As coal mining in Höganäs, southern Sweden, gathered pace towards the end of the 18th century, the need for efficient transport increased. In 1798, Thomas Stawford from Durham in north-east England was invited to oversee the mining operations. To facilitate internal transport, he commissioned Sweden’s first above-ground railway. The tracks carried loaded coal wagons from the mine shafts down to the harbour, right out onto a jetty, where the coal was transferred onto ships for onward transport. Similar track and harbour systems connecting coal mines to waterways were already established in England – but in Sweden, this was entirely new.