Wantage Tramway

Wantage is now in Oxfordshire but, in the days of the Wantage Tramway, it was in Berkshire so it is included here.

Wantage Tramway no. 5 at the (now closed) Wantage Road Station, 1960s.

The plaque reads:

LOCOMOTIVE "SHANNON"

THIS ENGINE WAS BUILT IN 1857 BY GEORGE ENGLAND & CO. OF HATCHAM IRON WORKS, LONDON, FOR CAPTAIN PEEL, R.N. (SON OF SIR ROBERT PEEL) PROPRIETOR OF THE SANDY & POTTON RAILWAY IN BEDFORDSHIRE AND TOOK ITS NAME FROM CAPTAIN PEEL'S SHIP "SHANNON". THE LINE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY TAKEN OVER BY THE LONDON & NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY IN 1863 AND "SHANNON" WAS EMPLOYED ON SHUNTING DUTIES AT CREWE WORKS UNTIL 1878 WHEN THE ENGINE WAS SOLD TO THE WANTAGE TRAMWAY CO.

 THE WANTAGE TRAMWAY WAS OPENED ON OCTOBER 11th 1875 AND A PASSENGER AND FREIGHT SERVICE WAS OPERATED BETWEEN THE G.W.R WANTAGE ROAD STATION AND WANTAGE TOWN UNTIL JULY 31st 1925 WHEN THE PASSENGER SERVICE WAS WITHDRAWN. A FREIGHT SERVICE WAS CONTINUED UNTIL DECEMBER 1945 WHEN THE LINE WAS CLOSED.

"SHANNON" WAS ONE OF TWO ENGINES OWNED BY THE WANTAGE TRAMWAY CO. AT THE TIME THE LINE WAS CLOSED AND, IN VIEW OF THE ENGINE'S HISTORIC INTEREST AND THE RAILWAY ASSOCIATION WITH WANTAGE, "SHANNON" WAS ACQUIRED BY THE G.W.R. CO. FOR EXHIBITION AT ITS HOME STATION, WANTAGE ROAD.

"Shannon", which was known as "Jane" on the Wantage Tramway, now belongs to the National Railway Museum and is currently on loan to Didcot Railway Centre.  She was 150 years old in 2007.

For more details and pictures of  "Jane", visit the Vale & Downland Museum website and download the file <Jane.pdf>.

Photograph of George England whose company built "Jane".

Another George England locomotive - Hayling Island Railway No.2

Notes on the Wantage Tramway

For details of Wantage Tramway locomotives, see the file [Wantage.txt] in our filestore.

The Science and Society Picture Library has some pictures of the Wantage Tramway.  Just enter "Wantage Tramway" in the SSPL search box.

One of the Wantage Tramway's coaches was a former Reading Corporation Transport horse-drawn tramcar.

Brief biography of John Grantham who designed the Wantage Tramway's first steam tram.

In July 1880, two Mekarski compressed air trams were tried out on the Wantage Tramway for 3 months.  The results were disappointing and the tramway reverted to steam operation.

In 1906, to cover a locomotive shortage, the Wantage Tramway hired the locomotive "Wye" (Fletcher Jennings 153/1876) from the Great  Western Railway for three shillings per day with a minimum charge of one pound a week.  "Wye"  no longer exists but a similar, slightly larger, one "Baxter" (Fletcher Jennings 158/1877) has been preserved on the Bluebell Railway, Sussex.  For a comparison of the two locomotives, click on [filestore] above and open the file [FletcherJennings.txt].

Click here for more information on "Baxter", including a downloadable sound and video clip.  The video may be jerky the first time you play it but should be satisfactory on subsequent playings. 

Other Steam Tramways

Wolverton & Stony Stratford ¦ Swansea & Mumbles ¦ Wisbech & Upwell