The railway operated like a toll road; independent hauliers were permitted to place wagons on the line and haul them with their own horses to the destination, paying the company a toll for the facility. The track used edge rails, in which the wagon wheels had flanges for guidance (as opposed to a plateway, where plain wheels run on the flat of an L-shaped plate) so that the wagons were specific to railway use, and the company hired wagons to the hauliers. Whishaw recorded that there were 270 wagons in use on the system, each weighing about 24 cwt (1200 kg); the horses in use belonged to the coal proprietors, not the railway itself. Wagon rental to hauliers accounted for 8.4% of the company's revenue in the first seven years.