The tramway was a 16-mile long horse-drawn wagonway, which stretched from the canal basin at Stratford-upon-Avon to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire - there was also an additional branch to Shipston-on-Stour. The line functioned as a horse-drawn tramway for several decades, but did not prosper. In 1859 the southern section between Moreton and Shipston was converted into a proper railway. The tramway company went bankrupt in 1868, and the line was taken over by the Great Western Railway.