 The first for public use, and on cast iron rails, was the Lake Lock Rail Road formed in 1796 and opened in 1798.Another early public railway, the Surrey Iron Railway obtained an Act of Parliament on 21 May 1801 to build a tramroad between Wandsworth and Croydon in what is now south London; the engineer was William Jessop.Although it survived only until 1845 and was for freight traffic only, it prefaced many others in different parts of the country.