Changes

Advertised in '''August 1845''' seeking capital of £800,000. The route was described as "''This important railway is 42 miles in length; will commence at the railway station of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway at Kidderminster, and will proceed from thence by way of Tenbury and Leominster to Hereford''". The article also noted that "''The line is free from engineering difficulties, and gradients highly favourable''."<ref>Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, 21 August 1845 via the British Newspaper Archive</ref> That description does not really accord with the Engineer's map, which shows the proposed line crossing the Severn by a bridge approximately where Dowles Bridge was built, then entering a tunnel at Northwood Lane which ended beyond Habbeley Habberley Valley, a length of around 1.8 miles or about the same as Brunel's famous Box Tunnel.<ref>Copy of map prepared by J Gardener, held by Worcester Archive</ref> By 1846 it had been amalgamated with another scheme backed by the same promoters, the Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Junction Railway.<ref>Worcestershire Chronicle, 4 November 1846 via the British Newspaper Archive</ref> It was later alleged that this merger was unlawful, and by 1851 action was being taken to wind up the affairs of the 'Direct East and West'.<ref>Worcester Journal, 26 June 1851 via the British Newspaper Archive</ref>