The construction of the tramway commenced from the southern end as there was no other way of getting any materials to Redlake Mines. As construction progressed the number of gangs working on the railway multiplied. Charlie Blackler supervised a gang at Redlake, Dick Mogridge was the foreman at Western Quarry and a further gang was based out at Three Barrows making paving stones for the floors of the settling pits.
The line was completed in just over a year and the capital expenditure on the tramway, machinery and buildings was £27,018.17s.9d.
Alongside the line a double conduit followed approximately the same course as the tramway. After two days of washing and processing which removed coarse sand, mica (alumina-silicate) and the finer sand, the clay, now in suspension, moved to the settling pits at Greenhill, about a mile away, where the excess water was drained off and evaporated. Once the clay suspension resembled the consistency of soft cream it was released into the glazed stoneware pipe to flow slowly down to Cantrell, aided only by gravity.
At Cantrell the clay flowed firstly into the upper open settling tanks where more surface water was drained off. This could take up to twelve weeks by which time it was similar in appearance to clotted cream with between 35% to 40% clay in the mixture. It was then shovelled into wagons on a temporary tram track and moved into the ‘pan kiln’ where it was distributed over the length of the floor by a travelling bridge.