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The company suffered from financial mismanagement early on, and ran out of funds in 1849, before any major part of the line was opened. A protracted legal battle then began as the [[Great Western Railway|GWR]] refused to complete the line (a condition of the act of parliament), before realising that its competitors, the Midland Railway and LNWR, were also interested in the line - the GWR finally agreed to lease the line in 1851. The line was eventually completed, still as an independent company, in July 1853, being opened throughout on 1 December 1853<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford,_Worcester_and_Wolverhampton_Railway Wikipedia - Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway]</ref>.
The company is possibly best known for the Round Oak accident on 23 August 1858, which involved two portions of a special excursion train returning to Wolverhampton. Having been divided into two portions at Stourbridge, a broken coupling on the first portion caused 18 vehicles to run backwards, colliding with the following section portion. The collision killed 14 passengers and injuring 50 more, and was stated to be the worst railway accident to have ever occured in the UK at that date <ref>[http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_RoundOakBrettelLane1858.pdf Col. Tyler's report on the Round Oak rail accident]</ref><ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Oak_rail_accident Wikipedia - Round Oak rail accident]</ref>.
== Links to the Severn Valley Railway ==
