Painswick Railway and Light Tramways
On November 6th 1866, a public meeting was held at Painswick Town Hall to discuss proposals to build a railway from Stroud to Painswick, at an estimated cost of twenty thousand pounds. Nothing came of the proposal but in 1872 a legacy from Fredrick Gyde gave powers to trustees to invest thousand pounds in shares in any railway which might be made to Painswick. This appears to have revived the as in 1877 George Keeling, a Lydney engineer, surveyed a line to branch from the Great Western at Stroud to run up the Painswick valley. The line was to leave the Cheltenham route 200 yards west of Stroud station and run through Stratford Mills, Salmon Mills, Rookmills and follow the Old Painswick Road to a point down from the Cross Hands public house at the junction of Kingsmill and Stepping Stone Lanes in Painswick. This plan was presented to the 1878 session of Parliament and contained clauses for the conditions of use of Stroud station passenger and goods facilities.
The 1889 session saw a revised route, surveyed by V.A. Lawson. It was to follow a similar route but terminate at Loveday's Mill. This scheme obtained Parliamentary approval and was incorporated under the Painswick Railway Act of 26th August 1889. although the Act was secured the railway was never built, the Trustees of the Gyde fund investing their money in a water supply and drainage scheme.
The Painswick: idea did not, however, die. In the late 1800s a Mr Ne ins sought powers to construct light railways in the Stroud, Gloucester and Cheltenham areas. The application was refused by the Commissioners on the grounds of competition from the Midland and Great Western Railway Companies. In 1902 a syndicate proposed a light tramway system based on Mr Nevins plans. It was for twelve routes:-
1 Stonehouse-Stroud (3 miles)
2 Dudbridge-Nailsworth (3 3/4 miles
3 Cainscross-Dudbridge (1/8 mile)
4Stroud-Chalford (4 miles)
5 Slad Road-London Road Stroud (1/4 mile)
6 Stroud-Uplands (1/8 mile)
7 Stroud-Lansdown Stroud (4.25 chains)
8 Stroud-Brockworth via Painswick (8 1/2 miles)
9 Gloucester-Hucclecote (2 miles)
10 Brockworth-Hucclecote (1 1/2 miles)
11 Brockworth-Cheltenham (3 3/4 miles)
12 South Cheltenham borders (1/2 mile)
An Act was passed in 1903 for a series of electric tramways tramways. A special clause provided that the Stroud to Painswick route was to have trackless trolley cars. This idea was based on the Swiss system and would have produced the first trolley buses in Great Britain. The proposals produced much local opposition as the tramways would have used the already busy roads. So the scheme died, but not before it had caused the Great Western Railway to look very closely at a scheme of their own for securing local traffic.
