The First use of the Word 'Railway'? - 1776

While it is easy to see the railway age in Britain as beginning with the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, or even the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway five years before, it should not be forgotten that prior to this there were a great many track ways established for industrial or mining purposes. These lines were usually hauled by horses, used wooden tracks, and connected with other pieces of transport infrastructure, such as canals and ports. Therefore, given these lines existed, I thought I would search for the earliest use of the word 'railway' in the 17th and 18th online newspaper collections. The first I found was from the London Gazette of May 11 1776, which reported....