Wantage Tramway



Owner Wantage Tramways Company Limited
Opened for goods 1st October 1875 (horse)
Opened for passengers 11th October 1875 (horse)
Operator Wantage Tramways Company Limited
First steam service 1st August 1876
Last horse service 1888?
Last passenger service 31st July 1925
Closed
21st December 1945
Length 2.48 miles
Gauge 4ft 8½ins

Button description No evidence that uniforms were ever issued

Comments
The Wantage Tramway was one of those curious creations that was built to connect a town that had effectively been bypassed by the nearest railway, in this case, the Great Western Railway's station at Wantage Road. Although the company used tramway trailers for its passenger services, and steam trams (for many years) it also ran standard railway locomotives, and was in fact a roadside railway, without any street running, save for two road crossings.

Surviving photographs suggest that conductors/guards wore smart unmarked jackets in a variety of styles (see link), more than likely self-purchased, and almost certainly without marked buttons.