The Surrey Iron Railway was the first public railway in England, probably in the world. The railway ran along this road on its route from Croydon to the mouth of the River Wandle, a distance of nearly nine miles. Goods wagons were pulled by horses along a track of cast iron plates laid on stone sleepers, some of which are set in the wall below. The gauge was 4'2. It opened in 1803, following the passing of the Surrey Iron Railway Act in 1801, and closed in 1846, the victim of the success of newer railways, powered by steam.