It was conceived to open up the area to rail transport, when local opinion formed the view that the trunk railway companies would not do so.

It was the action of a contractor partnership, Davies and Savin, in agreeing to accept shares as the majority of their payment for construction work, that saved the company from failure.

The industry in the area was not buoyant and hoped-for long-distance traffic did not materialise, although the development of Aberystwyth as a resort provided a useful benefit.

A grim event took place in 1921 near Abermule, when there was a head-on collision on the single line, due to slack operating disciplines.

As social and travel habits changed in the 1960s, the line's remaining core income was badly reduced, and for a time widespread closure was a possibility.

In fact the Shrewsbury connection to Aberystwyth and the coastal line to Pwllheli were retained, but the section from Oswestry to Buttington closed in 1965.

The main line from Buttington to Newtown continues in use as part of a passenger connection to Aberystwyth and the coast.

On 1 September 1854 the Great Western Railway (GWR) acquired the S&CR, furthering its strategy of making a through link from London to Merseyside.

The O&NR found the raising of share subscriptions to be extremely difficult, and negotiations to obtain land were continually frustrating.

In fact the first work undertaken by Davies and Savin was the doubling of the section between Buttington Junction and Welshpool, started on 30 October 1859.

This had been urged by the London and North Western Railway, which planned a connection to the line at Buttington, and the O&NR was anxious to keep the LNWR on side.

By this time there had been a serious rupture in the partnership between Davies and Savin, and it was the latter who undertook the working of trains on the O&NR; he did so by agreement of 26 July 1861, for 55% of gross receipts.

The S&WR was worked by the LNWR, and the GWR had running powers; in 1865 the two larger companies took ownership control of the line jointly.

Once the line opened, business was in short supply also, and after three years the situation got so critical that it went before the O&NR board on 24 December 1866, with a view to deciding whether to close the branch.

There was a siding at Middle Mill, near Abermule, and much later the Great Western Railway had taken over and built halts, without buildings, at Ffronfraith and Goitre in 1923.

The O&NR decided to get powers for a branch, and also for a line to Llanymynech Lime Rocks, provided subscriptions were forthcoming locally.

The following July, Benjamin Piercy (as engineer) started planning the route and also that to Kerry, and two months later Savin agreed to build the line.

[1]: 35–40 The first sod of the branch was cut at Llwyn, near Llanfyllin, on 20 September 1861, and Savin, then in partnership with his brother-in-law John Ward, quickly built the line.

Another was planned at Llanfechain but difficulties in getting possession of the land delayed opening of the station until January 1866, followed a month later by one at Brongwyn (later Bryngwyn).

The Cambrian Railways Company was to give the MWR full interchange after its imminent opening from Llanidloes to Talyllyn.

During World War I heavy coal traffic was routed through Llanidloes and Newtown over the O&NR line, making a transit from South Wales collieries to Grangemouth, destined for bunkering coal-burning vessels supporting the Grand Fleet.

[4]: 167 Towards the end of Cambrian Railways' control of the former O&NR line, a devastating collision took place between Abermule and Newtown on 26 January 1921, in which 17 people died and 36 were injured.

At the time this was considered to be a safe system of operation of single lines, but public confidence was severely shaken by the event.

Another train was in the section, approaching from the other end, and its driver was in possession of the proper token: the head-on collision was thus inevitable.

[6] After nationalisation in 1948, the financial situation of the Cambrian lines, already difficult, became much worse due to changing economics and habits.

[4]: 183  The Llynclys quarry traffic, chiefly railway track ballast towards the end, ceased after 28 October 1988.