Brill Tramway - Construction and Early Operations

Construction and Early Operations

With a railway near the border of Wotton House estate, the 3rd Duke decided to build a small-scale agricultural railway to connect the estate to the railway. His intended route ran on his own land other than a small stretch west of the Aylesbury and Buckingham line. This land was owned by the Winwood Charity Trust, an operator of almshouses in Quainton of which the Duke was a trustee. The Duke agreed to pay an annual rent of £12 (about £900 as of 2013), in return for permission to run trains. With the consent of the Winwood Charity the route did not require Parliamentary approval, and construction could begin immediately.

The Duke envisaged a tramway west from Quainton Road railway station across his Wotton estate. The line was intended for transport of construction materials and agricultural produce and not for passengers. It would not have a junction with the Aylesbury and Buckingham railway but would have its own station at Quainton Road at a right angle to the A&B's line. A turntable at the end of the tramway would link to a spur from the A&B's line. The line was to run roughly southwest from Quainton Road to a Wotton railway station near Wotton Underwood. Just west of the station at Wotton the line split. One section would run west to Wood Siding near Brill. A short stub called Church Siding would run northwest into Wotton Underwood itself, terminating near the parish church, and a 1 mile 57 chains (2.8 km) siding would run north to a coal siding near Kingswood. The branch to Kingswood was routed to pass a pond, to allow the horses working the line to drink.

Ralph Augustus Jones was appointed Manager of the project, and construction began on 8 September 1870. Twenty labourers from the Wotton estate who would otherwise have been unemployed following harvest were employed six days a week to build the line, each paid 11 s per week. They carried out all the construction except laying the track, which was by the specialists, Lawford & Houghton. The line was built using the cheapest materials and winding around hills to avoid expensive earthworks. Ballast was a mix of burnt clay and ash. The stations were crude earth banks 6 inches (150 mm) high, held in place by wooden planks. As the Duke intended that the line be worked only by horse-drawn carriages, the line was built with longitudinal sleepers to reduce the risk of horses tripping. A 13-foot (4 m) diameter turntable was installed at Quainton Road to link the tramway to the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway.