The Grand Junction Railway opened to a temporary station at Vauxhall on 4 July 1837, approaching by curving round the north and north-west of the city[note 1] by way of Bescot and Aston.

The L&BR and the GJR had been planned as inter-city railways, and numerous locations that had gained in importance now demanded rail connection.

Its concept had originally included a branch towards Stourbridge; this was now omitted, but the reference to the Stour in the title remained.

This meant avoiding the Grand Junction Railway's sweep through Aston, and instead cutting through the high ground in central Birmingham.

During the parliamentary process the S&BR was induced to omit the section of its line south of Wolverhampton, taking instead a one-quarter share in the Stour Valley Railway; the LNWR had a quarter, as did the Birmingham Canal; private investors collectively took the other quarter.

Finally, despite the earlier presumption that only one connecting line was needed, both the Stour Valley Railway and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway (Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Lines) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict.

[5][6][7][8] The Stour Valley Railway would need a connection at the Birmingham end; this was authorised separately after considerable debate over the preferred site; opinion at first was that there would only be one main station.

[9][3][10] So the Stour Valley Line was authorised, with the LNWR, the Birmingham Canal and the S&BR having large holdings.

It purposely delayed completing the line, in order to disadvantage the S&BR, which it now saw as a competitor for traffic for the north west.

The story is sordid and remarkable, and it seems almost incredible that a great public institution should have descended to such paltry devices to injure or destroy its competitors.

[8]The Stour Valley line was practically complete in 1851, but the LNWR made no attempt to finalise the work or prepare it for opening.

Still the LNWR found reasons to exclude the running of S&BR trains, and it was only on 4 February 1854 that this usage started.

The Stour Valley Line became an important trunk route, but it also served numerous communities and industrial centres in its short length.

A scheme for widening the approaches was undertaken at the end of the nineteenth century, duplicating the tunnel section and diverting the Midland lines from Derby and Gloucester (via Camp Hill).

Part of the scheme was the electrification at 25 kV overhead, 50 Hz, of the West Coast Main Line and certain branches.

[16] In the 1960s a number of branch lines had been closed as road-based passenger transport, and private car ownership, increased.

It was considered useful to have an intermediate passenger railhead without entering the centres of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and Oldbury station was selected for development.

The new concourse is three times larger than the former, and is enclosed by a large atrium, allowing natural light throughout the station.