Moreton-Worcester Timeline
Part 1 : "The Old Worse and Worse"
May 1844
A meeting is held in Worcester Guildhall to decide whether to support a rail link from Worcester to either Oxford, or to the London & North Western Railway at Tring. Despite some details on both schemes not being available at this point, the meeting votes almost unanimously in favour of the link via Oxford
June 1844
The Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway (OW&W) issues its prospectus
August 1845
The OW&W receives Parliamentary sanction to build a railway from Oxford, via Moreton in the Marsh, Evesham, Worcester, Droitwich, Kidderminster, Stourbridge and Dudley, to Wolverhampton. The line initially has Great Western Railway support, but financing proves to be a problem. The agreement with the GWR will prove to serious implications for the line over the next few years. Isambard Kingdom Brunel is appointed as chief engineer for the OW&W.
November 1849
A report for the Railway Commissioners raises doubts on whether the OW&W will be completed. The commissioners order the GWR to complete the line themselves, but relations between the GWR and OW&W have soured since 1845 and the GWR decline to do so. This starts two years of legal battles.
1850
New financing is obtained, which puts the OW&W in a better position to go independent of the GWR, with which relations have soured over the past five years.
October 1850
The first stretch of the line is opened from Abbotswood Junction to a temporary station in Worcester.
February 1851
"The battle of the Gauges" begins on the line as the OW&W signs agreements with the Midland Railway and the London & North Western Railway to work line. Both are using standard gauge and want the OW&W to use the same, but the 1845 agreement does have a broad gauge clause in it. Despite the obvious breach, the OW&W shareholders agree to standard gauge.
July 1851
March 1852
Brunel resigns as Chief Engineer to the OW&W. His place is taken by John Fowler.
May 1852
The line is opened between Evesham and Droitwich. The disputes over gauge have resulted in the line being of mixed gauge, theoretically capable of handling both standard and broad gauge traffic.
May 1853
The line from Dudley to Wolvercot Junction is opened, although the Board of Trade has not passed the broad gauge line for use. As the junction at Wolvercot is not completed, passengers cannot get directly to Oxford
June 1853
A Board of Trade Inspection train becomes the only broad gauge train to use the line.
December 1853
The line to Wolverhampton is completed; aided by the threat of financial penalties to the OW&W if work was not completed by September 1853.
July 1854
Trains are now able to run into Oxford.
1855
The OW&W is suffering financial problems, especially as the line is being held to its broad gauge requirements, which are no longer necessary. Finances would improve towards the end of the decade.
February 1858
The GWR agrees to the removal of broad gauge in return for "compensation" from the OW&W.
July 1859
The OW&W completes a single line branch from
Honeybourne to Stratford-Upon-Avon. This would later become part of
the Stratford-Cheltenham line.
1860
The OW&W becomes part of the West Midland Railway.
October 1861
The first standard gauge Paddington-Worcester services commence, at this point taking 4 hours for the 120-mile trip.
1863
The West Midland Railway is absorbed into the GWR.
1892
The final abolition of broad gauge, which has never quite lived up to the GWR's claims, results in improvements in services.
