 The Alcester Company was finally taken over by the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1883.The junction at Broom with the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway faced north.For a time the Midland Railway used the SoA&MJR line as a through goods link between its system in Northamptonshire and the Gloucestershire network, but the poor facilities of the route and the necessity to reverse at Broom to continue the journey over the Evesham Loop line militated against it.