thumb|Map of the tramway, from 1930s; the northern section having been dismantled by this stage, and the Moreton-Shipston section in use as a railway
The Stratford and Moreton Tramway was a 16-mile (25-km) long horse-drawn wagonway which ran from the canal basin at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, with a branch to Shipston-on-Stour. The main line opened in 1826, whilst the branch to Shipston opened in 1836.
The tramway was used to carry Black Country coal to the rural districts of southern Warwickshire via the Stratford-on-Avon Canal, and limestone and agricultural produce northwards.
The northern part of the tramway had fallen into disuse by the early 1900s and was dismantled in 1918. The southern section between Moreton-in-Marsh and Shipston-on-Stour was converted into a steam railway in 1889 and continued in use as a minor branch line until 1960.
Background
The act of Parliament for the line, the (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. lxiii), was passed in May 1821 and construction was completed in 1826, the route having been surveyed by the railway promoter William James and engineered by John Urpeth Rastrick.
The tramway was built as part of an early and ambitious scheme known as the Central Junction Railway promoted by William James, while one states it was built to the gauge adopted by George Stephenson in the north-east of England.
The branch to Shipston-on-Stour, was authorised by the (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. lxx) on 10 June 1833, and opened on 11 February 1836. The sharp curves of the tramway alignment made it a slow journey. A passenger service of four trains each way per-day operated until 8 July 1929. Goods operation continued until closure on 2 May 1960.
Another old coal wagon from the tramway is preserved at the National Railway Museum at York. This dates from c. 1840, and was formerly used by Thomas James, Coal Merchant, Shipston-on-Stour.
Uses since closure
In 2020, as a result of more people walking and cycling during the COVID-19 pandemic, a community interest company called Old Tramway Revived was set up with the aim to reopen more of the old tramway route south from Stratford-upon-Avon alongside the A3400 as an active transportation corridor towards Shipston. The company has already received support from several of the local councils, and in a presentation to the Stratford Society it was noted that there was a previous abandoned attempt to reopen the route in the mid 1980s that used Manpower Services Commission labour to clear some of the line.
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