Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway

Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway
Locale	England
Dates of operation	1886 – 1926
Track gauge	3 ft 6 in (1067 mm)
Length	4½ miles
Headquarters	Wolverton

The Krauss steam tram

The Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway was a narrow gauge street tramway that ran between Wolverton in Buckinghamshire and Deanshanger in Northamptonshire via Stony Stratford (Bucks) between 1887 and 1926.

History

The tramway opened in 1887. It initially connected Stony Stratford with the London and North Western Railway's (LNWR) Wolverton railway works and Wolverton railway station two miles to the east.

A 2½ mile long extension opened in 1888 to serve Deanshanger, to the west of Stony Stratford, but the tramway company quickly ran into financial trouble and declared bankruptcy in 1889. The line was purchased by a syndicate of Bedford businessmen who reopened the Wolverton to Stony Stratford section in 1891. The Deanshanger extension never re-opened.

In the early 1920s the line was taken over by the LNWR who purchased a new Bagnall tram locomotive. After the LNWR was merged into the London Midland and Scottish Railway the line was soon closed, in 1926.

The line was unusual for a British street tramway being entirely worked by steam locomotives; indeed it was the last steam worked street tramway in the United Kingdom.

Locomotives

Builder	Type	Date	Notes
Krauss	0-4-0 tram	1886
Green	0-4-0 tram
Brown	0-4-0 tram
W.G. Bagnall	0-4-0ST	1922

Memorabilia

One of the carriages (significantly larger than a Routemaster double-decker bus) is on display at the Milton Keynes Museum on Stacey Hill (southern edge of Wolverton) and a variety of memorabilia is on display.

Other sources

• Prideaux, J.D.C.A. (1978). The English Narrow Gauge Railway. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7511-3. 
• Milton Keynes museum.

See also

• British narrow gauge railways