Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway

Origin

In the mid-1840s the Great Western Railway wanted to build a railway line from Oxford northwards. It did so by promoting subsidiary companies; in particular the Oxford and Rugby Railway, and the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway.

Through the agency of the Oxford Railway, it had opened a line from Didcot, on the Great Western Railway main line, to Oxford, opening on 12 June 1844. The Oxford terminus was immediately south of the river, near Folly Bridge, in what is now Marlborough Road. The capital was put up by directors of the GWR, with no independent shareholders, and the company was quickly absorbed by the GWR. At the time Rugby was an important hub for traffic to and from the northern districts of England; the Midland Counties Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway connected there, and formed the only route to the north.

The Oxford and Rugby Railway was conceived to enable the GWR to connect the southern areas it served into the northwards network. It would run from a junction with the Oxford Railway line south of Oxford, with a new through Oxford station nearer to the centre of the city, through Banbury and Fenny Compton to a junction at Rugby. The Oxford and Rugby Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxxxviii) was given royal assent on 4 August 1845. Broad gauge was authorised, but mixed gauge would have to be provided if required by the Board of Trade.

Early in 1845 the Grand Junction Railway projected a line from their Birmingham terminus to join the Oxford Railway at Oxford. The Grand Junction Railway was dependent on the London and Birmingham Railway for access to London, and there was considerable friction between the two companies; an Oxford line would get to London without involving the L&BR. The Great Western Railway too found the L&BR a difficult trading partner, and gave the GJR scheme its support. The GWR and the Oxford Railway were broad gauge, and the new line would be broad too; indeed the GJR prepared estimates for converting its own network to the broad gauge.

The GJR observed that the Oxford and Rugby Railway scheme was successful in Parliament, and they altered their own proposal to join the O&RR line at Knightcote, north of Fenny Compton, shortening the necessary construction. However, soon afterwards, the hostility between GJR and the L&BR suddenly abated, and they became allies; the GJR summarily resiled from the agreements it had made with the GWR. The GJR and the L&BR, together with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, amalgamated to form the London and North Western Railway on 16 July 1846.

1933 quadrupling

In the first years of the twentieth century the GWR had quadrupled the line between Birmingham Moor Street and Olton. In 1933 the quadruple track was extended to Lapworth; 33 bridges and five stations were reconstructed as part of the work.

1960s decline

In the 1960s the general decline in railway passenger and goods traffic struck the line with some force. British Railways rationalised much of the duplication of lines in the greater Birmingham area, and this seemed to attack the former GWR lines in particular.

In the first half of the 1960s main line electrification work on the West Coast Main Line was in progress, and for a while this involved enhanced express trains on the Paddington to Birmingham line (to reduce traffic on the lines under development). However, in 1966 the work was substantially completed between London and Birmingham, and main line express trains were transferred to that line. These two factors almost wiped out Snow Hill station and in 1968 it was all but closed, and on 4 March the southern approach to Snow Hill was actually closed. Moor Street station became the northern terminus of the residual GWR services from the south.

Train services after 1919

The line's status as the North Main Line continued in the twentieth century. There were heavy freight flows, and the line was an important trunk passenger route. Semmens shows eleven daily express services between Paddington and Wolverhampton in 1922, including three by the "old route" via Oxford. Some of the down trains slipped coaches at Oxford or Banbury. One train ran via Ealing Broadway, making a call there, and then ran non-stop to Birmingham. There were also long-distance trains from Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Dover, all travelling via Oxford.

By 1939 there was one additional train between London and Birmingham. The Birkenhead trains were shown as making connections for the Isle of Man, or Belfast overnight. Four trains covered the London to Birmingham journey in two hours.

Other train services

The opening of Birmingham International station in 1976 led to a demand for passenger train calls on cross country routes. The line between Coventry and Leamington Spa was reopened to passenger trains in 1977, and carries trains from Manchester to the south of England, which use the route Birmingham International – Coventry – Leamington Spa – Oxford. Certain freightliner trains to and from Southampton follow the same routing.

Location list

The entire line was built by the Great Western Railway, but it was authorised in three sections: