On 26th July 1803, The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opened in South London.Established as a toll railway, the chief goods transported were coal, building materials, lime, manure, corn and seeds. A public 14 km long railway, the Surrey Iron Railway was a horse-drawn plateway that linked Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham, all then in Surrey but now suburbs of South London.