From the start, the line carried long-distance services from the West Midlands to Bristol, South Wales, and the South West of England. These were suspended during the First World War, then developed in the 1920s and '30s, were suspended again in the Second World War, finally reaching their peak in the 1950s, at which time up to six such trains traversed the line each weekday. The doyen of these services was always the daily train from Wolverhampton to Penzance, latterly named "The Cornishman". The line was especially busy during summer months, as it became the principal holiday route between Birmingham and Devon and Cornwall, and many extra holiday excursion trains would run.