as the link between the canal network, the River Mersey and later the Manchester Ship Canal

Opened 1566 and later extended. The first canal to be built in Britain since Roman times and the first to use Pound Locks.

Pioneer user of narrow gauge steam (1863) and articulated locomotives (1869) and bogie carriages (1871) in difficult terrain

The prototype British "Fighting Tank" was designed here in late-Summer 1915 by W.A. Tritton and Lt. W.G. Wilson RN. 400 tanks were subsequently built by Fosters of Lincoln

On 5th July 1895 Hon Evelyn Ellis made the first recorded UK car journey 56 miles from Micheldever Station to Datchet in a Panhard et Levassor 'horseless carriage'

1821 Makers of 4 pioneering steam locomotives in 1818/9, including 'Stourbridge Lion' - the first engine to run on a commercial railroad in the USA

A vital link in the UK canal network, achieved from 1814 by two 5-lock staircases and from 1900-1911 via a unique inclined plane boat lift