Brill Tramway

The Brill Tramway (or Brill branch), originally known as the Wotton Tramway, was the common name for a far-flung and little used section of the Metropolitan Railway in Buckinghamshire, England. It was closed on 30 November 1935 by the London Passenger Transport Board, which having inherited the Metropolitan in 1933, ended passenger traffic to all stations beyond Aylesbury .

The Wotton Tramway

The single-track line opened intially as the Wotton Tramway in 1871 on land belonging to the third Duke of Buckingham, who lived at Wotton House (built 1704-14). It ran from Quainton Road (opened by the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway in 1868) to Waddesdon (renamed Waddesdon Road in 1922 and distinct from Waddesdon Manor, on the main line between Aylesbury and Quainton Road), Westcott, Wotton and Wood Siding. A final station at the hill-top village of Brill, 700 feet above sea level , was reached in 1872. There was originally a halt at Church Siding, between Wotton and Wood Siding, at the junction with a spur to Kingswood, the site of a coal wharf, which had been part of the initial 1871 line.

The Wotton estate

The tramway (in effect, a light railway) was conceived for the agricultural and industrial purposes of the Wotton estate. Wotton was the second seat of the family, the Grenvilles of Stowe, and was usually occupied by the eldest son and heir to the dukedom, known by the courtesy title of Marquess of Chandos. However, the third Duke, who had no children, continued to live there after he succeeded to the title in 1861 .

Plans to extend to Oxford

Plans for an Oxford, Aylesbury & Metropolitan Junction Railway to extend the line from Brill to the city of Oxford, 10 miles away, were drawn up in 1883, but never taken forward. In 1888 Parliamentary powers for a similar scheme were obtained by the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramway Company which, in 1894, took over the existing tramway. In December 1899 the Metropolitan acquired a lease on the line, but never took up an option to buy it .

Edwards & Pigram (1983) reproduced a map, based on a touring guide of 1894, which showed a possible route for an extension to Oxford. This showed intermediate halts at Boarstall, Studley Wood, Stanton St John and Headingtonwick Farm. The Oxford terminus would have been near Magdalen Bridge, on the very edge of the city centre. Finance was never found for an extension and, indeed, to tunnel under Muswell Hill, west of Brill, which rises to about 600 feet, would likely have been prohibitive.

The oil-lit halts

Brill thus remained, with Verney Junction, on another branch from Quainton Road, the farthest outpost of “Metro-land”, some 50 miles from Baker Street, the Metropolitan’s London terminus. In his television documentary, Metro-land (1973), John Betjeman recalled sitting on the platform at Quainton Road in the autumn of 1929 watching the tram depart for Brill: "the steam ready to take two or three passengers through oil-lit halts and over level crossings, a rather bumpy journey ..." .