page_title: Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
section_title: After 1960
hierarchical_section_title: Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway / After 1960
caption_attribution_description: English: London Midland PPM 139001 stands at Stourbridge Town railway station.
context_page_description: The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot Junction near Oxford to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley and Wolverhampton, as well as some branches.
  Its main line was opened in stages between 1852 and 1853. When the West Midland Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1860, the OW&WR was the dominant partner, but the West Midland company amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1863. Several branches and extensions were built in the West Midlands, and the main line was developed as an important trunk route.
  Much of the original main line is in use at present.
context_section_description: Near Stratford a new south to east curve was installed on 12 June 1960, which allowed the line northwards to be closed; mineral trains conveying iron ore from Northamptonshire to South Wales used the curve, and the line northwards was closed to that traffic. The flow ceased on to 1 March 1965 and the curve was removed.
  The line between Stourbridge Junction and Priestfield Junction was closed to passenger trains after 29 July 1962. It remained open to goods trains until December 1967.
  The Severn Valley line closed on 8 September 1963, although the Kidderminster to Bewdley loop and the Hartlebury to Bewdley sections operated a thin passenger service until closure on 3 January 1970.
  However a group of railway enthusiasts formed the Severn Valley Railway as a heritage railway in 1967 and in 1970 steam operated trains resumed running. At the present day the line operates between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth.
  The Kingswinford to Oxley line was closed north of Pensnett on 27 February 1965, and throughout in 1990.
  The Old Hill to Dudley line closed to passenger services after 13 June 1964.
  The section of the railway between Stourbridge and Dudley was later absorbed into the South Staffordshire Line, which continued to Walsall after forking off eastwards from Dudley. Passenger services had all been withdrawn by 1965, but goods trains continued to serve the route until 1993, when the line north of Round Oak was mothballed. The line is still open for freight to this point to serve Round Oak Steel Terminal.
  The Cheltenham – Honeybourne – Stratford route was less significant in British Railways days, and when the traffic declined in the 1960s the route was not any longer important. From September 1966 long distance trains were diverted to other routes, chiefly the Midland route via the Lickey Incline, and in May 1969 the local passenger service between Stratford and Worcester was closed down, together with Honeybourne station itself. Goods traffic between Honeybourne and Cheltenham ceased in August 1976. The section from Honeybourne to Long Marston was retained because of the Royal Engineers depot there.
  The Stourbridge Town branch was closed to goods operation in July 1965; the passenger part of the line was successively cut back but is still in operation. In 2006 trial operation of the branch started using a lightweight vehicle from Parry People Movers Ltd. The vehicle uses a flywheel for energy storage to supplement the engine power.
  The main line between Moreton and Norton Junction was singled in the Autumn of 1971; there was only one passing loop, at Evesham, in this long single line route.
  Honeybourne station was reopened on 22 May 1981.
  On 19 March 1993 the final operation of through freight on the Dudley to Stourbridge route took place.
  The main line of the former OW&WR had been singled in the 1960s, and there were moves to reinstate double track at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The new double track section between Charlbury and Ascott was commissioned on 6 June 2011, and the section between Moreton and Evesham on 22 August 2011.
  The former OW&WR network is (2017) still in use from Oxford to Round Oak, as well as the Norton Junction spur and the Stoke Works connection. A short length near Bushbury Junction has been reused as part of a loop from Stafford Road Junction.
caption: Parry People Mover at Stourbridge Town station
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