BR History in Colour Vol 8 Part 1 Warwickshire Western Region Lines

North from Oxford, the construction of the main line from London to Britain's second city was projected by the Birmingham & Oxford Junction Railway but by the time the first part of it opened, between Oxford and Banbury in 1850, the company had been absorbed by the Great Western Railway. The section covered by this book, north from Banbury to Birmingham, was opened by the GWR on 1st October 1852 and we begin our journey along this route just south of Fenny Compton, where the line crossed the county boundary between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. This was a line built originally to the broad gauge that proved eminently suitable for fast running and which, in steam days from the late 1920s, became the preserve of 'Kings' and 'Castles' hauling crack expresses between London, the Midlands and the north-west. Between Banbury and Birmingham it also served the towns of Leamington Spa, Warwick and Solihull, as well as the important industrial and manufacturing region on the approach to Birmingham city centre.