On 1 June 1881 the first section of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway was opened; this connected the branch to the Cheltenham & Great Western Union line at Lansdown Junction, Cheltenham; and on 6 April 1887 a second section was opened, connecting the Chipping Norton branch to the Oxford and Rugby Railway at . The Great Western Railway took over the B&CDR on 1 July 1897, but for nearly twenty years, through trains running between and needed to reverse at Chipping Norton Junction.