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Wantage Tramway by S.H. Pearce Higgins Introduction by John Betjeman w/DustJack
The Wantage Tramway by S.H. Pearce Higgins Introduction by John Betjeman
Hard cover with dust jacket (has some damage)
Copyright 1958 The Abbey Press, Abingdon Berkshire
158 pages
Contents
DatesXI
IntroductionXIII
I Origin, Promotion and Construction 1
II Inauguration of Passenger Traffic, 1875 to 187616
III Steam Power Established, 1874 to 187924
IV The Tramway at Work, 1875 to 192534 Financial Structure of the CompanyDescription of the LineTraffic and Working Arrangements, 1875 et sq.Compressed Air Trial, 1880Track RenewalClaimsProgress and Expansion, 1880 to 1914The Great War and AfterStaff, Salaries, etc.The End of Passenger Traffic
V Last Years, 1925 to 194762
VI Rolling Stock67 IntroductionTable of Engines and CarsTramway Engines and LocomotivesPassenger Cars
VII Tickets and Fares103
Appendices109
Notes149
" All who read through this book, whether they live in Wantage or not, whether they have seen the tram or not, cannot fail to be impressed by its tale of independence and integrity." - John Betjeman
Introduction
I AM honoured to be asked to write some lines of commendation to this full and scholarly book on the Wantage Tramway. Though a comparatively new inhabitant of the town of Wantage, I have lived in its neighbourhood for the last 25 years and I have known the Vale of the White Horse for far longer. One of my earliest recollections of married life was catching the first morning train to London from Uffington which used to stop at Wantage Road Station. There it was always a pleasure in the early morning to wave to the driver of the Wantage Steam Tram who was generally shunting about in the goods yard and looking much bigger than the engine he drove. He always returned my salute.
In my undergraduate days at Oxford the Wantage Tramway was visited and admired by those of us who were railway enthusiasts, but I was just one term too late to travel on the passenger service which ceased in 1925. Friends have described to me the pleasure of the journey and watching the flat vale landscape slide by through clear glass windows between panels of stained glass. Those who wish to enjoy some very faint semblance of that experience could if they wished (and could find it) go to a sportsground on the outskirts of Wantage and sit in the dressing room of a football field there. It was once a carriage of the Wantage Tramway.
The saddest of post-war sights at Wantage was to watch Engine No. 7 being used to carry the track as it was taken up behind it at the dismantling of the line. The cruelty of this was almost like the deliberate torturing of a defenceless child. Why, one felt, let not some alien thing like a lorry or some visitor from another railway do the job? And then when the murder was over for a long time there was the unusually wide grass verge along those 21 miles of peaceful vale country from Wantage Road to Wantage. And most ironic of all, there remained for a long time a notice at the entrance to Wantage telling you there was a level crossing and to beware of trains. Hoardings and concrete electric columns have obliterated all visual remnants of the line on this spot.
The Wantage Tramway, as all independent railways do, had a strong personality of its own and inspired affection. It may have been expensive but it did its work efficiently to the last and always paid a dividend. Now when we come by train to Wantage Road we have to take the bus to the town. The service, though it is courteous and friendly, is not so frequent and convenient as must have been the steam tram. A bus cannot take as much luggage as a train.
It was a characteristically generous gesture of the Great Western, one of its last acts before being absorbed into the impersonality of `British Railways', to buy Engine No. 5 for which had worked on the line since 1878. The Great Western Railway overhauled her at Swindon and repainted and set her up where she may still be seen on the down platform of Wantage Road Station. All who read through this book, whether they live in Wantage or not, whether they have seen the tram or not, cannot fail to be impressed by its tale of independence and integrity.
PREFACE
AMASS of material exists for a history of the Wantage Tramway. Much of this exists only in manuscript and much is not very readily accessible. Wherever possible, therefore, extracts and transcriptions have been included in the text or the appendices. Great care has been taken with the transcriptions; and the original spelling, abbreviations and punctuation have been retained as far as possible.
A vast quantity of additional material, including letters, waybills, etc., dating back to the 1870's, was discovered in the loft of the original station house in Mill Street after the dissolution of the Company. These were dispersed about 1950, and some may still survive in private hands.
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