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This line forms the southern part of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway (for a description of the rest of see the line from Worcester to Birmingham Snow Hill).
The first part of the line to open was the short stretch from a temporary terminus in Worcester to Norton and Abbotswood Junction on 5th October 1850. Norton Junction to Evesham opened on 1st May 1852 and Evesham to Wolvercot Junction (Oxford) opened on 4th June 1853. Worcester Shrub Hill station was opened by the OW & W in 1852 but the OW & W lasted only until 1st July 1860 when it joined with the Worcester and Hereford Railway and the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway to form the West Midland Railway company, itself becoming part of the GWR on 1st August 1863.
An interesting feature of the early operation of the OW & W was the running of through trains from Euston via Bletchley to Worcester and Wolverhampton.
The first stations on the Oxford line were Norton Halt and Stoulton (both closed 3rd January 1966) before the line reached Pershore.
From Pershore the line goes to Wyre Halt and Fladbury (both closed 3rd January 1966) (which had a long line known as Bomfords Sidings past Charlton sidings and on to Evesham.
Beyond Evesham the line passed Aldington sidings before the next station at Littleton & Badsey (closed 3rd January 1966) and Honeybourne Junction where it interchanged with the GWR's own line from Birmingham to Bristol via Stratford-on-Avon. The line then passes into Gloucestershire and on to Oxford.